The 11th Inning

During the holidays and throughout the month of January, MLB Network has been playing the outstanding 1994 Ken Burns documentary Baseball, including The Tenth Inning, the equally outstanding follow-up that aired in 2010.  It's been 15 years since The Tenth Inning came out, and Burns indicated back then that he hoped to do an 11th inning, a 12th inning, etc.  He even knows when he would start The 11th Inning...with Armando Galarraga's perfect game that wasn't. 

That's as good a starting point as any.  But what else would be included in The 11th Inning?  Well, a lot has happened in baseball over the past 15 years, so there are plenty of options.  The 15 years from 2010-24 is a nice, round number, which makes it the perfect timeframe.  And, frankly, so much has happened during that span that there's probably plenty of stuff that would be omitted.

We already know that The 11th Inning would start with Armando Galarraga.  And the Cubs snapping their 108-year title drought in 2016 is the perfect midway point, so there would be no more fitting way to end Part I.  Part II would also have a natural beginning with Team USA winning the 2017 World Baseball Classic.  And, with the international focus of that episode, there's also a natural conclusion to Part II.  Shohei Ohtani's spectacular 2024 season and Ichiro becoming the first Japanese player voted into the Hall of Fame.

So, we've got the beginning and the end of each part.  But what (and who) else should we expect to see when/if The 11th Inning becomes a reality?  I'll take a gander at some of the big ones that any documentary about baseball over the last 15 years would feel incomplete without:

• San Francisco Giants dynasty: The Giants moved to San Francisco in 1958, but had to wait until 2010 to win their first World Series since 1954.  Then they went on that weird little run where they won it every other year.  The last of those three titles came in 2014, where Madison Bumgarner had that memorable Game 7 performance in Kansas City (paving the way for the Royals' championship a year later).
  
  
• 2011 World Series: In 2011, the Cardinals and Rangers played an absolute classic!  Games 1 & 2 had the showdowns between Alexi Ogando and Allen Craig.  Albert Pujols (who'd get a whole segment himself in one of the parts) hit three home runs in Game 3.  Texas was an out away from its first World Series title twice in Game 6, but David Freese had other ideas.  The first World Series Game 7 in nearly a decade was a little anticlimactic after that incredible Game 6.  This was also the last World Series before the introduction of the Wild Card Game.
  
  
• Mike Trout & Miguel Cabrera: Mike Trout burst on the scene in 2011 and was widely considered the best player in the game until Shohei Ohtani showed up.  In 2012, there was the season-long debate between fans over whether Trout or Miguel Cabrera would be the AL MVP.  That's the season when Cabrera won the first Triple Crown since 1967.
  
  
• Mariano Rivera & Derek Jeter: Two Yankees legends, both five-time World Series champions, both who wore Pinstripes for 20 years, who retired a year apart.  Rivera was first, retiring in 2013 with a record 652 saves.  Then Jeter retired in 2014 with 3,465 hits, sixth-most in history.  Their Hall of Fame elections were just as historic.  Rivera became the first player voted in unanimously, and Jeter was one vote shy of unanimous.
  
  
• MVP Pitchers: I'm cheating a little bit and grouping them all together, because how can you really separate them?  Justin Verlander was the 2011 AL MVP.  Clayton Kershaw was the NL MVP in 2014.  While neither was an MVP, Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom pitched at a dominating level.  Then there's Matt Harvey, from his breakout in 2012 to starting the All*Star Game at home in 2013 and leading the Mets to the NL pennant in 2015.
  
  

Part I of The 11th Inning would really set the stage for what's to come in Part II.  Nothing will be able to top that Cubs championship and the euphoria it brought to so many baseball fans (except maybe those in St. Louis).  The perfect finish after starting with a near-perfect game.  And leading into a Part II that would feature topics such as...

• Houston Astros cheating scandal: This unfortunate chapter would probably take up a good part early in Part II.  It started with that incredible 2017 World Series against the Dodgers, which was then tainted when the details of Houston's cheating scheme came out.  It cost their manager and GM their jobs and made the Astros pariahs throughout baseball for the next several years, even as Houston built a dynasty (and proved that they didn't need to cheat to win).
  
  
• 2020 season: It was a weird season all around.  It was all necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, of course, but it resulted in one of the most unique seasons in Major League history.  Having everything put on pause in the middle of Spring Training, then waiting months before playing a 60-game schedule in empty ballparks (with plenty of negotiations between the players and owners about what the season would look like in the interim), followed by an expanded postseason (with eight teams per league instead of five) played entirely at neutral sites.
  
  
• Aaron Judge AL home run record: Aaron Judge's 2022 season would have to get its own segment.  It could go back to his rookie-record 52 home runs in 2017, which was merely a prelude to what he'd do five years later.  In a contract year, Judge hit 62 homers, breaking the 61-year-old American League record.  His pursuit of Roger Maris captured the attention of baseball fans all summer.
  
  
• Special event games: Baseball's been expanding globally, with three series having been played in London so far, while also having games in Japan, South Korea, Australia, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.  And, of course, the World Baseball Classic.  It isn't just the international games, though.  There's the annual Little League Classic, the Field of Dreams games and Rickwood Field.  They're all part of Baseball's expanded reach.
  
  
• Rule changes: They've made such an impact that they can't be ignored.  First, there was the introduction of instant replay.  Then there was the pitch clock, the three-batter minimum, the ban on shifts and the larger bases.  It isn't just the "speed up" rules, either.  The game has been fundamentally changed by the universal DH, the expanded playoffs and the new schedule format where you face every other team every season.
  
  

Another key thing that would be featured in Part II is the opening of the Negro League Museum and the recognition of the Negro Leagues as Major League, complete with the integration of Negro League statistics into the Major League statistics.  There's also the Cleveland Indians' 21-game winning streak, the Nationals' championship run in 2019, the Red Sox winning the World Series 100 years apart, the Astros' World Series no-hitter in 2023 and players like Juan Soto and Bryce Harper, as well as a new generation led by Elly de la Cruz and Paul Skenes.  And that's not even all of it!  As I said, there's plenty that The 11th Inning could cover.

Unrivaled Basketball

Women's basketball is hot right now.  Record NCAA Tournament ratings carried over into the WNBA's biggest season ever, and, to top it off, the U.S. won gold at the Paris Olympics.  The time was ripe for the women's basketball to continue that momentum.  Which is exactly what they've done with the launch of Unrivaled.

The brainchild of Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier (UConn teammates whose teams played against each other in the WNBA Finals last season), Unrivaled is a six-team, full-court 3x3 league featuring some of the best players in the WNBA.  The rosters are made up entirely of WNBA players, giving them the opportunity to play and make money during the WNBA offseason without having to travel overseas.  The season is only seven weeks long, so it'll be over before the NCAA Tournament and they'll still have a decent break before training camps start in late April.

It's fun to see rivals as teammates, and the format is both fast-paced and exciting.  Full-court 3x3 lends itself to a wide-open style of play, and it really is a totally different game than the halfcourt 3x3 we see at the Olympics.  Unrivaled is also a different type of showcase, allowing the players to display their skills in a setting unlike the WNBA.

There's plenty of innovation in Unrivaled, too.  Every foul is only one free throw, with the number of points awarded depending on the value of the original shot.  If you're fouled on a three-pointer, the foul shot is worth three points.  A regular shooting foul gets you two points if you make the free throw.  And an and-one is just that.  The standard one point.

Quarters are seven minutes long, but only the first three are timed.  The fourth quarter uses the Elam ending, which was introduced in The Basketball Tournament and was also used in the NBA All*Star Game for a little while.  In Unrivaled, they take the leading team's score after three quarters and add 11 to get the "target score."  Whoever reaches the target score first wins.

While I've never been a fan of the untimed fourth quarter and the Elam ending, it does provide for some exciting finishes.  And every game is guaranteed to end on a walk-off.  I watched the first night of Unrivaled and saw Skylar Diggins-Smith's team make an impressive comeback, with her sinking a trey to hit the target score and win it.  It was effectively a buzzer beater.  Except there was no buzzer.

I get that plenty of people like the Elam ending.  I just don't happen to be one of them.  Although, I'll admit the chances of a comeback are definitely greater when you aren't also going up against a clock.  And the target score does seem to work in 3x3.  Olympic 3x3 games are 10 minutes long or first to 21, so 21's essentially the target score in those games.  They just carried it over into an indoor, full-court format.

My favorite thing about Unrivaled, though, is how the league has brought together so many WNBA stars in the same place.  Not all of them.  Caitlin Clark notably isn't participating.  But most.  And it's mighty impressive that so many of them decided to take the leap and sign on for a new venture that was totally different.  That showed a lot of faith.  Yes, there was plenty of incentive.  The players have equity in the league, and there's a prize pool for the playoffs and the midseason 1v1 tournament that will pay them beyond their salary (which is guaranteed to be at least six figures).  But, still, they took a risk.

Six teams are competing in Unrivaled's inaugural season, but it's easy to see that number expanding, perhaps as early as 2026.  Paige Bueckers and Flau'jae Johnson have already signed NIL deals with Unrivaled, so they'll presumably join the league after their WNBA rookie season.  Ditto about Hailey Van Lith.  And the Cavinder twins.  Cameron Brink couldn't play this year because of her torn ACL.  And you'd have to think Clark would obviously be welcome when and if she ever decides to join Unrivaled.  See, that's two more teams right there!

Another great thing about Unrivaled is something that people didn't even think about initially, but has proven to be a tremendous benefit for both the players and WNBA teams.  Everybody's in the same place.  That makes it super convenient and easy for everyone.  Especially since free agents can begin signing with teams on February 1.

Brittney Griner is testing the free agent waters for the first time in her WNBA career.  Brittney Griner is currently playing in Unrivaled.  Instead of traveling around the country to meet with WNBA coaches and general managers, they came to her.  Same with Courtney Vandersloot and all the other free agents.  It takes away a lot of the stress that would otherwise come with the free agency process.  And they likely wouldn't be able to meet in-person at all if they were playing overseas instead of in Unrivaled.

Likewise, Unrivaled gives WNBA front office personnel the opportunity to meet in person.  And it's already resulted in one massive trade.  In a three-team deal, Kelsey Plum went from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, while her Olympic teammate Jewell Loyd was traded from Seattle to Las Vegas.  The teams also swapped draft picks, with Seattle getting the No. 2 overall pick from Los Angeles in the trade.  Would it have happened anyway?  Perhaps.  But Plum needed to sign off on the deal and it was much easier to ask her in person.  (Loyd wanted a trade, but had a year left on her contract.)

