The year that was 2006 was a great one for sports fans. It had USC-Texas, George Mason's run to the Final Four, Edmonton's surprise appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals, a headbutt in the World Cup Finals; 2006 had it all. But since 2007's not looking too bad either, here are a couple things I think will happen:
While David Beckham's $50 million per year entrance into Major League Soccer may help ticket sales and ratings temporarily, many U.S. sports fans will continue to not care about soccer. The reason? Outside of the World Cup, soccer is not interesting to watch. Make the nets bigger, make the field smaller, just do something to improve the mere two or three goals scored in most games. One man does not make a league (see Freddy Adu), and after a short while MLS will flounder once again.
NASCAR will continue to be popular, spellbinding any real sports fans that don't want to watch cars turn left for three hours. If you ever want to utterly destroy my will to live, just force me to watch the Daytona 500 while listening to Larry the Cable Guy and/or Rascal Flatts' version of ""Life is a Highway."" The day NASCAR is an actual sport, is the day Isiah Thomas and Kevin McHale are named NBA co-general managers of the year.
The Minnesota Golden Gophers will receive a stunning berth to the Rose Bowl just like new head coach Tim Brewster predicted, but only after Wisconsin, Ohio State, Michigan, Iowa, Penn State, Purdue and Illinois are all put on bowl probation for a season. Perhaps a more realistic but hopeful prediction would have been to finish in the top five of the Big Ten.
Phoenix will sweep every team but Dallas on their way to an NBA Championship. The Suns are off-the-charts ridiculous right now, winning 32 of their last 33 games, including a drubbing of Minnesota that included them scoring 46 points in a quarter and 131 points in a non-overtime game. Their starting five of Shawn Marion, Steve Nash, Amare Stoudamire, Boris Diaw and Raja Bell is amazing, and Leon Barbosa is averaging 16 points off the bench. As long as they don't wear themselves out by June, this team will not be stopped.
After winning the Super Bowl, Peyton Manning will shock the NFL by announcing his retirement to focus on his advertising career. Not much changes, as he is still seen 15-20 times during every Colts game by those watching the game on TV. His ""strong enough for a woman, but fit for a Manning"" campaign for Old Spice will premiere during the Colts-Pats rematch in the regular season and prove wildly successful.
The Twins will win their third World Series after Francisco Liriano and Johan Santana combine for 50 wins during the regular season. Liriano credits his miracle six-month recovery from Tommy John surgery to the wizard Merlin after he pulled out Excali-bat from the whirlpool in Minnesota's clubhouse. In other news, Joe Mauer hits .500 and Justin Morneau destroys Barry Bonds' home run record by hitting 125 homers.
Wisconsin will lose only three times en route to a college basketball national championship. The Badgers will avenge a regular season loss to Ohio State in the Final Four, defeating the Buckeyes to advance to the championship game where they overcome a tough Florida team. Kammron Taylor is named the Final Four MVP with 50 points in two games, and the Badger seniors leave in style.
I think 2007 is going to be a good year.
Zach actually doesn't dislike soccer that much, so soccer fans, please refrain from threatening his life. He does welcome any and all hate mail from NASCAR fans, however, so e-mail him at zlkukkonen@dailycardinal.com.
