It's easy now to sit back and bask in the glory that has been the Boston athletics scene in 2007. World champions in baseball, undefeated in the NFL regular season, second place in Major League Soccer, packing crowds into the TD Banknorth Garden for the Celts and (to a lesser degree) the Bruins...we have it good.

But it's our job to remind you that there were days where hats were thrown, hands were clenched, and curses muttered. There were 10 bad moments in 2007. There were. Honest! We've got a list for you.

It says something, however, that Boston was able to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear - that is, that most of our 10 worst moments of 2007 were short-term disasters, long-term successes. Isn't it telling that even the really crappy turns of events helped us in the long run?

Simply put, 2007 rocked. It just didn't feel that way during the moments that follow:

10. Johnny Pesky is banned from the bench - again. Major League Baseball decided back in March that it was time to keep Johnny Pesky, then 87, off the Red Sox bench. Sure, they'd tried before - 1997 and 2004 - but this time they really really meant it, according to the decree from the league. The league showed its classy side with the decision - because there's nothing like thanking a man for sticking with a team for 55 years like telling him to stay out of the way. The good news? For those keeping score, Pesky's World Series Championship record during Bench Ban Seasons is now 2-1.

9. Pretty much Sebastian Telfair's entire existence. So you're 21 years old and playing professional basketball. You're not exactly a standout, but you're a member of the 2006-2007 Celtics organization, so that's rather expected. What do you do? Prompt too many Neil Simon jokes by getting lost in Yonkers while speeding, without a license, with a handgun. After adding the April incident to his list of bad calls - we still remember that gun on the plane at Logan, Sebastian - the player found himself bounced off the Boston team. He's now in Minnesota, if anyone cares.

View the rest of the list after the jump! Photo by flickr user Troy B Thompson

8. Losing Jefferson and Gomes. Once upon a time (read: over the course of the summer), we were being told that the stars have finally aligned over Boston and that jump shots would soon rain down from the heavens. The new Big Three was ready to be welcomed. But with that, we had to say goodbye to players into whom we'd grown to greatly like. As Bostonist put it back in July, "We'd be remiss if we didn't spend a minute reflecting on what coulda been, and who we're losing in the shuffle. Al Jefferson, who is going to be a well-deserved All-Star very soon. Delonte West and Ryan Gomes, two guys who bust it every night and will hopefully get to do it in games that matter before long."

7. Down to 1 1/2. How do the Red Sox respond to the ridiculous revival of the New York Yankees? They get swept by Toronto in September and let the AL East lead dwindle to 1 1/2 games. The final game of the Rogers Centre series was a showcase of Sox fans' worst fears: no Manny, no Youk, no Coco, no offense, no setup, no closer. When Papelbon gives up a grand slam, people start to worry. We were only hoping then that the team would get back on track. We didn't want to ask too much of them by hoping for a Series win in the end.

6. Rodney Harrison and HGH. A week before the Pats kicked off their regular season, word broke that Rodney Harrison admitted to the league that he used HGH in order to recover from injuries during the previous two seasons. This one hurt, especially as the news (and four-game suspension) served as the appetizer to the unappealing entree Pats fans would encounter a week later in New Jersey.

5. Patrice Bergeron sees stars. There's little more frightening for anyone who follows or has played sports than the sight of a player lying unconscious. Seconds feel like minutes. The 45 seconds that Bruins center Bergeron spent knocked out on the ice during an October game against the Flyers never felt like it would end. Bruins fans were livid that Philly defenseman Randy Jones was only suspended for two games after unleashing a hit that left Bergeron with a broken nose and a Grade 3 concussion, but let's focus on the positive. It could have been so much worse than it was.

4. Peyton/Colts Over Brady/Pats. Folks were feeling pretty good, given that New England had a 18-point lead over the dreaded Indianapolis Colts during the 2007 AFC title game. Then things went lousy and Peyton Manning went on to get a championship ring.

3. BC football loses to Florida. Boston College found itself sitting pretty with an undefeated record and No. 2 standing when they faced off against the Florida Seminoles on Nov. 3. With 1:10 left to play, Geno Hayes intercepted Matt Ryan (it was Ryan's third of the night) and returned for a 38-yard touchdown that put the game out of BC's reach. The Eagles went on to end the season not with the BSC game it desired, but a win over Michigan State in the lesser Champs Sports Bowl.

2. The fifth pick. On May 23, the day after the NBA lottery draft, we summed it up: "All is not well for the Boston basketball crowd - in fact, it freakin' blows." After spending so much time chanting the names Oden and Durant, we were presented with the fifth pick in the draft, the worst pick for what was then our worst Boston sports team. Just as the natives were calling for the heads of Danny and Doc, however, a guy from Minnesota came into the Boston picture and Oden wound up with knee surgery.

1. Spygate. How we wish we'd never have been introduced to Matt Estrella! Harrison had been busted for the HGH incident. Non-Patriots fans in the NFL already despised Brady and the Bunch's present-day dynasty. And then everyone in the sports met Matt, the Pats video assistant caught taping defensive signals during the season opener against the Jets. Fans, players, coaches, and commentators pondered whether the Patriots had cheated their way to football greatness. It was awful in the moment and talk of asterisks still plagues the team. But know what? The Patriots put their heads down and focused on rolling through a 16-game regular season. Some might still say that the '07-'08 Pats are tarnished. But as for right now? All we see is an unblemished record.

Michael Fermia and Caroline Roberts contributed quite a bit to this post! We've got your 10 Best Moments of 2007 coming your way tomorrow, so stay tuned.