Perhaps the most important thing about Unrivaled is that it has so much support.  The league has some big-name investors and a TV deal with Turner, so the financial backing is there.  And so many people want to see it succeed.  Based on the early returns, there's no reason to believe it won't.  Unrivaled is something new, something different, and a showcase for a sport that's on the rise.  Most importantly, the players are all in.  It's a winning combination.

Much like the WNBA itself, there's probably still plenty of skepticism about Unrivaled.  I was skeptical myself at first.  But, having seen the product, it's definitely a worthwhile venture.  And, remember, this is just year one.  You've got to think it'll improve over time.  Even if it doesn't, Unrivaled came around at the perfect time.  Because women's basketball has that momentum and this new league will only help the sport grow even more.

The Dodger Lockout

Major League Baseball's current CBA doesn't expire until after the 2026 season.  There are already rumblings that there will be a lockout when it does.  Not because of any disagreement between the owners and players.  They appear to be on the same page regarding most of the major stuff.  Rather, it's discontent among the owners that will likely lead to what I'm calling the "Dodger lockout."

It should be noted that the Dodgers aren't breaking any rules.  Everything they're doing is allowed under the CBA.  The other 29 teams are (theoretically at least) capable of doing the exact same things.  Of course, they don't all have the Dodgers' financial might, but that doesn't make the Dodgers' approach "unfair," even though it might seem that way.  All they're doing, really, is taking advantage of a broken system.  It's that system the other owners want to change, and a lockout, unfortunately, is probably the only way to do it.

The Roki Sasaki signing is what really sent a lot of people over the edge.  After he was posted by his Japanese team, Sasaki had 45 days to sign with a Major League club.  The three "finalists" were the Dodgers, Padres and Blue Jays, with it ultimately coming down to the Dodgers and Padres.  Which is exactly what everyone had expected for more than a year.  So, it came as no surprise to anybody when he picked the Dodgers.  It was almost as if it was preordained.

In fact, so many teams thought it looked shady that MLB opened an investigation.  They didn't find anything suspect, but it still made teams feel like idiots for having meetings with Sasaki when they had absolutely no chance of signing him.  If he knew he was going to the Dodgers all along, why string the other teams along?  Especially when there was no bidding war to be had since he was limited to a Minor League deal as an "international amateur free agent."

That, to me, is the loophole that the Dodgers exploited and needs to be closed.  Sasaki is classified as an "amateur" because of his age.  This guy is anything but an amateur.  He pitched four years in Nippon Professional Baseball, was a two-time All-Star, set records for strikeouts and threw a perfect game.  The Dodgers are getting a seasoned professional at a bargain price (because, you know, they need to save money) simply because he's younger than 25.

Here's why the Sasaki situation is a joke, though.  Roki Sasaki and a 16-year-old Dominican shortstop who's never played an organized game are both categorized as "international amateur free agents."  In what world are they the same?  That 16-year-old kid actually is an amateur!  Whatever team signs him will probably start him at A-ball and develop him through their Minor League system with hopes that he can contribute at the Major League level a few years down the line.  Sasaki, meanwhile, slots immediately into the Dodgers' Major League rotation.

Calling Sasaki an "amateur" simply because of his age makes a mockery of the system!  Any Japanese player who comes over from Nippon Professional Baseball, regardless of age, should be classified the same way.  If they're posted, they're a free agent with no restrictions on the type and length of contract they can sign.  Meanwhile, amateur free agents are just that.  Actual amateurs.

I wouldn't mind seeing changes to the posting system, either.  During his interview with MLB Network after the Hall of Fame announcement, they asked Ichiro why he ended up signing with the Mariners.  His answer was very simple.  Because they had the highest bid.  I'm not saying we should go back to that completely, but there would at least be a chance one team wouldn't be able to stockpile all the Japanese talent if they still did it that way.

An international draft was one of the big sticking points in the last CBA negotiations.  The owners really wanted it, but there was player pushback and it wasn't included in the 2022 CBA.  I'd suspect those discussions will also be a major topic with the next CBA negotiations, as well.  Teams need to feel like they have a chance at signing international talent, and not everyone does right now.  An international draft would be a way to fix that.

Then there's the deferred contracts.  The Dodgers have deferred more than $1 billion to free agents over the past few years!  Shohei Ohtani's only getting paid $2 million per season for the duration of his 10-year/$700 million contract.  The other $680 million was all deferred.  That's 97 percent of his entire contract!  And Ohtani's not the only one.  Blake Snell & Tanner Scott singed with the Dodgers this winter on heavily deferred deals, and there are also deferrals in Mookie Betts', Freddie Freeman's, Will Smith's and Tommy Edman's contracts.  That's seven players!

Deferred contracts are nothing new in baseball.  The entire reason "Bobby Bonilla Day" even exists is because of the amount of deferred money the Mets still owe him.  Ken Griffey, Jr.'s Reds contract also had a ton of deferred money, and there are several other retired players still being paid by Major League clubs.  The Dodgers aren't even the only team with current players that have part of their salary deferred.  The issue with the Dodgers, though, is the sheer volume of deferred money not currently on their payroll and the sheer number of players with that type of deal.  The Dodgers are deferring more payroll than some teams will spend on their entire active roster this season!

Again, there's nothing "wrong" with deferring money.  With no salary cap and no salary floor, teams are free to spend whatever they like on their payroll.  If they cross certain thresholds, they'll have to pay a luxury tax, which the Dodgers do every year.  That's where the problem with all of the Dodgers' deferred contracts comes in, though.  By deferring so much money, they're lowering the contract's annual value, thus lowering the amount they owe on that contract towards the luxury tax.

Because of all the deferred money, Ohtani's contract doesn't count anywhere close to $70 million a year towards the luxury tax.  Ditto about Betts, Freeman, Snell, etc.  When Ohtani deferred so much, he even said his reason for doing it was so that they could use the money they were "saving" to sign additional players.  (Signing bonuses don't count towards the luxury tax either, BTW.)  That's another ridiculous loophole that needs to be closed. 

All the Dodgers have done is take advantage of that loophole, so I'm not pinning this entirely on them.  However, if you sign a player to a "$70 million per year" contract, that contract should actually count $70 million towards the luxury tax.  Especially since there's no guarantee he'll still be on the team when that contract is over (regardless of how much money he's still owed).  You can structure it with the player however you want, but that contract's annual value towards the luxury tax should be its actual value, not the average after deferrals.

These heavily deferred contracts have even caught the attention of the California State Legislature.  A State Senator introduced a bill trying to stop it, in fact.  His argument (which is actually a pretty good one) is that it'll potentially end up costing the state millions of dollars in tax revenue.  Since there's no guarantee the players will still be living in California after they're no longer playing for the Dodgers, they'll theoretically be able to avoid paying state income tax on the deferred salary they're still owed.

While that's not a concern for Major League Baseball and the other 29 owners, they still have plenty of reason to want to see changes regarding deferred contracts and how they're counted against the luxury tax.  That may even be a bigger issue than the Roki Sasaki/international amateur thing.  Which is why I expect both things to be major topics of discussion in the next CBA negotiations.  Not to mention the cause of the likely "Dodger Lockout" once the current CBA expires.

NFL 2024-25 (Conference Championships)

Out of the four possible Super Bowl matchups, there's one that most of America very much wants to see and one that the majority of the country very much doesn't.  Although I personally wouldn't really mind seeing a rematch of that excellent Chiefs-Eagles Super Bowl from two years ago, I understand why that's No. 4 on the list for most people.  There's Chiefs fatigue and the Commanders are the feel good story, so it makes sense that Buffalo-Washington is the preferred option for most.

A Buffalo-Philadelphia Super Bowl would also be cool, though.  If the Bills win, they'll make their fifth Super Bowl appearance.  All five would be against NFC East teams.  And, if they were to play the Eagles, they'd have completed the NFC East cycle in the Super Bowl, making them the first team to have played against an entire division in the Super Bowl.

Washington is already joining an exclusive club.  They've already played both the Cowboys and Giants in NFC Championship Games.  Now they complete their run through the division.  They're the first NFC team and just the third team in the NFL to have played each of their current division rivals in the Conference Championship Game.  The Dolphins and Raiders have both faced all four of their pre-2002 realignment division rivals in the AFL/AFC Championship Game, but no NFC team has faced all of its current or former division foes until now.

And the Commanders' success is driving their former owner crazy.  ESPN.com had an article this morning talking about how bitter Dan Snyder is, especially since he didn't want to sell and was forced out.  It's amazing what a difference good ownership, competent management and a positive work environment can make!

It's also amazing what's been going on in Kansas City over the past seven years.  We went from the Patriots playing in eight straight AFC Championship Games to the Chiefs playing in seven straight.  Who would've thought when they met for the right to go to Super Bowl LIII that it would be two dynasties converging?  The end of New England's and the start of Kansas City's.

Kansas City, of course, has a chance to become the first team since those Patriots to play in three consecutive Super Bowls.  It would also be their fifth in six years, which no team has ever done.  And the storyline all season has been their pursuit of an unprecedented third straight championship.  It's also nuts to think that the AFC Championship Game had never been in Kansas City prior to the 2018 season.  Now, the Chiefs are hosting it for the sixth time in seven years.

Of course, as much as America doesn't like the Chiefs, they've also been wanting the Chiefs-Bills matchup.  They've played some classics over the years, including that 2021 Divisional Playoff when Buffalo blew a three-point lead with 14 seconds left, then lost in overtime.  That game prompted the (unnecessary) rule change that guarantees both teams a possession no matter what in playoff overtime.  So, for the people who want the Chiefs to lose and the Bills to win, Buffalo beating Kansas City would be the ideal outcome.

Buffalo is meeting Kansas City in the playoffs for the fourth time in five years.  The Chiefs have won the previous three.  Yet the Bills have won the regular season matchup between the two in each of the past two seasons.  As for Washington and Philadelphia, they split this season, with the home team winning each.  So, while both home teams are understandably favored, seeing both road teams win isn't a crazy thought.  Or both home teams winning.  Or one and one.  Basically, I can see any of the four possible Super Bowl matchups happening.

NFC: Commanders (14-5) at Eagles (16-3): Philadelphia-This postseason has been a coming out party for Jayden Daniels & Co.  After beating Tampa Bay at literally the last second, the Commanders went into Detroit last week and moved the ball at will.  The Lions could not stop them.  It looked like a completely different defense than the one that had shut Minnesota down to clinch the 1-seed two weeks earlier.  Of course, Washington's defense didn't really stop Detroit that much, either.  But the Commanders took advantage of Lions turnovers and didn't make mistakes themselves, which allowed them to pull the upset.

