It’s a brand new year, with high hopes for another great season on the ball fields, the ice rinks, the golf courses and the tennis courts. So here are a few predictions about which to guffaw:
— This era’s most amazing sports story is 44-year-old Tiger Woods and he will continue to stalk the Jack Nicklaus record for most major championships (19). He won his 15th in 2019 and, no matter what the world golf rankings say (Tiger is actually No. 6 today), he appears again to be the game’s best player and will win at least one, maybe two, major titles in 2020.
— Major league baseball will continue to undergo changes to speed it up, and to clean it up. Houston Astros will have their knuckles rapped in some fashion for their electronic (and trash-can banging) espionage during the playoffs, and it will take fans a while to get used to the new rule in 2020 saying a relief pitcher has to face at least three hitters, or to complete a half-inning. No more of these one-batter specialists. And it won’t happen this year, but movement will continue at a fairly rapid pace to eventually have robotic umpires in place.
— The race to 894 will start gaining media traction in 2020. That’s Alex Ovechkin’s attempt to supplant Wayne Gretzky as the NHL’s No. 1 all-time goal-scorer. At the Christmas break, Ovechkin had 24 goals this year and 682 for his career. Give him another 20 or so this year and he’ll be around 700 going into next season. He’ll be only 35 next year, and 194 goals shy of Gretzky’s total. Five more years at 40 goals per year and the Great One will be the Great Two.
— Canadian tennis will continue to rise, and thrive. More courts will be built in our country. More kids will take up the game. All because of the recent successes by the likes of Bianca Andreescu, Eugenie Bouchard, Milos Raonic, Denis Shapovalov, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Vasek Pospisil. If nothing else, Canada’s hopes for medalling in tennis in the Olympics have been greatly enhanced.
— Despite the signing of free agent pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu to a four-year, $80 million contract, It will be another so-so (rough) year for the Blue Jays; the Leafs won’t win the Stanley Cup (again); the Bombers will find it tough to repeat their Grey Cup victory; and Brendan Bottcher of Edmonton will win the Brier and Tracy Fleury the Scotties. Other than that, I’m fresh out of ideas, but the best idea I’ve had today is to put $100 down on Tiger to win the Grand Slam and then take my winnings and retire comfortably to a South Pacific island.
- Janice Hough of leftcoastsportsbabe.com: “Gerrit Cole will be 39 by the end of his $324 million nine-year contract. But if he doesn't live up to it I'm sure Yankees fans and the New York media will be warm and understanding.”
- Blogger Eric Stangel, after the Yankees signed pitcher Gerrit Cole for $324 million over nine seasons: “The Yankees also announced that beer at the stadium will now cost $734.”
- Bob Molinaro of pilotonline.com: “I’m waiting for the story that accuses the Patriots of stealing signs for the Astros.”
- Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times: “The best place in America to experience New Year’s Eve, according to a WalletHub.com study, is New York City. Except now there’s bickering over whether it’s a Jets or Giants receiver who gets to drop the ball at midnight.”
- Dwight Perry again: “This is the Year of the Pig, according to the Chinese calendar, though one could argue that Russian doping and the can-banging Astros make it seem like the Year of the Cheetah.”
- Comedy writer Jim Barach, after a Patriots video crew violated league policy while taping at the Browns-Bengals game: “They say they weren’t spying, they were just putting together a blooper reel for the NFL Christmas party.”
- Comedy writer Alex Kaseberg, on the Patriots being accused of spying on the Bengals: “That’s like the Rolling Stones spying on Milli Vanilli.”
- Justin Rogers of The Detroit News, via Twitter, on the plight of the local NFL squad: ”Two presidents have been impeached since the Lions last won the division.”
- Warriors coach Steve Kerr, to reporters, when asked if his 8-24 team’s win over Houston on Christmas was its best of the season: “Well, yeah, but there haven’t been that many to choose from.”
- Janice Hough of leftcoastsportsbabe.com, on the 16-day lag between the semifinals and title game of the College Football Playoff: “Players have so much time off they might even have to go to class.”
- Comedy writer Alex Kaseberg, on diva wide receiver Antonio Brown getting a tryout with the Saints: “Brown has as much chance of acting like a Saint as the 1-14 Bengals have of acting like a tiger.”
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