Once again we peruse the past year in sports for the annual Thorn and Roses awards.

Let’s begin with the always beautiful Roses.

To the football coaches and administrators of De La Salle (Calif.) and Southlake Carroll (Texas) high schools who refused to sell their schools and kids out to television, this multicolored rose is yours. They said no to TV’s desire to match these two powerhouse schools up in a national game. They both refused to travel.

To Dick Pound, the Olympic drug-testing overseer, who refuses to cave in to big name athletes who just want the whole performance enhancing drug issue to go away so they can cheat their way to big bucks. This red rose is yours.

To former Celtic great Bob Cousy, baseball’s Brooks Robinson and all the other retired athletes who spend countless energy seeking assistance for those who played the games when the dollars were few and who now live in need. This white rose is for you.

The passing of sports figures this past year was particularly poignant. Buck O’Neil from the Negro Leagues and one of baseball’s greatest ambassadors; former Celtic coach and NBA builder (he was there from day one) Red Auerbach; and Hockey Hall of Fame member, Montreal Canadian Boom Boom Geoffrion all are gone. This black, but exquisite rose is yours.

To baseball Hall of Fame announcer Vin Scully of the Dodgers who told me this year, “Why would I retire? This is what I do and still love.” Such a simple answer for the lucky ones who get up every morning and can’t wait to get to work. This yellow rose is yours.

The thorns are too plentiful.

This particularly sharp one is for the special selection committee that named the former Negro League players who deserved to be in the Hall of Fame and left out O’Neil. An effort worthy of great praise ended with a black hole in the middle.

To MLB owners who in two years will be crying poverty and demanding tax breaks for new stadiums, this long thorn is yours. You have again proven you are your own worst enemy with a disgusting and unjustifiable free agent spending spree that again proves just how much money you are really raking in.

To the liars and cheaters of every sport who still use illegal performance enhancing drugs, then plead ignorance or innocence, this multi-pronged thorn is yours. The damage being done to young athletes who view such use as necessary and wink off the illegality is immeasurable.

An equally sharp prong to the coaches and administrators who know such drug use is ongoing and turn their heads, acting as though their feigned ignorance relinquishes them from responsibility.

To the Red Sox’s Manny Ramirez, we are really tired of Manny just being Manny. . You make more money than God, you are idolized in a great baseball city and all you can do is mope and complain. Please sit on this particular thorn and wake up.

Even if you are unhappy and want to move, just say so and then go play. The Sox will move you if they can, but until then be someone other than Manny for a while.

Back in 1996 I started writing this column at a friend and former BDN sports editor’s request, namely, Bob Haskell. It was to be just for fun for a few columns. It’s 2007.

I spend more time on this thing than anyone can justify – except me. The pay has never changed and I told Bob at the time, “You should be embarrassed.” He wasn’t.

This deep red rose is to you, the reader, who honor me by taking time to scan this column now and then. Sending this back home every week from where ever I am covering sports is a lifeline to my roots I do not take lightly.

Happy New Year and keep our stick on the ice.

Old Town native Gary Thorne is an ESPN and ABC sportscaster.