Philadelphia, meanwhile, has had a pretty foolproof offensive strategy that they've utilized all season.  Just let Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley loose.  That's what they did against the Rams, and they were rewarded with big plays.  That Eagles defense doesn't get enough credit, either.  They've only given up more than 23 points twice all season...and those were two of their three losses.  So, don't expect the Commanders to run wild like they did in Detroit.

There's an important detail about the NFC Championship Game that could be an X factor.  It's outdoors.  Washington's playoff run has gone through Tampa (warm weather) and Detroit (indoors).  The Eagles have played both of their playoff games at home in the elements (it snowed for most of the Rams game).  It obviously gets cold in Washington, too (hence the Inauguration being moved indoors), but the weather in Philadelphia may do something that the Lions couldn't...shut down the Commanders offense.  If that happens, the Eagles are headed back to the Super Bowl.

AFC: Bills (15-4) at Chiefs (16-2): Buffalo-Josh Allen has shown over the course of the Bills' first two playoff games why he's an MVP finalist.  He was masterful against Denver, then won the head-to-head matchup with Lamar Jackson.  Allen has also done the most important thing any quarterback can do.  He's taken care of the football.  The Bills are yet to commit a turnover in the postseason.  As a result, they're in the AFC Championship Game for the first time in four years.

As much as the Chiefs haters don't want to hear this, they're playing their best football of the season right now.  The complaints about the officiating in their games (some of which is justified) reached a fever pitch after their victory against the Texans last week, and, I think, because of that, there isn't a proper appreciation for what Kansas City has been able to accomplish.  This season, especially, has been all about the defense.  Complain about Mahomes and Kelce all you want.  The defense is the reason the Chiefs are 16-2.

One of the craziest stats in the NFL this season is that there are only three teams who haven't scored 30 points in a game.  Kansas City is one of those teams.  Yet they're a win away from another Super Bowl.  So, for all the offensive firepower the Bills and Chiefs have, I actually think we'll have a defensive battle on our hands.  One of the quarterbacks will win it in the end, though.  And I just have a feeling that quarterback will be Josh Allen.

Last Week: 2-2
Playoffs: 7-3
Overall: 184-98

2025 NHL All*Stars

There's no NHL All*Star Game this season.  Instead, they're having the Four Nations Face Off, a 10-day tournament between the United States, Canada, Sweden and Finland in Montreal and Boston that's serving as a prelude to next year's Olympics, when NHL players will represent their countries for the first time since 2014.  Which means the NHL won't be announcing any All*Stars this season.

Ordinarily, the NHL takes advantage of the off weekend between the Conference Championship Games and Super Bowl by scheduling the All*Star Game for that Saturday.  That's what they'll do next year, when the NHL All*Star Game will return at UBS Arena on Long Island.  Gary Bettman has said it'll be a "sendoff" before the players leave for the Olympics in Milan.  The Olympics start on Feb. 6 and the Super Bowl is on Feb. 8, so that would allow for the All*Star Game to be played on its "regular" date, which would be Jan. 31.

Just because there's no NHL All*Star Game this year doesn't mean I can't pick All*Stars, though.  And, since the All*Star Game would likely have been next weekend, the teams would've been chosen by now.  So, I guess this is as good a time as any to name the 44 players I think would've been selected to play in the hypothetical 2025 NHL All*Star Game.

When the All*Star Game returns next season, I sure hope they do away with the stupid "pick your own teams" nonsense and go back to the four teams representing each division.  I hated the "fantasy draft" thing when it was two teams.  I hate it even more when it's four.  The draft itself is kind of cool, but even that turned into a joke when Auston Matthews picked all of the Maple Leafs and the Hughes brothers worked it so that they could get all of the Canucks.  So, please, let's go back to teams representing the divisions.

Another issue I had with last year's All*Star Game was how there were virtually no defensemen!  Of the 36 skaters, only four were defensemen.  Fortunately, it ended up that each team got one (which was only because Nathan MacKinnon made sure early on that he got Rasmus Dahlin, in what was likely a prearranged move).  I know fans like scoring and it's forwards who generally have the most points, but that's ridiculous.  So, I'm fixing that problem, as well.

I'm also assuming that the captains would be decided by fan vote.  Based on who the captains were last season, I have no reason to believe Auston Matthews, Nathan MacKinnon and Conor McDavid wouldn't have been voted as the captains again.  The only change is in the Metropolitan Division.  With Alex Ovechkin's pursuit of the all-time goals record as the headline in the NHL this season (and the Capitals boasting the best record in the league), I'm giving him the nod in the Metro.  Outside of Matthews, they were each worthy of selection anyway, so that's not really much of a problem.

One thing I do love about the NHL All*Star Game is how every team is represented.  Baseball and hockey are the only sports where they do that.  Of course, 32 teams and 44 total All-Stars means some deserving players end up getting left off so that another team's token representative can go.  It can be problematic and lead to some finagling.  I think I was able to make it work, though.

Each division has two goalies, three defensemen and six forwards.  All four captains are forwards, which works out nicely since it gives me five additional forwards for each team.  The captains are listed first and italicized.  Everyone else is listed alphabetically by team.  And, with that, I present your 2025 Joe Brackets NHL All*Stars...

ATLANTIC
G: Sergei Bobrovsky (FLA), Andrei Vasilevskiy (TB)
D: Rasmus Dahlin (BUF), Moritz Seider (DET), Lane Hutson (MTL)
F: Auston Matthews (TOR, captain), David Pastrnak (BOS), Sam Reinhart (FLA), Brady Tkachuk (OTT), Nikita Kucherov (TB), Mitch Marner (TOR)

METROPOLITAN
G: Jacob Markstrom (NJ), Logan Thompson (WSH)
D: Zach Werenski (CBJ), Adam Fox (NYR), Jakob Chychrun (WSH)
F: Alex Ovechkin (WSH, captain), Mikko Rantanen (CAR), Travis Konecny (PHI), Sidney Crosby (PIT), Jack Hughes (NJ), Anders Lee (NYI)

CENTRAL
G: Jake Oettinger (DAL), Connor Hellebuyck (WPG)
D: Cale Makar (COL), Roman Josi (NSH), Josh Morrissey (WPG)
F: Nathan MacKinnon (COL, captain), Connor Bedard (CHI), Martin Necas (COL), Kirill Kaprizov (MIN), Jordan Kyrou (STL), Clayton Keller (UTA)

PACIFIC
G: Darcy Kuemper (LA), Adin Hill (VGK)
D: Jake Walman (SJ), Quinn Hughes (VAN), Shea Theodore (VGK)
F: Connor McDavid (EDM, captain), Troy Terry (ANA), Jonathan Huberdeau (CGY), Leon Draisaitl (EDM), Jared McCann (SEA), Jack Eichel (VGK)

It actually worked out pretty well that the teams with multiple All*Stars were the better teams in their divisions (makes sense, doesn't it?).  Florida, Tampa Bay and Toronto each had two in the Atlantic.  In the Metropolitan, it was three Capitals and two Devils.  Three Avalanche and two Jets in the Central.  And in the Pacific, the Golden Knights with three and Edmonton's dynamic duo of Draisaitl and McDavid.

The All*Star Game coaches are the coaches of the team with the best record in each division at the time of the selections.  Since this is all a hypothetical exercise, I'm using today as the "date of the selections."  The teams leading their respective divisions are the Maple Leafs, Capitals, Jets and Golden Knights.  So, congratulations to your All*Star coaches Craig Berube (Atlantic), Spencer Carbery (Metropolitan), Scott Arniel (Central) and Bruce Cassidy (Pacific).

Ichiro and Who Else?

There are two pressing questions heading into this year's Baseball Hall of Fame announcement.  Whether Ichiro will get in isn't one of them.  He'll obviously get in overwhelmingly.  The question is whether he'll become the second player elected unanimously.  The other is who else, if anyone, will join him on the stage in Cooperstown.  (I guess you could add a third...whether his speech will be in English or Japanese.)

I'll get into that later.  First, it's one of my favorite annual posts--my Hall of Fame ballot.  Of the 10 players on my list last year, three were elected and another (Gary Sheffield) fell off the ballot after reaching the 10-year threshold.  There are only two no-brainers among the first-timers, so the question becomes who gets my last two spots?  Let's start with the easy ones.

1. Ichiro Suzuki, Outfielder (2001-12 Mariners, 2012-14 Yankees, 2015-17 Marlins, 2018-19 Mariners): We've known this one was coming from the moment Ichiro retired after playing the first two games of the 2019 season, when the Mariners started in Tokyo.  This is as easy a "yes" as there's been in quite a while.  He was the first Japanese position player to come over, and all he did in his first season with the Mariners was win both Rookie of the Year AND MVP!  He had 3,000 hits in a brilliant 19-year career (and over 4,000 when you include his time with Orix in Nippon Professional Baseball).  Ichiro was one of the best pure hitters of his generation, as well as a 10-time Gold Glove-winning right fielder.  I could go on, but there's no need.  Sometimes you just know a Hall of Famer when you see one and Ichiro is one of those players.

2. CC Sabathia, Pitcher (2001-08 Indians, 2008 Brewers, 2009-19 Yankees): Carsten Charles Sabathia finished second to Ichiro in the 2001 AL Rookie of the Year voting.  Will they go into the Hall of Fame side-by-side?  Because, make no mistake, CC is getting in.  If not this year, then soon.  The guy was the definition of an "ace."  Who can forget what he did after getting traded to the Brewers in 2008?  Starting every three days and basically willing them to the playoffs.  Then he signed with the Yankees as a free agent, won the World Series in his first year and was, arguably, the best free agent signing in Yankees history.  The craziest CC Sabathia stat is perhaps this one: he's one of just three lefties with 3,000 strikeouts (Randy Johnson and Steve Carlton are the other two).

3. Andy Pettitte, Pitcher (1995-2003 Yankees, 2004-06 Astros, 2007-10 Yankees, 2012-13 Yankees): In 2009, CC Sabathia started Game 1 in all three playoff series for the Yankees.  Andy Pettitte started all three clinchers.  That was one of five rings he won with New York, and they don't win those World Series without him.  While the postseason success is enough to put him over the top for me, Pettitte is also the Yankees' all-time leader in strikeouts and the winningest pitcher of the 2000s, so the regular season resume is there, too.

