I can’t believe we’ve reached the end of 2012 already. It seems like just yesterday that we were watching the Giants beat the Patriots in another classic Super Bowl. Or LeBron’s coming out party. Or London’s brilliant and glorious Olympic Games. New stars emerged in 2012. From Gabby Douglas to Missy Franklin to Andy Murray to Mike Trout to Robert Griffin III. We had a Triple Crown in baseball and a near-Triple Crown in horse racing. We had three perfect games in the Majors for the first time ever, yet none of them made my list of the top games of the year. So, in true Joe Brackets tradition, my final post of the year is dedicated to those contests that were the most memorable. The annual Joe Brackets “Top Games of the Year.” And since 2012 just ended, the countdown starts at No. 12.

Fiscal year 2012, the U.S. government spent a record $80.4 billion on food stamps, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), a $2.7 billion increase from FY 2011