Joe Flacco leads the Browns to the Tremendous Bowl
Within the 12 months of the backup quarterback, Flacco’s encore efficiency has been a real shock. Simply when it appeared as if the 38-year-old father of 5 may’ve been cooked, he got here off the sofa to win 5 of six begins and rally Cleveland to their second playoff berth in 21 years.
All through the College of Delaware product has appeared as elite as in his heyday in Baltimore, the place devastating protection set him as much as reign bombs downfield. With the method a lot the identical in Cleveland, what’s stopping the previous Tremendous Bowl MVP from profitable all of it once more with the Browns?
Think about: Cleveland have already overwhelmed Baltimore, San Francisco and Jacksonville this season and have sufficient muscle on either side of the ball to push round up-and-down Kansas Metropolis and Miami, too. The Browns had been already excessive on the checklist of groups nobody wished to play whereas DeShaun Watson’s different backups had been filling in. However with Flacco below middle, they’re a critical title contender now. AL
Gabby Douglas will win Olympic gold (once more)
As Simone Biles spectacularly re-established her dominance this 12 months, one other vital gymnastics comeback was quietly within the works. Douglas, the trailblazing 2012 Olympic all-around champion introduced this 12 months that she would return in 2024 having not competed since her own painful Olympic experience in 2016. Beginning once more from scratch after an eight-year layoff in such a technical sport like gymnastics is astoundingly tough, there might be no margin for error since she is returning in an Olympic 12 months and the depth of the US workforce implies that merely making it to the Olympics is a number of instances tougher than really profitable a workforce medal, the place USA might be heavy favorites. Nonetheless, Douglas, who turned 28 on Sunday, is a champion, a generational expertise in her personal proper and she or he is aware of precisely what it takes to make a workforce. In 2024, alongside Biles, she’s going to do it once more. TC
The Saudis get within the NFL enterprise
The continued encroachment of Public Funding Funds into sports activities continues apace. To date, Sovereign Wealth Funds have turned the majority of their consideration to European soccer, boxing and golf. Subsequent up on the docket: the 4 main US professional sports activities leagues. Final 12 months, the Qatar Funding Authority grew to become the primary Center Japanese group to dip its toes within the water, shopping for a 5% stake in Monumental Sports activities & Leisure for $200m, the possession group of the NHL’s Washington Capitals, NBA’s Washington Wizards and WNBA’s Washington Mystics. The largest lingering query: Can an funding fund purchase its means into the NFL’s previous boys membership? Shopping for up a portion of Sundays is hard. Boardroom transactions in America’s most distinguished league usually have much less to do with cash and extra to do with backroom scheming – the league has solely ever had one international proprietor, Shahid Khan, a Pakastani-born enterprise, who’s a naturalized US citizen, who purchased the Jags in 2012. However how a lot wouldn’t it take for Saudi Arabia’s PIF to bypass the standard backroom backslapping? $8bn? $10bn? The Saints and Seahawks might each be out there within the subsequent 12 months, and an possession group headed up by a conventional face (white, previous, male, purveyor of a legacy model) in partnership with a sovereign wealth fund seems like an inevitability. OC
Not less than one MLB workforce will threaten to maneuver cities
In November, Main League Baseball house owners unanimously permitted the Oakland A’s transfer to Las Vegas in 2028, a bitter finish to arduous negotiations between A’s possession and the town of Oakland. The town’s lease with the A’s house stadium was set to run out in 2024, and proprietor John Fisher negotiated a take care of Las Vegas that assured extra public funding for a brand new stadium than Oakland was prepared to supply. Anticipate different house owners to observe Fisher’s playbook. The Chicago White Sox lease with Assured Price area expires in 2029, and proprietor Jerry Reinsdorf was spotted leaving a meeting with Nashville mayor Freddie O’Connell in December. The Milwaukee Brewers had been rumored to be searching for a brand new house earlier than the Wisconsin state legislature passed a $500m bill to publicly fund renovations to their house ballpark (the town is anticipated to signal a brand new 30-year lease with the workforce quickly).
The stakes are clear: with cities like Nashville and Charlotte expressing curiosity in internet hosting Main League Baseball groups (MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has indicated he’d like to see a team in Nashville), count on house owners to demand extra public funding from cities as their stadium leases close to expiration. GB
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The Dallas Cowboys hire Bill Belichick
The Hoodie will be the head coach of the Cowboys to start the 2024 season. The future Hall of Fame coach, who turns 72 in April, hasn’t been able to find success since Tom Brady departed New England and will be let go after what’s surely been his worst season on the sidelines. Another disappointing finish for Mike McCarthy and the Cowboys will have Jerry Jones looking to make a move. Jones, whose weakness for splashy hires is well-documented, will look to hire from his buddy Bill Parcells’ coaching tree and snag the Hoodie. Belichick, a six-time Super Bowl champion as a head coach, will inherit a proven quarterback and a talented roster that can help him catch Don Shula and become the league’s all-time winningest coach. NL
Hikaru Nakumura wins the world chess championship
Nakamura enters 2024 ranked third in the world and having booked his place in April’s eight-man candidates tournament to determine the challenger to Ding Liren’s world title in the fall. Ding has made limited appearances due to unspecified health issues since winning the crown vacated by Magnus Carlsen, meaning April’s double round-robin gauntlet in Toronto may prove tougher to win than the world championship match itself. It says here that Nakamura, at 36 and with Carlsen having abdicated, is ready for his moment. The five-time US champion, whose main career is as a streamer with millions of followers, will become the second ever American champion in the 138-year history of world title matchplay and first since Bobby Fischer, kicking off a stateside chess boom that will make The Queen’s Gambit effect seem quaint. BAG
The NBA will see (another) first-time champion
Yes, the National Basketball Association is a league of bluebloods. There’s a reason the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics each boast 17 championships apiece over the league’s 77-year history, marking about half of the total NBA finals wins. Other teams like San Antonio, Golden State, Miami, Philly and Chicago hold multiple rings, too. But more recently, parody has become something of a reality in the NBA. Denver won their first Larry O’Brien trophy in 2023 and we think this year the league will crown yet another first-time winner. That means teams like those listed above will have to sit on the sidelines as the confetti falls on a new champ. So, who might that be? Best bets are either Oklahoma City or Minnesota, which are currently atop the Western Conference. But don’t look now – the LA Clippers could get into the fold with newcomer James Harden running point and the freshly heathy (knock on wood) Kawhi Leonard and Paul George running the wings. Yes, it’s anyone’s to win and we think it will be a first-time team once again in 2024. JU
