God bless you, Alabama. You're never boring.

But this was the kind of year that got us right where Talladega Mayor Larry Barton kicked his assailant in self defense.

"Ain't no doubt about it," Barton told AL.com's John Archibald. "If I hadn't kicked him twice in the balls I'd be dead."

In August, Barton, who's now the former mayor of Talladega -- thank you, voters -- pulled up to his day job at his Cahaba Heights barbershop. A man was there in a hood and trench coat (not the least bit conspicuous in August) waiting for him with a baseball bat.

The man police identified as Benny Green, 71, had been Barton's friend. The two had even hosted a radio show together once. But Barton, who was 74, had slept with Green's wife. Barton tried to deny it, but as surveillance video would later show, Barton and Mrs. Green had indeed done the deed.

Three times.

In the back of a liquor store.

Larry Barton at UAB hospital. (Jessica Barton)

At some point here it's worth noting that Barton had himself done some time after once being convicted of stealing city funds, but after his release, his constituents forgave him and put him back into office.

But Green wasn't in a forgiving mood, and he gave Barton the kind of beating that makes your friends not recognize you in the grocery store.

Or the barbershop.

Barton bat beating might have been the most Alabama story of 2015, but Barton can't claim the dishonor of being our worst of the worst. He was only one of many contenders.

William Bell and Marcus Lundy

Barton and Green weren't the only ones fighting in 2015. Birmingham Mayor William Bell and Councilman Marcus Lundy had the Brawl at City Hall, but they had the discretion, as politicians are wont to do, to conduct their business behind closed doors.

Afterward, the two men acted like professional soccer players flopping on the field. Council President Johnathan Austin waved photos of Lundy's scratched up leg for the TV cameras to see, and Lundy sought medical attention for ... what exactly? A rabies shot? Bell went to the hospital to be treated for neck and leg wounds.

However two days later, both men seemed in perfect health when they appeared together at City Hall to hug it out like real men.

Only the city's reputation got kicked in the ... bells.

Beatings were something of a theme in 2015.

Heavyweight boxing champion Deontay Wilder beat Johann Duhaupas at the BJCC Arena, and after presidential candidates turned Alabama into their stomping grounds ahead of the 2016 March primary, Donald Trump supporters beat a Black Live Matter protester in the BJCC North Exhibition Hall.

Roy Moore

But 2015 wasn't all about hating and fighting. Love was in the air. Wedding bells rang, at least where probate judges would still allow it.

Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore discusses the U.S. Supreme Court's same-sex marriage ruling Monday, June 29, 2015, in Montgomery, Ala. (Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com)

U.S. District Judge Ginny Grenade ruled that same-sex couples had the right to marry in Alabama.

Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore said that was hogwash.

Then the U.S. Supreme Court said Grenade was right.

Moore blasted them, too.

But in the end, love won.

Despite the most dire warnings from Moore, no one married their dog, although a Geneva man came close.

"(His wife) actually thought he was having an affair with another woman and hid a recording device," Geneva Police Capt. Ricky Morgan said. "She learned he was in fact molesting the dog."

After the man did a little time, he and his wife reconciled, and the dog, Buster, found a new home.

Love won.

Robert Bentley

For Gov. Bentley, 2015 was a year of closure, if by closure you mean reopening old wounds -- kind of like how the governor ordered driver license offices to be reopened after his administration was nationally shamed for closing them in 28 counties.

The governor ordered Confederate flags to be removed from the state capitol, only 150 years after the Union retook the state.

In the middle of the gay marriage battle, Bentley stood up for the institution of marriage, and a few months later he and his wife agreed to be deinstitutionalized.

Finally, Bentley also ordered the state to spend more than $1.5 million in BP settlement money to repair the governor's Alabama beach mansion 18 years after it was wrecked by Hurricane Danny and three months after the governor lost his personal beach house in his divorce.

Dishonorable Mentions

One person who didn't get any closure was Mike Hubbard. After a Lee County grand jury indicted the Alabama House Speaker on ethics charges, Hubbard tried every trick he could pull to get the charges thrown out, even saying that laws he helped pass were unconstitutional.

As hard as he tried, though, Hubbard was not the most audaciously vile public official this year.

Many tried, but in the end there could be only one.

UAB President Ray Watts was a strong contender, but now that the Blazers are on their way back to the football field, he doesn't get across the goal line.

The Birmingham City Council came close, distracting the media with a photo-op outside the council chambers while it voted to give itself a raise. Council President Johnathan Austin nearly got the Naughty Nine across the finish line, running up a cell phone bill higher than many of his constituents take-home pay. But it wasn't low enough.

Rose's Law, which requires hospitals to keep new mothers for at least 48 hours after giving birth, was named for Rose Church, who died in 1998. Now her doctor, newly elected state Sen. Larry Stutts, is trying to repeal Rose's Law.

And the loser is ...

The 2015 Scumbag of the Year is state Sen. Larry Stutts, a freshman lawmaker who a year ago was known only as "that guy who beat Roger Bedford."

Stutts, who is an OBGYN, attempted in his first Legislative session to repeal a law named after a patient who died in his care.

Rose's Law, which requires insurers to cover at least 48 hours of hospital care for new moms, had been passed after the death of Rose Church, a nurse from Haleyville who died after giving birth. Stutts was her doctor.

Stutts didn't tell any of his legislative colleagues about his part in the history of the law. Instead, he characterized it as Obamacare-like intrusion of government into healthcare, and solicited unwitting cosponsors to have it overturned.

Now he's "that guy who's even worse than Roger Bedford."

That's an accomplishment no one wants to top, although many will certainly try.

There's always next year.