The flip of any yr is all the time a stylish time for some crystal-ball gazing, sports included.
But it is much more enjoyable to speak about what we might most wish to see on the gridiron, diamond, hardwood and past than what we expect will truly occur — and if this author was any good at betting large on daring sporting predictions, I’d be doing that for a residing as a substitute of this.
So right here we’re then, with the FOX Sports Insider 2024 Wish List. If all this stuff go down, it is not a assure we’ll all be pleased — sports fandom is a fickle and tough factor — however we may have been resoundingly entertained.
More arguments, not much less
Florida State followers may disagree, however conjecture, controversy and downright anger over the alternatives of a committee are an integral a part of what retains college football buzzing with such passionate fervor. You suppose increasing to 12 groups will settle all of the debates? Not even shut; in actual fact, anticipate to see an entire lot extra of them, particularly over the ultimate few spots. Be sincere now, would you could have it some other manner?
A particular Super Bowl — once more
We’re being spoiled. No actually, we’re. In the final seven Super Bowls, we have now seen the best comeback of all time, Tom Brady successful an historic seventh ring, Patrick Mahomes spearheading one thrilling fightback and surviving one other nail-biter, plus a Rams–Bengals showdown that is not remembered as fondly because it ought to. It wasn’t all the time like this. For a lot of its historical past, the most important sport of all was usually a colorless affair, often one-sided. Long might this pattern proceed.
A healthy Aaron Rodgers
Love him or hate him, not many individuals have the sheer energy of character to have been one of many NFL‘s largest tales, even in a season that ended after 4 snaps. Rodgers by no means fails to present us one thing to speak about — however when he is truly, , taking part in, it is that significantly better.
The New York Jets have offered their soul to Aaron Rodgers
A USWNT bounceback
The 2023 Women’s World Cup was some of the thrilling sports occasions of the yr — interval. But the efficiency of the United States was probably the most disappointing factor about it. The USWNT wants a revival — and in Emma Hayes it has an esteemed new coach to attempt to spark one. The Olympics in Paris is a big alternative for the group to remind us of its potential for dominance, however beware, the worldwide area is getting stronger.
[Emma Hayes has already won over USWNT: ‘Emma will take us there’]
Ding, ding, dinger
Let’s wish for Shohei Ohtani to knock it out of the park after shifting to the Los Angeles Dodgers, each actually and figuratively. With solely his batting to concentrate on — aside from counting all that (future) cash — may the Japanese famous person put collectively an MLB tilt of 60 homers or extra? At danger of stating the blindingly apparent, he is a once-in-a-lifetime expertise, and even in the event you discover the Dodgers and their extravagant wealth irksome, likelihood is you will be rooting for this man.
The Cowboys present rolls onward
The Dallas Cowboys are extremely constant at one factor and one factor solely. Being inconsistent. Even when Dak Prescott places collectively a metronomic and mightily completed season like this, you by no means know whether or not to belief the Cowboys or not. Is {that a} supply of frustration for Jerry Jones and the workforce’s ever-hungry followers? Yes. Is all of it a part of what retains Dallas as soccer’s most intriguing workforce for everybody else? You wager.
A Berhalter enhance
About six years in the past, former USA males’s head coach Bruce Arena said that he anticipated the national team, by the point this nation hosts the World Cup in 2026, to be a contender to win it. No one is being so daring nowadays, and the precedence for head coach Gregg Berhalter in 2024 is to get his workforce taking part in confidently with the massive present two years away. This yr’s largest check will come within the Copa América, in opposition to a stacked area of South America’s greatest expertise.
USMNT’s greatest lineup for the 2024 Copa América
[2024 Copa América: Predicting the USMNT’s 23-man roster]
Some victories, please
When extraordinary streaks proceed, both good or dangerous, it attracts us in, which is why the Detroit Pistons are the NBA workforce everyone seems to be presently listening to. Heading into the New Year, they’re going to have a contemporary begin after ending a 29-game shedding streak on Saturday. The Pistons’ record-setting skid was each statistically unfeasible and flat-out gory. But sufficient was sufficient. There are some promising younger gamers, together with Cade Cunningham, on the Pistons roster. Let’s hope the sporting gods bestow a couple of wins upon them. Quickly.
[Detroit Pistons losing streak: Tracking NBA consecutive loss record, lines]
A heavyweight boxing boss
Boxing has gone almost 24 years with out an undisputed heavyweight champion, the final being Lennox Lewis. The coming yr ought to produce one other one ultimately, however as that is boxing, you’ll be able to by no means be too certain. Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk are scheduled to struggle for all of the marbles in Saudi Arabia subsequent month. This is a barely oversimplified request, however let’s simply hope the darn factor truly goes forward, after a protracted delay and a proposed December matchup fell aside on the negotiating desk.
A five-ringed circus
It has been a protracted, very long time for the reason that Olympic Games came about in its regular sense. The 2020 Tokyo Games have been rescheduled to 2021 and each that occasion, and the Winter Games in Beijing in 2022, have been unrecognizable from what we have come to anticipate. Paris is poised to placed on a spectacular present and will give a reminder that for a brief window each few years, the Olympics nonetheless holds a particular sort of magic.
The beefed-up Big Ten
There is not sufficient area right here to unpack all the things that is occurring with school soccer, and sure, we’re not blind to the truth that there are colleges which have suffered via realignment in addition to those that will profit. But it is arduous not to take a look at the beefed-up Big Ten, with its new arrivals and elimination of divisions, and never get excited. With a West Coast inflow on the way in which, here is wishing that it lives as much as the hype. It’s arduous to think about that it will not.
Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and the writer of the FOX Sports Insider e-newsletter. Follow him on Twitter @MRogersFOX and subscribe to the daily newsletter.
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