4. Carlos Beltran, Outfielder (1998-2004 Royals, 2004 Astros, 2005-11 Mets, 2011 Giants, 2012-13 Cardinals, 2014-16 Yankees, 2016 Rangers, 2017 Astros): Beltran got around 50 percent in his first year on the ballot and a little higher than that last year, so he's trending in the right direction.  That, presumably, was a punishment for his role in the Astros' sign-stealing scandal during their 2017 World Series run.  Beltran deserves to be in, though.  His postseason prowess was the best this side of David Ortiz.  But he was also a nine-time All*Star who hit 435 career home runs.

5. Andruw Jones, Outfielder (1996-2007 Braves, 2008 Dodgers, 2009 Rangers, 2010 White Sox, 2011-12 Yankees): It was completely unintentional that the top five names on my list all played for the Yankees!  I swear!  And, believe me, Andruw Jones' Yankee career was nothing to write home about.  His Hall of Fame credentials were burnished in Atlanta.  He won 10 consecutive Gold Gloves and hit 434 career home runs while the Braves were winning division titles every year.  And, to think, he was only the second-best Jones on those Atlanta teams!

6. Billy Wagner, Pitcher (1995-2003 Astros, 2004-05 Phillies, 2006-09 Mets, 2009 Red Sox, 2010 Braves): Wagner came painfully close to induction last year, and this is his final time on the writers' ballot.  Which bodes well for him getting over the top.  And, the longer he's spent on the ballot, my appreciation for his career has grown.  He's not Mariano Rivera or Trevor Hoffman, but he was still a pretty damn good closer for quite a while!  Wagner's eighth all-time in saves, had a career WHIP under 1.00 and had nearly 1,200 strikeouts in only 903 innings!

7. Omar Vizquel, Shortstop (1989-93 Mariners, 1994-2004 Indians, 2005-08 Giants, 2009 Rangers, 2010-11 White Sox, 2012 Blue Jays): Ozzie Smith is the greatest defensive shortstop of all-time.  Very few people would argue that contention.  Omar Vizquel may be second on that list.  This vote is predicated almost entirely on what he did defensively during a 24-year career for six teams.  And, make no mistake, he was just as valuable to those Cleveland teams in the 90s as the big hitters.

8. Dustin Pedroia, Second Baseman (2006-19 Red Sox): While I couldn't stand Dustin Pedroia as a player, I do acknowledge how important a role he played on two Red Sox championship teams.  As a result, he's the third and final first-year candidate who gets a "Yes" from me.  He won AL Rookie of the Year honors in 2007, then was the MVP in 2008.  Injuries limited Pedroia to just nine games combined over his final two seasons (and led to his retirement).  Otherwise, his numbers would be a lot higher.

9. Mark Buehrle, Pitcher (2000-11 White Sox, 2012 Marlins, 2013-15 Blue Jays): For a while, when he was doing his thing for the White Sox, Mark Buerhle looked like a sure-fire Hall of Famer.  And, if his career was just those 12 years in Chicago, I'm convinced he would be.  The guy threw 200 innings every year, won four Gold Gloves, pitched two no-hitters (including a perfect game), and earned a World Series ring in 2005.  And, let's not forget Baseball Tonight's "Buehrle Meter," the Web Gem of all Web Gems, from Opening Day 2010.  That play is just so freakin' cool!

10. David Wright, Third Baseman (2004-16, 2018 Mets): David Wright or Chase Utley?  That was the internal debate for the final spot.  I ultimately decided to go with Wright, who was the heart and soul of the Mets throughout his 14-year career.  When he was healthy and in his prime, he was such an outstanding hitter, too!  Like Pedroia, his career numbers would be a lot more impressive if he hadn't been so hampered by injuries at the end.  A healthy David Wright, though, was right up there among the best third basemen in baseball during the late 2000s and early 2010s.

As usual, there were more names I would've included if there were more than 10 spots.  Utley's one.  So is his teammate Jimmy Rollins.  Ian Kinsler's another, if only to hope he gets the required 5 percent to stay on the ballot.  No Alex Rodriguez or Manny Ramirez since they actually failed tests and served PED suspensions, which is the distinction I make between them and Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, who, as you know, I enthusiastically supported all 10 years they were eligible.

Ichiro's getting in.  Let's not pretend he isn't.  CC's also looking pretty good on the Hall of Fame tracker, so, even though I wasn't sure he'd be a first-ballot guy, it's looking like he will be.  I also think Billy Wagner will get that final year push to give us three new Hall of Famers who'll be inducted alongside Dick Allen and Dave Parker this summer.

NFL 2024-25 (Divisional Playoffs)

Before, during, an even after Wild Card Weekend, there was a lot of talk about whether the NFL should change the playoff format.  It was the usual complaint about how it was "unfair" that the Vikings, Commanders and Chargers had to go on the road despite having a better record than their opponent.  Never mind the fact that two of the three not only lost, but got completely outplayed!  Or the fact that Minnesota was the first 14-win wild card team IN HISTORY, so it's not like that's happening every year!

Long story short, people can whine about it all they want.  Nothing's changing.  There isn't enough appetite for it.  Nor should there be.  If you win your division, you get rewarded with a home playoff game.  Otherwise, what's the point of even having divisions?  Yes, some divisions are stronger than others and there will be times when a 9-8 or 10-7 division champion ends up hosting a 12-5 wild card team.  That's what happens sometimes.  It doesn't mean the system's broken.  Quite the opposite, actually.  It means the system works properly.

Every year, there's at least one weak division and at least one very good division.  This year, both the NFC North and AFC West had three playoff teams.  But, you know what?  It's all cyclical.  It's quite possible, if not likely, that it'll flip within a few years, and those teams that "got screwed" by having to go on the road as a wild card will be the ones who benefit from getting a home game as the 4-seed out of a weak division.  You can't have it both ways!  If you want to host a playoff game, win your division!  It's that simple.

And, let's be honest here.  The Vikings and Chargers got their butts kicked!  In fact, five of the six wild card games weren't close.  (Which brings me to the College Football Playoff and how ridiculous all the complaining about the noncompetitive first-round games was!)  Washington-Tampa Bay was the only non-blowout.  The Commanders didn't have an issue with going on the road.  They sucked it up, got the job done, and earned a trip to Detroit. 

Which sets the stage for the best weekend in football.  The eight best teams, each two wins away from the Super Bowl.  And, of the eight, I'd say five still have very realistic aspirations of lifting the Lombardi Trophy.  The Texans, Commanders and Rams are that bottom three, although I wouldn't entirely count out the Rams.  Especially after what they did against the Vikings on a neutral field.

I'm also kind of rooting for a Detroit-Houston Super Bowl.  The Lions and Texans are two of the four teams that have never been there, and that's one of only three possible matchups between first-timers.  We haven't had a Super Bowl debutant since the Saints 15 years ago, so it would be great to see at least one of them make it.  Although, we all know which of the two is in a better position to do that.

Texans (11-7) at Chiefs (15-2): Kansas City-The Texans just can't escape those Saturday at 4:30 kickoffs, can they?!  And here's the other thing about being that lowest-seeded division champion those critics always seem to forget...if they win, they have to go on the road against a very good team in the Divisional Playoffs.  Which isn't really much of a reward.  Especially when the prize is a trip to Kansas City, where the Chiefs went undefeated this season, against a team that's had effectively two weeks off and is looking to make its sixth straight AFC Championship Game appearance. 

Houston, of course, is the only team in the NFL yet to reach a conference championship game.  And the Texans' chances of getting there for the first time aren't great.  We got a preview of this matchup on the Saturday of that little Christmas round robin, and it was actually the most competitive of the four (including both Saturday and the Christmas games).  There's absolutely no reason to read anything into the Chiefs' Week 18 loss in Denver.  They didn't care about that game at all.  They were getting ready for this one and their quest of a historic three-peat.

Commanders (13-5) at Lions (15-2): Detroit-Jayden Daniels and Dan Quinn are building something special in Washington.  They went into Tampa last week and won a playoff game for the first time in 20 years!  It wasn't some fluke, either.  The Commanders have been winning close games like that all season.  And they certainly won't be a pushover for the Lions, even though they know winning will be a tough task.

Detroit is the No. 1 seed for the first time in franchise history, and the Lions know that all they have to do is win two home games to make their first-ever Super Bowl.  They're not getting too far ahead of themselves, though.  They know they need to focus on Washington.  I think we'll see a very similar effort to what we saw against the Vikings in Game 272, though.  In that game, Detroit looked every bit like the best team in the NFL.  And the Lions are now finally rested, which was the big reason why they wanted the bye.  They needed it after theirs was in Week 5.  More importantly, it gave them a chance to get reinforcements.  David Montgomery's return makes their offense that much more dangerous.

Rams (11-7) at Eagles (15-3): Rams-Philadelphia may be the only team in the NFC that can challenge Detroit.  But can the Eagles take care of the Rams?  That's the pressing question heading into this Divisional Playoff.  Because, make no mistake, the LA Rams are a very dangerous opponent.  This is a team that started the season 1-4, mind you.  They've been rolling ever since, and they've only been getting better.  We saw it last week when they completely dominated Minnesota in every facet of the game.  (Also, how about the Vikings' luck, losing to only two teams all season and not even getting past the Wild Card game?)

So, I don't see this being a cakewalk for Philadelphia.  The Eagles are the favorites, and understandably so.  I'm just super impressed by the Rams, though.  They sent a message with their win over Minnesota.  The Eagles know they're in for a challenge.  Last week, despite everything they had to deal with back home and having the game moved to Arizona, the Rams showed up and showed out.  This one will be very different than their Week 12 meeting at SoFi Stadium.  Philadelphia won that one, 37-20.  This time, I see the Rams going into Lincoln Financial Field and pulling off the upset.

Ravens (13-5) at Bills (14-4): Buffalo-They saved the best game of the weekend for last!  And, frankly, it's the hardest one to handicap.  The Ravens are the Bills' toughest matchup, and they won the regular season meeting pretty convincingly (35-10).  But, that one was in Baltimore in September.  A Sunday night in Buffalo in January is a completely different animal.  Although, it's not like the Ravens haven't played in the cold before, so how much of an advantage is that really?

