What was the biggest off-field moment for any athlete in 2016?

Being a modern sports fan doesn't occur just between 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays, or between 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on some random day in March, nor is it just from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. over the course of a few lazy summer nights, or even just three minutes of highlights you catch on the way home from work. The constant sports discussion – what does it mean for a player, team, league? – is always happening. And quite often, the news driving the talk around sports has nothing to do with what is happening during a game.

Hello and welcome back to the Yardbarker roundtable where we ask contributors to talk about the serious (and not so serious) sides of sports. As we continue our recap of 2016 in sports, we asked a few of our writers:

What was the biggest off-field moment for any athlete in 2016?

Hashim Hathaway: Colin Kaepernick's sitting and then kneeling is, while in the stadium, is still the biggest off-field moment for any athlete. Regardless as to his performance on field, his gesture, love it or hate it, is a larger part of what's happening in society today, and shows that as much as we try to ignore our divisions, there are issues just under the surface that, if left unnoticed, will rise up on their own.

Laura Sabo: There are two things that stand out the most to me. One is Detroit Lions Linebacker DeAndre Levy writing an essay in The Players' Tribune about the responsibility men have to prevent and end violence against women. The importance of that piece (which went viral) and all his work to raise awareness and fight violence against women cannot be underestimated.

The other moment is on the lighter side - longtime NHL enforcer John Scott sold the movie rights to his life story after he was voted into the NHL All Star Game as a joke, was discouraged from going, insisted on going and ended up becoming the MVP of the game. Mitch Albom was chosen to write the script and last I heard, the movie is actually being made.

Matt Whitener: It has to be Jared Goff being the #1 overall pick, because I'm sure he couldn't quite believe it either. It was like one of the McShay/Kiper mock draft rumors that everybody knew shouldn't happen, but somehow it did still. He got to join a team that literally would think a ham sandwich would an upgrade from what they had been saddled with at quarterback in the St. Louis...er...Los Angeles Rams. He also avoided moving from California to Missouri for the winter, and joined a team that was just fine with actually giving the keys (and a captain status) to Case Keenum. It certainly bodes well for him over the long-term, so kudos to you Mr. Goff.

Shiloh Carder: It has to be Ryan Lochte. I mean, why would you make up a story like that to begin with and then it starts this international outrage. I mean, it ruled over the second week of the Rio Games despite all the great things Americans (and Olympians in general) were doing in Brazil. Because of this story he made up, he lost huge endorsements and has been suspended 10 months from swimming. He went from one of the most accomplished swimmers in U.S. history to a virtual laughingstock in one, un-needed, move.

David Matthews: I think the Ryan Lochte in Rio saga is the weirdest thing to happen to an already weird figure. It was the culmination of years of his antics and both the original story (robbed at gunpoint) and the truth (vandalized a gas station and asked to pay for damages) are equally believable while similarly absurd. Lochte's suspended from competitions for a few more months, but judging by his recent announcement that he's going to become a father, I'm sure he'll find a way to make even more head-scratching headlines in 2017.

For more Yardbarker end of the year roundtables from our contributors:
The bandwagons we jumped on in 2016
Our favorite sports docs and movies of 2016
The most intense sports moments of 2016
Athletes who deserve a mulligan for a bad 2016 What was the best 'get hyped' music of 2016?
Sports trends we hope to leave behind in 2016
What would be change in sports in 2017