by Joe Flacco takes the Browns to the Super Bowl
In the year of the backup quarterback, Flacco’s encore performance was a real surprise. Just when it looked like the 38-year-old father of five was cooked, he came off the couch to win five of six starts and rally Cleveland to its second playoff berth in 21 years.
Across the University of Delaware the product looks as elite as it did in Baltimore, where a devastating defense set him up to bring bombs down the field. With the formula much the same in Cleveland, what is stopping the former Super Bowl MVP from winning it all again with the Browns?
Think: Cleveland has already beaten Baltimore, San Francisco and Jacksonville this season and has enough muscle on both sides of the ball to push Kansas City and Miami up and down as well. The Browns were already high on the list of teams no one wanted to play with DeShaun Watson’s other backups filling in. But with Flacco under center, they are now a serious title contender. AL
Gabby Douglas will win Olympic gold (again)
While Simone Biles has impressively re-established her dominance this year, another significant gymnastics comeback has quietly been in the works. Douglas, this year’s 2012 Olympic all-around champion, announced her return in 2024 after not competing since her own painful Olympic experience in 2016. It’s great to start from scratch after eight year out of position in a technical sport like gymnastics. difficult, there will be no margin for error since she will be returning in an Olympic year and the depth of the U.S. team means it is repeatedly more difficult to make it to the Olympics than to win a team medal, where the U.S. in a big heap. . Still, Douglas, who turned 28 on Sunday, is a champion who is a generational talent in her own right and knows exactly what it takes to make a team. In 2024, alongside Biles, she will do it again. TC
The Saudis get into the NFL business
The continued encroachment of Public Investment Funds into sports continues. So far, Sovereign Wealth Funds have focused most of their attention on European soccer, boxing and golf. Face up on the slip: the four major US pro sports leagues. Last year, the Qatar Investment Authority became the first Middle Eastern group to dip its toes in the water, buying a 5% stake in Monument Sports & Entertainment for $200m, the ownership group of the NHL’s Washington Capitals, the NBA’s Washington Wizards and the Washington WNBA . A mystery. The biggest lingering question: Can an investment fund buy its way into the NFL’s old boys club? Part of Sunday is hard to buy. Boardroom transactions in America’s most prominent league tend to have less to do with money and more to do with backroom scheming – the league has only had one foreign owner, Pakistani-born businessman Shahid Khan, who is a citizen US naturalized it, bought it. the Jags in 2012. But how much would it take for the Saudi Arabian PIF to bypass the typical backroom backslapping? $8bn? $10bn? Both the Saints and Seahawks could be available in the next 12 months, and an ownership group led by a traditional face (white, old, male, legacy brand anchor) partnering with a sovereign wealth fund feels like an inevitability. OC
At least one MLB team will be threatening to move cities
In November, Major League Baseball owners unanimously approved the Oakland A’s move to Las Vegas in 2028, ending intense negotiations between A’s ownership and the city of Oakland. The city’s lease with the A’s home stadium was set to expire in 2024, and owner John Fisher negotiated a deal with Las Vegas that guaranteed more public funding for a new stadium than Oakland was willing to offer. Expect other owners to follow Fisher’s playbook. The Chicago White Sox’s Guaranteed Rate lease expires in 2029, and owner Jerry Reinsdorf was spotted leaving a meeting with Nashville mayor Freddie O’Connell in December. The Milwaukee Brewers were rumored to be looking for a new home before the Wisconsin state legislature passed a $500m bill to publicly finance renovations to their home ballpark (the city is expected to sign a new 30-year lease with the team soon).
The stakes are clear: with cities like Nashville and Charlotte showing interest in hosting Major League Baseball teams (MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has indicated he’d like to see a team in Nashville), expect n -owners will demand more public funding from cities as a stadium. leases close to expiring. GB
The Dallas Cowboys hire Bill Belichick
The Hoodie will be the head coach of the Cowboys to start the 2024 season. The future Hall of Fame coach, who will turn 72 in April, has not been able to find success since Tom Brady left England New and will be let go after his worst season on the sidelines. Another disappointing finish for Mike McCarthy and the Cowboys will have Jerry Jones looking to make a move. Jones, who has a weakness for flashy hires, will look to hire from his friend Bill Parcells’ coaching staff and snag the Hoodie. Belichick, a six-time Super Bowl champion as head coach, will have a legacy of proven quarterbacks and a talented roster that will help him catch Don Shula and become the league’s all-time winningest coach. NL
Hikaru Nakumura won the world chess championship
Nakamura enters 2024 ranked third in the world and having booked his place in an eight-man contender tournament in April to determine world title challenger Ding Liren in the fall. Ding has made limited appearances due to unspecified health issues since winning the crown vacated by Magnus Carlsen, meaning that April’s doubleheader in Toronto could prove more difficult to win than the championship match itself. It says here that Nakamura, at 36 and Carlsen has retired, is ready for his moment. The five-time US champion, whose main career is as a streamer with millions of followers, will become only the second American champion in the 138-year history of the world title game and the first since Bobby Fischer, starting a state chess boom on Queen’s Gambit effect looks quaint. BAG
The NBA will see (another) first time champion
Yes, the National Basketball Association is a blue blood league. There’s a reason the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics each have 17 championships over the league’s 77-year history, which makes up about half of the total NBA finals wins. Other teams such as San Antonio, Golden State, Miami, Philly and Chicago also have multiple rings. But lately, parody has become a reality in the NBA. Denver won their first Larry O’Brien trophy in 2023 and this year we think the league will be another first time winner. That means teams like those listed above will have to sit on the sidelines as the confetti falls on a new champ. So who could that be? The best bets are Oklahoma City or Minnesota, who are currently atop the Western Conference. But don’t look now – the LA clippers they could join the fold with newcomer James Harden running point and freshman (knock on wood) Kawhi Leonard and Paul George running the wings. Yes, anyone has to win it and we think it will be a first time team again in 2024. JU