We've also got the two main contenders for MVP in this one.  I know the vote is based strictly on the regular season, but this is when Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson will get to make their final statements.  Because it seems likely that the quarterbacks will decide this game.  The Ravens' offense is clicking.  They scored "only" 28 points last week, snapping a four-game streak where they scored at least 30.  The Bills, meanwhile, shut the Broncos out after an opening drive TD.  This has all the makings of a classic.  Whoever has the ball last will win.  Baltimore may be favored, but I just have a feeling we'll get that Bills-Chiefs AFC Championship Game so many people want.

Last Week: 5-1
Regular Season: 177-95
Overall: 182-96

When the Talent's There...

Noah Eagle has proven himself to be one of the best up-and-coming sportscasters in the business.  He was excellent calling Olympic basketball for NBC and will likely be one of the network's NBA voices when their contract starts next season.  He also does play-by-play for NBC's weekly Big Ten game and gets the call whenever they need a second NFL crew.  He even did one of the Netflix Christmas games and is a fixture on some of those alt-casts that are becoming increasingly popular!

It's also true that Noah Eagle is Ian Eagle's son.  They sound so alike that I sometimes can't even tell their voices apart.  But to say Noah Eagle has only gotten where he is because of his father isn't just ridiculous, it's insulting.  Because he wouldn't have risen through the ranks so quickly if he didn't have the talent to back it up.  And Noah Eagle most definitely has the talent!

The same can be said for Kenny Albert and Joe Buck.  They're both the sons of legendary broadcasters, as well.  That's not why they've risen to the top of the profession, though.  And you'd get very little argument that Kenny Albert and Joe Buck are among the best in the business.  Which has everything to do with them and nothing to do with Marv Albert or Jack Buck.

Kenny Albert is one of the most versatile broadcasters in all of sports.  He's the lead play-by-play announcer for the NHL on TNT, has done football on FOX for years, and has also contributed to FOX's baseball coverage.  "Marv Albert's son" rarely, if ever, comes up.  And it shouldn't.  Kenny has carved out a long, prolific career all on his own.

When Joe Buck was first hired by FOX as their primary baseball play-by-play announcer in the mid-90s, he was so you that the "Jack's son" comments were definitely there.  By the time he left FOX for ESPN, he wasn't even doing baseball anymore.  He had become one of the most respected football play-by-play guys and was so desired that ESPN actively sought him out for Monday Night Football.  That was all Joe.  He isn't just "Jack Buck's son" anymore.

I won't sit here and argue that being the son of a broadcasting legend hasn't helped them.  I'm sure it was incredibly beneficial to learn the trade from a top professional from an early age.  And, yes, having that connection probably opened some doors.  But to suggest nepotism is the only reason is as unfair as it is untrue.  Because no matter how you get your foot in the door, the only way you're staying there is if you're good enough.

Take Jac Collinsworth.  He did play-by-play for Notre Dame and the UFL on NBC.  He wasn't good at it, and, as a result, got replaced as the play-by-play voice of Notre Dame football.  Now Jac is back doing "Football Night In America" and other studio work, which is much more suitable for him (and he still isn't great at that).  Jac Collinsworth got promoted to Notre Dame play-by-play (in effect, NBC's No. 2 football guy), in large part, because he's Cris Collinsworth's son.  But he couldn't cut it in the role, so he was replaced.

Let's not pretend that broadcasting is the only place in sports where nepotism is on display, either.  LeBron James did not hide the fact that he wanted to be like the Griffeys and be in the same lineup as his son.  That's why the Lakers drafted Bronny and that's why they put him on their opening night roster despite the fact that talent-wise, he's not an NBA player.  After they played in that one game together, Bronny was demoted to the G League (which, frankly, is where he belongs).

We see it all the time in coaching, too.  One of Bill Belichick's first hires at North Carolina was his son, Stephen.  Plenty of people suspect that one of his conditions/reasons for taking the job was that they hire his son, as well.  Whether that's true or not, the fact remains.  Stephen Belichick likely wouldn't have been hired as an assistant coach at North Carolina if his father wasn't the head coach.

There are more examples than I can count in the coaching ranks!  Rick Pitino's son, Richard, went from his father's Associate Head Coach to the head coach at Florida International, and is now at New Mexico.  John & Jim Harbaugh's dad, Jack, is a legendary college coach.  Father & son Mike & Kyle Shanahan have both coached their teams to multiple Super Bowls (with Mike winning two in Denver).

Regardless of how they started out, none of these coaches would've gotten head jobs if they weren't qualified for them.  They certainly wouldn't have gotten multiple jobs and/or kept them this long if they didn't deserve them.  Especially in a profession like coaching, a job where you know there's a very good chance you'll end up getting fired, it's merit based.  If you can't cut it as a head coach, it doesn't matter who your dad is.

A few months ago, Emma Roberts did an interview where she acknowledged that being Julia Roberts' niece actually hasn't been easy.  Yes, it's opened some doors for her.  But there's also a certain weight of expectations and the extra pressure she's felt of constantly feeling like she has to prove herself.  She wants her career to stand on its own.  Which is exactly what these sportscasters/coaches want, as well.

That's why I think simply labeling these jobs as "nepotism" can be a copout.  Is it sometimes warranted to say that?  Absolutely!  But not when the guy has proven time and again that he has the chops.  Kenny Albert and Joe Buck have done that.  Hence, they never get the nepotism talk anymore.  And Noah Eagle shouldn't, either.

He's still young (only 28), so maybe in time, Noah Eagle will shed the "nepotism" label, too.  Because, make no mistake, he's got a very long career ahead of him.  And it's got nothing to do with the fact he's Ian Eagle's son.  It's because Noah Eagle has quickly established himself as one of the best in the business.  Already.  And he's only gonna get better.  That's all him.

It's Already Australian Open Time

The Australian Open really sneaks up on you.  You get through all of the business of Christmas and New Year's then, BAM!, they're playing tennis halfway around the world where it's the middle of the summer and daytime while there are sub-freezing temperatures in the middle of the night where you're watching.  It's become even more jarring since they went to the Sunday start (aka Saturday night in the U.S.).  And this year, to add to the fun, the Australian Open warmup tournaments started before the calendar flipped to 2025!

I can still remember when the Australian Open final was on the same day as the Super Bowl!  Now it starts on the same day as the Wild Card round.  The finals are still the same time they've always been.  It just seems so much earlier in relation to the NFL schedule.  And the fact that the year starts, then there's immediately a Grand Slam tennis tournament will always catch you a bit off guard.

Anyway, we're here, and it's time for the 2025 Australian Open.  The tournament has actually already started.  And it's still the most unpredictable Grand Slam of the four.  For a while, Novak Djokovic would just show up and win.  Then last year, he lost to Jannik Sinner in the semifinals.  Sinner would go on to win the title, and the US Open, and finish as the year-end No. 1.  Djokovic, meanwhile, would go without a Grand Slam title for the first time 2017 (although, he did get the Olympic gold, which was the thing he most wanted in 2024).

As a result, Djokovic's ranking has slipped so far that he's only the No. 7 seed here.  Not that anyone thinks that matters.  As long as he's in Australia, he's among the favorites.  Although, he's no longer the favorite.  There are several other contenders capable of lifting the trophy.  It's also weird that, with Nadal and Murray now officially joining Federer in retirement, the 37-year-old Djokovic is suddenly the "old" guy.

He's an "old" guy who's still got plenty left in the tank, though.  Djokovic plays less now (another reason why his ranking has dropped) and focuses primarily on the Grand Slams.  He's still sitting on 24 Grand Slams, which is tied for the all-time record, and 99 career titles.  It would only be fitting for him to reach both milestones by winning the tournament where he's had his most success for an 11th time.

With all that being said, it won't be an easy road for Djokovic.  So, if he's going to win an 11th Australian Open title, he'll have to earn it.  If the seedings hold, Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz would meet in the quarterfinals, with the winner then facing Alexander Zverev (the Tokyo Olympic gold medalist and the best player on Tour yet to win a Slam).

It's not like things on the other side of the draw are much easier, either.  Sure, we avoided the possibility of a Djokovic-Sinner semifinal rematch (or a potential quarterfinal matchup).  Instead, we could get a rematch of last year's final between Sinner and Daniil Medvedev.  Sinner came back from two sets down to win that one for his first career Grand Slam title.  Medvedev's won a US Open and been to the final of both hardcourt Slams multiple times, so you know he's a very capable hardcourt player.  And he's a very legitimate contender for the title.

So, this isn't your typical Australian Open where Djokovic just shows up and wins the tournament.  I can really see any of those five winning, which isn't something I'm used to saying about the Australian Open on the men's side.  And, while I don't necessarily consider them "favorites" on the same level as the others, a run by US Open finalist Taylor Fritz or top Aussie Alex de Minaur wouldn't surprise me.  Really, this is the most unpredictable men's Australian Open in quite a while.

Ultimately, though, I think Sinner and Djokovic are the two best hardcourt players in the world right now.  It would be great to see them go head-to-head in a rematch of last year's semifinal, this time in the final.  And I'm not counting Djokovic out.  He's actually got a bit of a chip on his shoulder this year, which is dangerous for everyone else.  He wins Australian Open No. 11, Grand Slam No. 25 and tournament No. 100 of his brilliant career.

On the women's side, there's no debate about who's the best hardcourt player in the world.  It's Aryna Sabalenka, and it isn't even close.  She's the two-time defending champion and also won the US Open last year.  Sabalenka is now No. 1 in the world, as well, which makes her the clear favorite.

If not Sabalenka, who else then?  How about Zheng Qinwen?  She lost to Sabalenka in the final last year, then went on to win Olympic gold and make the quarterfinals at the US Open.  Zheng is seeded fifth here.  Although, she did get a bit of a bad draw with Sabalenka in her quarter.  The winner of that match is a good bet to win the title.

Both of the top Americans, Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula, are in the other quarter on that side of the draw.  Gauff was a semifinalist here and Pegula was a finalist at the US Open last year.  They've definitely both got a shot.  But they're also in a very difficult section that also includes Naomi Osaka and Paula Badosa.  I really can see any of the four taking on the Sabalenka-Zheng winner.

Most of the threats on the women's side are on the top half of the draw.  Someone on the bottom half obviously has to make the final, though, and if there's an upset somewhere along the way, who knows what can happen?  And the bottom half does have both Iga Swiatek and Vika Azarenka, so I wouldn't say nobody has a chance.  I just think it's far less likely.  And there's always that random women's semifinalist, which I think the bottom half of the draw will provide us with.  

