It's still weird that the year ends in a 7. I'm sure that it'll seem normal by like March, but 2017 looks like a typo when you see it written. But regardless, the calendar has flipped to an odd year, which means no Olympics and tons of World Championships in those sports instead.
So, with no Olympics and no World Cup, what do we have to look forward to other than the events that take place annually (or, in the case of the World Championships, bi-annually)? Well, there's plenty. And those World Championships are still worthwhile.
I'll start with the Track & Field World Championships, which will be held at London's Olympic Stadium in August. It's the final time people will be able to see Usain Bolt in a competitive setting. He's retiring after the World Championships (which means somebody else will be allowed to win the 100 meters at global events starting in 2018). It's also likely the last time we'll see Mo Farah in action, and, with 2018 being the off year in global track & field, it wouldn't be a surprise to see some others hang it up after this season, as well. There's also the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Uganda and the IAAF World Relays in the Bahamas coming up this year.
Michael Phelps has already retired, but that doesn't make the Swimming World Championships any less worth watching. We'll get to see how many gold medals Katie Ledecky can add to her collection. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the swimming Worlds, though, is that they'll take place in Budapest, which is one of the three cities in the running to host the 2024 Olympics. We'll find out the winner in September, but don't be surprised if Los Angeles and Paris both "win," with one getting 2024 and the other being awarded the 2028 Games. You would think that announcement will be shown live on the Olympic Channel, which will debut in the United State sometime this year.
Speaking of Los Angeles, will the Chargers exercise their option to join the Rams in their new stadium? And will the Raiders move to Las Vegas? We already do know that the first regular season professional game in Las Vegas will take place sometime in October, when the Vegas Golden Knights make their debut as the NHL's 31st team.
Vegas will join the NHL during the league's centennial season, and we've already seen some pretty cool events celebrating that milestone. The Centennial Classic in Toronto was awesome. So was seeing the first 33 members of the NHL's all-time team get introduced and having their family members walk out in their place. There are obviously plenty of living legends that will be joining that team when the rest of it is introduced, and I can't wait to see what else the NHL has in store to celebrate it's 100th anniversary (an outdoor game in Montreal perhaps?).
Russia's doping crisis may or may not get resolved (my thought is that it'll get worse before it gets better, but Trump will pardon all of them anyway). Whether that happens before the country hosts the FIFA Confederations Cup is the real question. Regardless, there's going to be a lot of scrutiny leading up to the event, which is really just the tune-up for next summer's big show in Russia. Since only eight teams will compete in the Confederations Cup, this summer is really all about qualifying for next summer. World Cup qualifying will take place all year, and by November we'll know all 32 teams that will be in the field. There's also the CONCACAF Gold Cup. But, let's face it, World Cup qualifying matters a lot more than the Gold Cup does.
This summer also marks the return of the America's Cup, which will be held in June. The America's Cup isn't one of the biggest or most popular international sporting events, but it is the oldest. The trophy was first awarded in 1851. Now, 166 years later, Oracle Team USA will look to defend the Cup in just the 35th series of races for the trophy.
The event that I'm most looking forward to, though, is the other one that takes place every four years. I'm, of course, talking about the World Baseball Classic. I know that the level of excitement for the WBC is generally lukewarm. But, now entering its fourth edition, I still love the WBC as much as I ever did. It's the only baseball tournament in the world that features the best Major Leaguers representing their native countries. They've sure embraced it in Japan (winner of the first two tournaments) and the Dominican Republic (the defending champions who went undefeated in 2013). Maybe a run by the U.S. is what the American public needs to get just as excited for the WBC in March as they do for the start of the regular season in April.
Will 2017: The Year in Sports match 2016's greatness? Nobody knows. We've got 12 months to figure it out, though. And we will have plenty of events to tie us over until the Winter Olympics and World Cup command our attention in 2018.
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