The Lakers-Celtics NBA finals was a good one. But not the best sports story of 2008.

Voting by The Associated Press went this way (with event, first-place votes and total points in the voting at the end:

1. Michael Phelps’ eight gold medals in swimming at the Beijing Games (152): 1811

2. Super Bowl XLII: N.Y. Giants ruin New England’s perfect season (27): 1390

3. Tiger Woods’s U.S. Open victory leads into season-ending knee surgery (2): 776

4. Brett Favre retires, unretires, the forces a trade from Green Bay (4): 721

5. Boston beats the Lakers for the NBA title: 653

6. Usain Bolt wins three golds and sets three sprinting world marks at the Beijing Games: 589

7. The Phillies beat the Rays to capture the World Series (1): 484

8. The Mitchell Report, and Roger Clemens’ perjury investigation (3): 466

9. The men’s Wimbledon final: Nadal upsets Federer: 392

10. Men’s U.S. Olympic basketball wins gold in Beijing: 355

If there’s any doubt, here’s the voting by AP in the 2008 male athlete of the year:
1. Michael Phelps: 172
2. Usain Bolt: 5
3. Eli Manning: 4
4. Cristiano Ronaldo, Michael Beasley, Bode Miller, Kobe Bryant, Tiger Woods, Kerry Collins: 1