After her dominant run at the top of the women's game for several years, Swiatek has been overtaken by Sabalenka for the No. 1 ranking.  She hasn't always played the best in Melbourne, either.  Outside of a semifinal appearance in 2022, she hasn't been past the fourth round in five other trips.  Azarenka won her only two Grand Slam titles in Australia, but that was more than a decade ago and she's 35 years old.  Although, she's always been an outstanding hardcourt player, and this wouldn't be the first time she's made an unexpected deep run.

There are a few others to keep an eye on.  Elena Rybakina is the 6-seed and she was a finalist here in 2023.  Jasmine Paolini had a career year last year, starting with a fourth-round run here.  How will she follow it up?  That's a lot of points to defend.  Ons Jabeur, meanwhile, saw her ranking drop when she had to end her 2024 season early due to injury.  This is her first tournament back.  If she's healthy, she's not a bad sleeper pick.

Who are we kidding, though?  It's Sabalenka's tournament to lose.  As long as she gets by Zheng (which she should), her path to a third straight Australian Open title is pretty smooth.  She gets it done against Rybakina in the final, further cementing her hold both on No. 1 and on her status as the best women's hardcourt player in the world.

NFL 2024-25 (Wild Card)

Fans of teams that just miss the playoffs complaining about why and how they got screwed is just as much of a right of January as fans of bad teams complaining about the win that cost them the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft.  This season, it was Bengals and Seahawks fans' turn to whine.  For Cincinnati, it's the Chiefs' fault because of their completely not caring at all against Denver last week.  That had nothing to do with Kansas City having already clinched the 1-seed in the AFC and wanting to rest their starters.  It was entirely because they didn't want the Bengals in the playoffs.  Obviously!

Seahawks fans, meanwhile, were "screwed" by the NFL's strength of victory tiebreaker, which allowed the Rams to clinch the division before the two teams met each other in Week 18.  Seattle won to finish 10-7, the same record as the Rams, and the first four tiebreakers (head-to-head, division record, common opponents, conference record) were all even, so it came down to strength of victory.  I'm still not entirely sure how a team could get screwed by a preexisting tiebreaker, yet somehow Seahawks fans think they were.  Of course, if they had just, you know, beaten the Giants at home, they wouldn't have had this problem!  (Ditto with the Bengals.  If they wanted to be in the playoffs, maybe they shouldn't have started 1-4 and lost to the Patriots!)

Instead, Cincinnati and Seattle are at home watching the playoffs.  And Wild Card Weekend is giving us some intriguing matchups.  Two of the NFC games are Week 1 rematches.  The third is a rematch of the Vikings' only loss this season to a team other than the Lions.  Then in the AFC, you've got hated division rivals meeting for the second time in less than a month and two AFC West teams back in the postseason as wild card teams.

No. 1 seeds Detroit and Kansas City also get to watch Wild Card Weekend from home.  With their bye already wrapped up, the Chiefs didn't care last week and it showed.  The Lions, meanwhile, knew they needed the bye and they played like it last week.  Frankly, they look like the best team in football.  I'll be very surprised if they don't finally make it to the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history.

Chargers (11-6) at Texans (10-7): Chargers-Death, taxes, and the Texans hosting the Saturday afternoon Wild Card Game.  That's just another one of those crazy stats.  Houston has made the playoffs eight times.  Eight times they's played the Saturday 4:30 game.  I'm not sure why they're complaining, though.  They're 5-2 all-time in their previous Saturday afternoon home Wild Card Games.  Getting to 6-2 will be difficult against a Chargers team that has proven its plenty capable of winning on the road.

Of course, the Chargers enter with some playoff demons from their last appearance when they blew a 27-0 lead against Jacksonville two years ago.  This Chargers team is better than that one, and Jim Harbaugh is now their coach.  That's the biggest difference between these Chargers and the 2022 Chargers.  Houston obviously has the benefit of playing at home.  The Chargers are the better team, though, so they're the pick.

Steelers (10-7) at Ravens (12-5): Baltimore-When these two met on a Saturday in Week 16 (they're each playing on Saturday for the third time in four weeks), it was the Steelers who had the inside track to the division title.  The Ravens won that game handily, then really took it to Houston on Christmas before beating Cleveland to clinch the division.  Pittsburgh, meanwhile, enters the playoffs on a four-game losing streak that saw them fall from the 3-seed in the AFC to the 6-seed.  Worse, it sent them on the road to face their rival.

Even though the Ravens had already clinched, Pittsburgh went all out against Cincinnati since they wanted the 5-seed.  That, of course, didn't happen, and the Steelers are stuck with the matchup they tried to avoid.  And they didn't want to avoid it just because of the familiarity.  They wanted to avoid it because the Ravens are a legitimate Super Bowl contender.  (Someone posted a graphic the other day pointing out that their Super Bowl titles came 12 years apart with a 31-year-old quarterback each time.  It's been 12 years since they last won, and Lamar Jackson is 31.)  Baltimore has been playing like it for the past month, too.

Broncos (10-7) at Bills (13-4): Buffalo-Denver's last playoff game was Super Bowl 50.  The MVP of that game?  Von Miller...who now plays for the Buffalo Bills!  So, yeah, it's been a while.  But it's great to have the Broncos back!  It took Sean Payton a year, but he put it all together in Year 2 to finally end the Broncos' playoff drought.  And, say what you want about the Chiefs' effort last week, but the Broncos knew that was a must-win and brought that mentality.  There was no way they were losing.

Unfortunately, their return to the playoffs will likely end in Buffalo.  It's funny how everyone was up in arms about Kansas City's lack of intensity in Week 18, yet not a peep about the Bills doing exactly the same thing in a season-ending loss to the Patriots.  Of course, for the Bills, it made even more sense since they knew they were playing this week.  The Patriots game was out of their minds even before New England fired Jerod Mayo.  There will be no hangover and Buffalo will advance to the Divisional Playoffs for the fifth straight season.

Packers (11-6) at Eagles (14-3): Philadelphia-If there's one NFC team I can see beating the Lions, it's Philadelphia.  The Eagles have been one of the best teams in football all season, and they showed it again last week when they sat their starters and still beat the Giants.  They used the opportunity to rest some players, which was important with the number of injuries they've been dealing with.  Now they open the playoffs with a rematch of their opening game in Brazil against the Packers.

Prior to last week, Green Bay's only losses this season were to the Eagles, Lions (twice) and Vikings (twice).  Yet, their 11-6 record was only good enough for the 7-seed in the playoffs.  They're an incredibly dangerous 7-seed, though.  They were also the 7-seed last year, when they went into Dallas and completely dominated the Cowboys before almost winning in San Francisco a week later.  Don't think the Eagles aren't aware of that little factoid.  Philadelphia knows this one will be a dogfight.  In the end, though, the Eagles' offensive firepower should win out.

Commanders (12-5) at Buccaneers (10-7): Washington-I'm still not entirely sure why this one is the Sunday night game (I figured it'd be Ravens-Steelers), but here we are.  A rematch of Week 1, when Tampa Bay came away with a 37-20 victory.  The Commanders are a much different team now, however.  They've won five in a row, and Jayden Daniels really has that offense clicking.  What a difference a year has made in Washington!

The last time Washington made the playoffs in 2020, they played Tampa Bay in a Wild Card Game, and it was the start of the Bucs' run of three road wins before playing and winning a home Super Bowl.  Tampa Bay has won the NFC South every year since then and is meeting an NFC East team in a Wild Card Game for the fifth straight time.  Getting the 3-seed meant they avoided playing the Vikings.  I'm not sure playing the Commanders instead was much of a consolation prize.   Because I see Washington getting its first playoff win in 19 years, when they beat...Tampa Bay (this is the third playoff meeting between these two since 2005, and Washington has had a different team name each time).

Vikings (14-3) vs Rams (10-7): Rams-There's absolutely no chance they would've been able to play this game at SoFi Stadium with the situation in Los Angeles right now.  So, moving the game and moving it when they did was 100 percent the right call.  Although, the Rams are certainly hurt by the venue change much more than the Vikings benefit from it.  Gone is their home field advantage.  Instead, this is a neutral-site contest against a team that had four more regular season wins than they did.

Ultimately, though, I'm not sure it matters.  The Rams beat the Vikings in the regular season and have gotten all of their main weapons back.  They look primed for a playoff run.  Minnesota lost to Detroit and ended up as a wild card team, then drew the Rams instead what, for them, must've been a more favorable matchup against Tampa Bay.  The Rams are obviously playing for a lot more than just themselves, too.  They win it for all of LA on Monday night.

Last Week: 10-6
Overall: 177-95

The 1980 Boycott

As all the tributes came in for President Carter in the days between his death and his funeral, there was a lot of talk about his legacy.  There's one particular thing about President Carter's legacy that stands out, and it's a decision that he ultimately regretted.  It's something that he'd had a chance to do it again, he wouldn't have.  I'm, of course, talking about the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.

While the actual "reason" for the boycott was the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, it was really just a result of Cold War tensions between the United States and Soviet Union.  Carter gave the Soviets a deadline for withdrawing their troops from Afghanistan, then when they didn't meet it, he called for a boycott of the Moscow Olympics.  He also pushed U.S. allies to join the boycott, which many did.  In all 67 countries joined the boycott completely, while several others that supported the boycott (mostly in Europe) allowed their athletes to compete under the Olympic flag while not officially sending a delegation.

Even though he was the President, Carter didn't actually have the authority to prevent the U.S. Olympic Team from going to Moscow.  Neither could Congress, who overwhelmingly backed him.  Only the USOC could do that.  But they weren't going to go against the President's wishes, so they officially authorized the boycott.  The Olympics would go on as scheduled, but the United States and most other Western nations would not attend.

We all know what happened as a result.  Without Western competition, athletes from the Soviet Union and East Germany dominated the Moscow Games.  Then, four years later when the Olympics were in Los Angeles, the Soviets returned the favor with a boycott of their own and 13 of their Eastern Bloc allies and satellite states joined them.  Which led to the United States having a record medal haul at the 1984 Games.

Despite the fact they wouldn't actually compete in Moscow, the U.S. still held Olympic Trials and announced a Summer Olympic team in 1980.  Carter even honored the team at a White House reception.  A gesture that I'm sure offered little consolation to those athletes whose only opportunity to be an Olympian would've been 45 years ago in Moscow.  (Officially, they are not considered Olympians.)

Boycotting the Moscow Games seemed like the right idea at the time.  History tells us that it was not.  Forcing the USSR to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan was the main objective.  That didn't happen until a decade later.  And, of course, one boycott led to another.  Two straight Olympics where Cold War politics had a direct impact (and a full 12 years without all of the major players together at an Olympic Games).  Geopolitics have been a part of the Olympics ever since.  (Russia's current ban from international sport is a prime example of that.)

