... have a baseline knowledge of sports.

Every man is not a sports fan.  Certainly, there are enough sports nuts to make up for the fellas that don't really get into sport.

However, you just never know when you will be at that party/dinner/swap meet and need to reach deep down to pull out the limited sports knowledge you possess.   At a very minimum, every man should be prepared with several key points of sports trivia.

COLLEGE SPORTS

Previous years National Champion for:

Football - The University of Florida (2008)

Basketball - The University of Kansas (2008)

Heisman Trophy Winner:

Sam Bradford (2008)

PROFESSIONAL SPORTS

Previous year's Champion in each major sport:

NBA - Boston Celtics (2008)

MLB - Philadelphia Phillies (2008)

NFL - Pittsburgh Steelers (2008)

NHL - Detroit Redwings (2008)

Now, if you really want to be polished you should know the MVP's of each league from the previous year:

NBA - Kobe Bryant (2008)

MLB - Albert Pujols (NL 2008) / Dustin Pedroia (AL 2008) **

NFL - Peyton Manning (2008)

NHL - Alex Ovechkin (2008)

** Some will argue that Cy Young is as important in MLB.  I will oblige:

2008 Cy Young Winners - Tim Lincecum (NL 2008) / Cliff Lee (AL 2008)

Of course, if you are with more refined company you might want to read up on soccer, but we'll leave that for another time.  Now get out there and go crazy sports fans.