As the 2024 year comes to an end, we can know say welcome to 2025. First, let's take a moment and realize what a year of sports it has been, a rollercoaster to say the least. From the Olympics to Championship Games, it's time to recap what my top events of 2024
Kansas City Chiefs - 3peat incoming?
Let's kick things off with the NFL. Playoffs are right around the corner and we're now coming down to the wire. Who's going to win it all? Well, we know one thing for sure. Kansas City, who are coming off their second consecutive Super Bowl ring, are challengers once again. With their 15-1 record this season, the Chiefs are the favorites to win the NFL once again. However, there are some very strong football teams standing in their way this time around. They most definitely are good enough to become champions for a third straight season. The Chiefs have their core of Patrick Mahomes & Travis Kelce back, and Hollywood Brown just returned from the IR which should be a massive help. But, will they get it done? Only time will tell. Here are the odds of the top five contenders as of right now. Kansas City Chiefs (+350)Detroit Lions (+400) Buffalo Bills (+600)Philadelphia Eagles (+650)Baltimore Ravens (+650)
Burns' Super Bowl Prediction as of today: Buffalo Bills (31) beats Detroit Lions (24). Spain are kings of Europe after winning European Championships!!
Looking at another type of football, this is the World's Most Beautiful Game. European Football (Soccer) is the biggest sport in the World and it's still growing. Now, although the "World Cup" is the most prestigious tournament to win in the world of Soccer for all of the players, the European Championships (Euro Cup) comes next in terms of International Tournaments. There's the Copa America, AFCON, Asian Cup etc.. However, the best teams are located in Europe and this is the tournament for just those teams. In this year's version, we saw a bunch of new faces reach new heights. For Spain, who ended up winning the tournament, a young 17yr old sensation took center stage. Lamine Yamal, who plays at Barcelona for club soccer, is one of the world's greatest up and coming superstars. He's already made a name for himself and people from all over the world are absolutely loving it. Yamal dominated France in the Semi's as he scored an absolute screamer. He also set up many opportunities for his teammates over the course of the tournament. It's just the start of something special that Spain is building and their next chance to show it is at the Nations League in 2025. Expect Spain to be serious challengers once again come the World Cup in 2026 & Euros in 2028.
"The Avengers" strike back and win gold at the 2024 Olympics! (Team USA Basketball):
If you somehow missed the Men's Basketball portion of the 2024 Olympic Games, go check it out right now. Team USA, who lost in both the Semi Finals as well as the Bronze Medal game in the FIBA World Cup in 2023, were in it to prove something this time around. The fastest man in the world, Noah Lyles (who won gold in the 100M sprint in these very Olympics) had something to say after he realized that NBA Finals Champions were calling themselves the Champions of the World. That motivated the USA to bring together the greats and best players from their country for the 2024 olympics. With players like LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry a part of the team, you wouldn't expect anything else but gold. Having said that, Serbia & France did all they could to slow them down. But, Curry took exception. In the fourth quarter of both of those games (Semis & Finals) the "Baby Faced Assassin" took over. It was one of the greatest basketball performances of all time. Even the French TV announcer said, “The devil named Curry is hurting us!” when he was going off in the final minutes of the Gold Medal Game. Nicknamed "The Avengers" I think this time challenges some of the Team USA's of the past as one of the best teams ever assembled.
UCONN dynasty in College Hoops? Winning one championship in College Basketball is extremely difficult. Teams battle through all sorts of adversity all throughout the school year just to get put in a 68-team tournament at the end of the season to duel it out with the nations best programs. Well, this Connecticut Men's Basketball team has managed to win the NCAA Championship in consecutive years now. This is the first time that it's happened that a team won two straight since 2006-07, and the ninth time all time. Head Coach, Dan Hurley, was offered a six year 70-million dollar deal to become this year's HC of the Los Angeles Lakers. Hurley declined the offer and extended his tenure with the Huskies through the 2029-30 season for 20 million less. People may question his hard coaching style. But, there's no question that he's a winner/has loyalty to his program. He's here to build something special. It would be something "special" if the Huskies are able to win another title this season, that's for sure. It's only ever happened one other time in the late 60s/early 70s & there's no question that they should be considered as contenders once again. Either way, this is a team to watch for years to come, that's for sure. Shohei Ohtani shatters records. Dodgers win the World Series!!
After signing the biggest contract in sporting history (10yr/700-million) just over a year ago now, Shohei Ohtani has already cemented himself as one of the best players to play the game of baseball after just one season with his new team. Ohtani, who broke many records over the course of this season, started his career with the Dodgers a bit slower than one would expect (to his standards.) It wasn't until a betting scandal broke out with his former interpreter and Ohtani's bank account that the NL MVP started dominating. Finishing the season as the first player in MLB history to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season. What's even more impressive about this feat is that Shohei is just as talented, if not better as a pitcher. He didn't pitch in 2024, but is expected to get back to it in 2025. The Dodgers, who were stacked with talent, won the World Series with the top guys leading the way. Even though he didn't have an amazing playoffs, Ohtani's season will go down as one of the best ever by a hitter.
Luke Littler Takes Over the Dart World!
Not many people outside of Europe pay attention to darts. However, like most sports, Darts is growing around the world. Luke Littler, a 17year old from Runcorn, United Kingdom, "kicked ass" in juniors. In his first season in the "big leagues," Littler "kicked even more ass." Luke "The Nuke" now has plenty of wins and titles under his belt (10 senior PDC titles already,) and he's the favorite to win the World Darts Championships which is the tournament that's going on right now. He's ranked as a top-five player in the World and might even be the best currently. Expect more winning to come over the course of this young phenom's career.
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