Ask the members of the 1980 Olympic team if they think it was a good idea, though.  They can only imagine how they would've done in Moscow.  They never got the chance to find out.  And, again, for some of these athletes, 1980 represented their only chance.  A chance that was taken away not by injury and not because they didn't qualify.  Because the President decided the team shouldn't go.

That weighed heavily on Carter.  It's likely one of the reasons why he came to regret his decision years later.  He would eventually admit it was a "bad decision."  Which is hardly any consolation to the affected athletes.  Some had been Olympians before.  Some would be again.  For others, 1980 was their one and only chance.

The 1980 boycott is a part of Jimmy Carter's legacy.  There's also no denying the impact it had on Olympic history.  In the West, the 1980 Summer Games are basically forgotten.  Nothing more than a footnote between the 1976 Games in Montreal and the 1984 Games in LA.  And the American success at those 1984 Olympics was a direct result of the Soviet Union's counter boycott.

Athletes from nearly 100 countries were caught in the middle of Cold War political posturing at those two Olympics.  And those are just the athletes who couldn't compete.  Those who did went against vastly different fields than they otherwise would have.  Some took advantage of that opportunity and won medals that likely would've gone to athletes from a boycotting country.  So, really, every athlete was impacted.  Those who boycotted and those who didn't.

In fact, it was the entire world that was forced to pay the price of the Olympic boycotts.  The 1980 Olympics were a show for the Soviets and East Germans.  The 1984 Olympics were a show for those who missed out in 1980.  Neither featured all of the world's best athletes competing together against each other.  How would the Americans have done in 1980 or the Soviets in 1984?  We'll never know.  That's perhaps the biggest shame of it all.

There was, of course, still an Olympics in 1980 that featured an American team.  The 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid were held amid the threat of the Summer Olympic boycott that would become a reality a few months later.  And those 1980 Winter Games produced one of the most famous moments not just in Olympic history, but in sports history.  The Miracle On Ice.  (Even if the U.S. had gone to the Summer Olympics that year, nothing they would've done in Moscow would've had any chance of topping that.)

But it was the decision not to participate later that year in Moscow for which Jimmy Carter will always be remembered in Olympic circles.  For all of the foreign policy successes (the Camp David Accords) and failures (the Iran hostage crisis) during his Presidency and all of the tremendous good he did during his four-decade post-Presidency, the 1980 boycott is one of the first things people think of regarding Jimmy Carter.  And it's to his great credit that he realized it was a bad call and later came to regret it.

Was Jimmy Carter trying to screw American athletes in the summer of 1980?  Of course not!  He made a decision as President that was ultimately backed by the U.S. Olympic Committee.  Had the boycott achieved his objectives, history would view it far more favorably.  It obviously didn't work out that way, though.  And the fact that Carter ultimately recognized it was a mistake and took responsibility for it speaks volumes about his character. 

Stanko Strong

When the 2022 World Cup roster was announced and it was clear that Matt Turner would be the starting keeper for the U.S. National Team, an embarrassing video of Turner started making the rounds on YouTube.  It was from when he was in college at Fairfield and gave up an absolutely terrible own goal at Iona.  And every time that video played, Jon Stanko, my buddy who worked at Iona at the time, would excitedly go, "I shot that video!"

He was a student at Iona when he was the camera operator for the Matt Turner "highlight."  Stanko (who I always referred to only by last name) was then hired as a full-time member of the Athletic Department staff at Iona, and, despite working at rival schools, we were friendly colleagues always ready to help the other out for years.  Even after he left Iona to take a job at Barstool, we'd still work Iona games together.

Last year, Stanko received the horrible news no one ever wants to get.  He had cancer and it was terminal.  It was as shocking as it was devastating.  They gave him, at best, 14 months.  Unfortunately, he didn't make it that long.  A young, vibrant 32-year-old with such a zest for life has been taken from us, leaving behind a wife who he had only just married a few months ago.

Like most others, I learned of Stanko's diagnosis through his blog, Stanko's Stance.  He wanted to people to know and to tell his story his way.  Stanko was determined to beat it, no matter how improbable the odds, and document everything, including how he was feeling.  It was one of the most courageous things I've ever seen.

Here was somebody who had to be angry, upset, scared, wondering "why me?"  Someone who had every right to his privacy as he fought a losing battle for his life.  Yet Stanko did none of that.  He shared his story with the world.  Every last painful detail.  He told everyone all about his cancer journey.  The good.  The bad.  And how he really felt about all of it.  You couldn't help but admire everything about it.

Stanko isn't the first person I've known who we lost to cancer (it's how both my parents died), but he's by far the youngest.  A cruel reminder of just how devastating a disease it is.  Cancer can take anybody at any time.  And sometimes it can happen quickly.  Someone can go from engaged and looking forward to the rest of his life to gone in less than a year.  If that sounds incredibly unfair, that's because it is.

I got the news in the afternoon before attending the Rangers-Stars game later that night.  Coincidentally enough, it was Hockey Fights Cancer Night at Madison Square Garden.  Just as I thought about my parents the whole night while I was at the World Series (which was MLB's annual Stand Up to Cancer game), I spent a good portion of the hockey game thinking about Stanko.  The life he lived and the rest of it that was cut short.

There are others who knew him better.  No matter how well you knew Jon Stanko, though, your opinion of him was probably the same.  His taste in baseball teams might've been somewhat questionable (although, if you're from Connecticut, I guess there's always a chance you'll become a Red Sux fan), but his class never was.  Stanko was one of those people who nobody could say anything bad about him.

His versatility was impressive.  Our profession is one where you need to wear many hats.  His hat depended on the day.  He might be doing PA one day then producing the broadcast the next.  Doing the broadcast on air or handling social media clips.  Truly a jack of all trades!

If you think Stanko was just a sports guy, that couldn't be further from the truth.  One time I tried to make fun of Taylor Swift before he informed me that he was an unapologetic Swiftie.  He was also one of the biggest movie buffs I knew.  Before it became a personal diary of his cancer battle (and even sometimes after), his blog was full of movie reviews, rankings, Oscar predictions, etc.  And that movie selection was diverse to say the least!

It wasn't just movies, either.  He was an avid fan of The Bachelor, and the blog also included reviews of that show.  During COVID when I was home all the time and had nothing else to do, I watched the spin-off season The Bachelor Presents: Listen to Your Heart where they were all musicians.  Stanko was the one other person who I knew would be watching, so he was the recipient of any and all texts with my random thoughts about the show.

Of course, sports were also mixed in with the movies and the TV shows and the health updates.  He even had it all arranged by category.  A blog that's far more organized than this one will ever be!  In fact, simply calling it a "blog" doesn't do it justice.  It was a full-on website!  More than that, it was a slice of Jon Stanko's life that he was so willing to share.  And, with the Super Bowl and the Oscars coming up and a new season of The Bachelor starting soon, you know he would've had a lot to say about all of them!  

Above all, Jon Stanko was a friend.  I'm just one of many who had the privilege of calling him that.  Whether he considered me a friend or not, I don't know, but it really doesn't matter.  I considered him one regardless.  He was somebody I'd go help out at the last minute because I knew he'd do the same for me.  He was somebody I could have a stupid conversation about nothing via text with.

While we were very different, Jon Stanko and I were the same in a lot of ways.  Maybe that's why we got along so well!  I can only aspire to be half the man Jon Stanko was, though.  Rest in peace, my friend.  You're gone far too soon.

A Reset Year

Can you believe it's been five years since COVID upended all of our lives?!  Crazy, isn't it?  Anyway, after all the COVID cancellations/postponements and the reshuffling of schedules that they caused, we're almost back to normal.  By the end of 2025, we will be there.  Which is why I'm calling this year a "reset year."  Come 2026, the sports calendar will finally be back on its pre-COVID schedule.

It's true that the Olympics and Euro got back on schedule in 2024 after the 2020 editions of those events were delayed.  However, they were on an abbreviated three-year cycle instead of the typical four.  Now they're at the beginning of a new four-year cycle.  Not five.  Not three.  Like I said, it's a reset to what the schedule is supposed to be like.  Not jammed into three years without the off year in the cycle.

In most Olympic sports, there's a World Championships every other year in the odd years.  Since the 2020 Olympics were delayed a year, so were all of the 2021 World Championships.  Then they 2023 World Championships were held as scheduled prior to the 2024 Olympics.  Which means this year is five years in a row with a major global competition.

Then there are the quadrennial events that were scheduled for 2021 that also had to be moved back a year.  This year, it's their turn to have the abbreviated three-year cycle before their four-year clock resets.  This applies mainly to European women's soccer players.  Between Women's Euro 2021-22, the 2023 Women's World Cup, last year's Olympics and now the 2025 Women's Euro, it'll be four years in a row for them.

The World Indoor Championships in track & field typically take place in even years.  The 2020 edition, scheduled to take place in Nanjing, China, was one of the first events postponed because of COVID.  They were originally rescheduled for 2021 before being postponed again.  There have been two regularly-scheduled World Indoor Championships since then.  Finally, Nanjing will host World Indoors this March, five years later than planned.  There will be another edition next year, as well, but after three straight years with World Indoors, the meet won't be held in 2027 and they'll finally be fully back on schedule.

Swimming's World Championships also get back on schedule this year after the chaos created by COVID.  This will actually be the fourth straight year with a Swimming World Championships!  For reasons I still don't quite understand, there was a World Championships last February in Doha, just eight months after the 2023 World Championships and only five months before the Paris Olympics.  This year, they head to Singapore before finally taking a World Championships break in 2026.

Perhaps the most important thing for Olympic sports, though, is that they can finally reset their budgets.  Some of the smaller international federations rely on the funds they receive from the IOC to pay their expenses, and their balance sheets were heavily impacted by having to wait an extra year.  Now they're back to being able to budget and plan over a four-year period from 2025-28.

We'll also see a new event debut this year.  For the first time, FIFA has expanded the Club World Cup to a 32-team tournament that will serve as a test event for the following year's World Cup.  There's been plenty of criticism of the expanded Club World Cup and reasonable questioning of whether it's even actually a good idea.  FIFA wants to do it regardless, though, so it's happening.  It'll be in June and July in many of the NFL stadiums that'll be used at the 2026 World Cup.

