7 News Features: 7's Top 7 - Sports

WSVN -- The biggest local sports story of the year came in the last month.

After great speculation and three straight losing seasons, the Dolphins fired head coach Tony Sparano.

Steven Ross: "I think what South Florida wants is really a winning team, and I thought this would give us the opportunity to go out and find a head coach that can really lead us back."

Dolphins owner Steven Ross tried to replace Sparano before the season, but he failed to get Jim Harbaugh and kept Sparano.

The Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl in February and are trying to be the first undefeated team since the '72 Dolphins.

The year 2011 was the year of the lockout, after both the NBA and NFL owners could not come to labor agreements with their players.

The NFL barred its players for 130 days.

The NBA kept its players away for 149 days and cut the season down from 82 to 66 games.

The "Big Three" Heat made it to the NBA Finals, had a 2-1 lead on Dallas, but the Heat lost three straight and lost the series 4-2 on their home court.

The Marlins splurged: hired new manager Ozzie Guillen, moved to Miami, unveiled their new uniforms, and went strong after top-tier free agents. They lost out on three-time MVP Albert Pujols.

Fat Albert and the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series.

The Panthers hired new coach Kevin Dineen. The cats are off to their best start since 1996.

The Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1972.

The Canes hired new coach Al Golden, did not tell him the school was under investigation. Nine of his players missed games for taking gifts from a booster. The canes finished 6 and 6 and banned themselves from a bowl game.

The former Canes touchdown streak in the NFL came to an end after 149 straight games.

After a year away from the Gators, Urban Meyer is the new coach at Ohio State. Meyer said he left Florida because of his health and he wanted to spend more time with his family.

In January, Cam Newton and Auburn University won the college national championship.

Robert Griffin III won the Heisman Trophy.

Jim Larranaga is the new men's basketball coach at UM.

Tony Stewart won the NASCAR Championship at Homestead.

Popular Indy car driver Dan Wheldon was killed on the track at Las Vegas.

Tennis star Novak Djokovic won three out of the four Grand Slam events.

And 77-year-old Howard Schnellenberger retires after nine seasons at FAU.

This was the year in sports 2011.