Another event makes its debut this year in preparation for the NHL's Olympic return in 2026.  Instead of an All*Star Game, the NHL will hold the Four Nations Face-Off, featuring NHL players from the United States, Canada, Finland and Sweden representing their home countries.  The tournament is set for February in Montreal and Boston, with the NHL carving out a break in its schedule, just as it will next year when NHL players will participate in the Olympics for the first time since 2014.

Also set for 2026 is the next edition of the World Baseball Classic.  COVID really screwed up the schedule with that tournament, causing a six-year wait from 2017-23 before a three-year wait ahead of the 2026 tournament (when the cycle will presumably become four years).  So, with the full tournament being played in 2026, that means we'll get qualifying during Spring Training this year.

Women's basketball was one of the hottest sports out there in 2024, and 2025 will be another big year for the sport.  The WNBA added an expansion team, the Golden State Valkyries, and extended the regular season to 44 games.  The WNBA Finals have also finally been made a best-of-seven series.  That's not all, though.  The stars of the WNBA have banded together to create a new three-on-three league, Unrivaled, that will debut in a few weeks and play during the WNBA offseason.

NFL international games are a permanent part of the schedule now.  Next season, the number of international games increases to as many as eight.  In addition to the traditional slate in London, Berlin and Madrid will host NFL games for the first time.  The MLB season will start in Tokyo with two games between the Dodgers and Cubs, and there's a game between the Braves and Reds set for Bristol Motor Speedway in August.

Meanwhile, hockey isn't the only sport gearing up for the 2026 Olympics.  It's only 13 months until the Opening Ceremony in Milan, and Olympic qualification in winter sports has already gotten underway in earnest.  The 2024-25 winter sports season ends early in the year, and some spots should be awarded at the various World Championships.  Then, come November-December, it'll really heat up, and we should know most, if not all of the U.S. team headed to Italy before the calendar flips to 2026.

Those are just some of the highlights.  There's plenty to look forward to on the 2025 sports calendar.  Some of these events are annual.  Some are getting back on their normal cycle after having their schedule knocked out of whack by COVID.  Which is why 2025 will be a year to reset.

NFL 2024-25 (Week 18)

When the NFL went to an all-division-games schedule in the final week of the season, this is what they had in mind.  Game 272 is the first regular season game between two 14-win teams in league history!  And the craziest part about that is either the Vikings or Lions will be a 14-win wild card team!  The winner is the 1-seed, the loser has to go on the road in the playoffs.  Everything's at stake.  This is exactly what NFL fans want to see!

While NFC's 1-seed is yet to be clinched, there are plenty of playoff spots already locked in, which will definitely have an impact on this week's games...and the playoff races.  It's disappointing that Saquon Barkley won't go for the rushing record, but I get why the Eagles are sitting him.  We also know that Kansas City's sitting starters and the Bills likely will, too.  I'm curious to see what the other playoff teams will do, though.

Browns (3-13) at Ravens (11-5): Baltimore-During that three-games-in-11-days stretch, Baltimore went 3-0 and Pittsburgh went 0-3.  As a result, it's now the Ravens who are in control of the AFC North.  They clinch the division and 3-seed with a win in their finale, and they drew the Browns at home, the far more beatable of the two Ohio opponents.  And, yes, I say this knowing full well that Cleveland won the first meeting between the two this season (the Browns also beat the Steelers this year).  All the more reason why I think Lamar & Co. get themselves another home game next week.

Bengals (8-8) at Steelers (10-6): Pittsburgh-This is where it gets interesting.  If the Ravens win, the Steelers are locked into a wild card.  But I think they play to win anyway for two reasons.  For one, they've lost three straight and don't want to go into the playoffs on a four-game losing streak.  More importantly, if they lose, they're guaranteed to play the Ravens in Baltimore next week.  They'd much rather go to Houston.  Eliminating the Bengals would be an added bonus.

Panthers (4-12) at Falcons (8-8): Atlanta-Atlanta was a popular preseason pick to win the NFC South.  Even in the middle of the season, you would've liked the Falcons' chances.  Instead, they're looking up at Tampa Bay and know they only get in with a win and a Bucs loss.  They'll do their part against a Carolina team that had actually been playing some pretty good football before last week's shellacking in Tampa.

Commanders (11-5) at Cowboys (7-9): Washington-What a difference this season has been in Washington!  Jayden Daniels wrapped up Offensive Rookie of the Year last week, as the Commanders clinched their first playoff berth since 2020.  The fact that they did it with a week to go and don't need to rely on winning in Dallas was huge, too.  Now the pressure's off.  Although, if they win, they avoid playing the Eagles again.  That and beating the Cowboys should be enough motivation for playoff-bound Washington.

Bears (4-12) at Packers (11-5): Green Bay-Green Bay is 0-5 against the Lions, Vikings and Eagles (combined record: 41-7) and 11-0 against the rest of the NFL.  And all it will get them is either the 6- or 7-seed in the NFC playoffs.  And, if Washington beats Dallas, who will they end up playing?  Philadelphia!  There's nothing the Packers can do about that.  But you know that finishing the regular season by beating the archrival Bears at Lambeau will be a good way to head into the postseason.

Jaguars (4-12) at Colts (7-9): Indianapolis-Indianapolis had perhaps the easiest path to the playoffs of the four teams still in contention for the last AFC wild card after last week.  Beat the Giants and beat the Jaguars.  So, of course, they not only lose to the Giants, they get 45 points dropped on them!  Which makes this game totally meaningless.  I'm not sure the degree to which the Colts will care, so a Jaguars win wouldn't shock me.  I'll stick with Indianapolis, though.

Bills (13-3) at Patriots (3-13): Buffalo-Both the Ravens and Bengals need to win this week.  Which means Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow will both play the whole game and boost their stats.  Josh Allen likely won't.  The Bills can do whatever they want, and the decision to sit (or at least limit) him this week makes complete sense.  I just hope it doesn't negatively impact his MVP chances (personally, I think he should be the runaway favorite).  As for the team, a win doesn't change anything, but a franchise record for victories and an undefeated record in the division are nice things to play for.

Giants (3-13) at Eagles (13-3): Philadelphia-Entering last week, the Giants had the inside track at the No. 1 overall pick in the draft.  After beating the Colts, their chances at getting it are significantly slimmer.  Although, I don't necessarily think that's a terrible thing since there won't be a franchise quarterback available.  And, knowing the Giants, they'll go into Philadelphia for a meaningless game and upset the Eagles.  Seeing Saquon setting the rushing record against the team that decided they don't want him anymore would've been some sort of poetic irony, but, alas, he won't play.  He'll just have to settle for the satisfaction of seeing the Giants finish with the worst record in the league.

Saints (5-11) at Buccaneers (9-7): Tampa Bay-With a win or a Falcons loss, Tampa Bay is back in the playoffs once again.  They actually have a chance of moving up to the No. 3 seed, too, which means hosting the Commanders or Packers instead of the 14-win Vikings or Lions.  (Although, Tampa Bay has beaten Detroit this season.)  Baker Mayfield has been proving his doubters wrong ever since he came to Tampa and took over for Tom Brady.  That won't change against a Saints team that's been mailing it in under the interim coach.  The Bucs return to the playoffs.

Texans (9-7) at Titans (3-13): Houston-That embarrassment on Christmas locked the Texans into the No. 4 seed, but also left Houston knowing it had a lot of work to do.  They played two teams they'll potentially meet again in the playoffs and, after holding their own in Kansas City, were outclassed in every facet by Baltimore.  So, even though nothing will change for them seeding-wise against the Titans, Houston may want to use this one to work on getting things right before the games that really matter next week.

49ers (6-10) at Cardinals (7-9): Arizona-It really is remarkable the streak that San Francisco is on.  The 49ers either make the NFC Championship Game or miss the playoffs entirely.  This season, they went with Option B.  Too many injuries and too many close losses to overcome.  The Cardinals, meanwhile, have put together a nice season.  Sure, they're gonna end up below .500 and out of the playoffs, but there have really been some encouraging signs.  And 8-9 looks a whole lot better than 7-10!

Chiefs (15-1) at Broncos (9-7): Denver-The Dolphins and Bengals can't be too happy about Kansas City's decision to sit its starters.  Because they need a Broncos loss to have any hope at getting into the playoffs.  But with the Chiefs' starters sitting, the likelihood of Denver getting that win it needs have gone up exponentially.  After all, the Broncos would've beaten them in Kansas City if not for that blocked kick at the end of the game.  Of course, they'd already be in if they hadn't lost their last two games.  But that's the benefit of having a cushion.  The Broncos clinch the 7-seed and head to Buffalo.

Chargers (10-6) at Raiders (4-12): Chargers-I know I'm stating the obvious here, but Jim Harbaugh is a pretty good coach.  After missing the playoffs last season, the Chargers clinched a wild card with one week to go by dominating the Patriots last week.  This after their comeback win to beat the Broncos on Thursday night in Week 16.  Now they can put a bow on the regular season by beating the Raiders in Las Vegas.

Seahawks (9-7) at Rams (10-6): Rams-Thanks to the strength of victory tiebreaker, the Rams have already clinched the NFC West.  Which is a bit of a shame since it deprived us of this one being for the division title.  Either way, the Rams would've been my pick.  I just wish we still had that drama.  It's been quite a turnaround after that 1-4 start.  And they clinch the 3-seed with a win, which means avoiding the NFC North teams in both the wild card and divisional rounds.  Don't think that's an unimportant detail.

Dolphins (8-8) at Jets (4-12): Miami-Aaron Rodgers "accepts" that this might be the final game of his career.  Either way, it's his last game as a Jet.  That two-year experiment sure didn't work out, and his voluntary benching last week in Buffalo spoke volumes.  (Note to the Jets, don't sign anymore old, disgruntled future Hall of Fame Packers quarterbacks!)  Anyway, all the Dolphins can do is win and hope the Chiefs care enough to beat the Broncos.  Otherwise, great job to finish above .500.  But that 2-6 start was a season killer.

Vikings (14-2) at Lions (14-2): Detroit-As soon as the Vikings beat the Packers, we all knew this would be Game 272.  Yet the NFL made us wait until the end of last week's SNF game to announce it (which I get, but was still annoying).  The Vikings have turned winning close games into an art.  The Lions have made an art of winning in so many different ways.  Detroit might be the best, most complete team in the NFL.  They need the 1-seed, but not because it'll give them home field advantage.  They need the bye.  They haven't been off since Week 5!

Last Week: 12-4
Overall: 167-89