Joe Flacco leads the Browns to the Tremendous Bowl
Within the 12 months of the backup quarterback, Flacco’s encore efficiency has been a real shock. Simply when it appeared as if the 38-year-old father of 5 would possibly’ve been cooked, he got here off the sofa to win 5 of six begins and rally Cleveland to their second playoff berth in 21 years.
All through the College of Delaware product has regarded as elite as in his heyday in Baltimore, the place devastating protection set him as much as reign bombs downfield. With the method a lot the identical in Cleveland, what’s stopping the previous Tremendous Bowl MVP from profitable all of it once more with the Browns?
Think about: Cleveland have already crushed Baltimore, San Francisco and Jacksonville this season and have sufficient muscle on either side of the ball to push round up-and-down Kansas Metropolis and Miami, too. The Browns had been already excessive on the checklist of groups nobody wished to play whereas DeShaun Watson’s different backups had been filling in. However with Flacco underneath heart, they’re a critical title contender now. AL
Gabby Douglas will win Olympic gold (once more)
As Simone Biles spectacularly re-established her dominance this 12 months, one other vital gymnastics comeback was quietly within the works. Douglas, the trailblazing 2012 Olympic all-around champion introduced this 12 months that she would return in 2024 having not competed since her personal painful Olympic expertise in 2016. Beginning once more from scratch after an eight-year layoff in such a technical sport like gymnastics is astoundingly tough, there shall be no margin for error since she is returning in an Olympic 12 months and the depth of the US group implies that merely making it to the Olympics is a number of instances tougher than really profitable a group medal, the place USA shall be heavy favorites. Nonetheless, Douglas, who turned 28 on Sunday, is a champion, a generational expertise in her personal proper and he or she is aware of precisely what it takes to make a group. In 2024, alongside Biles, she is going to do it once more. TC
The Saudis get within the NFL enterprise
The continued encroachment of Public Funding Funds into sports activities continues apace. To this point, Sovereign Wealth Funds have turned the majority of their consideration to European soccer, boxing and golf. Subsequent up on the docket: the 4 main US professional sports activities leagues. Final 12 months, the Qatar Funding Authority grew to become the primary Center Japanese group to dip its toes within the water, shopping for a 5% stake in Monumental Sports activities & Leisure for $200m, the possession group of the NHL’s Washington Capitals, NBA’s Washington Wizards and WNBA’s Washington Mystics. The most important lingering query: Can an funding fund purchase its approach into the NFL’s outdated boys membership? Shopping for up a portion of Sundays is hard. Boardroom transactions in America’s most outstanding league sometimes have much less to do with cash and extra to do with backroom scheming – the league has solely ever had one overseas proprietor, Shahid Khan, a Pakastani-born enterprise, who’s a naturalized US citizen, who purchased the Jags in 2012. However how a lot wouldn’t it take for Saudi Arabia’s PIF to bypass the standard backroom backslapping? $8bn? $10bn? The Saints and Seahawks may each be obtainable within the subsequent 12 months, and an possession group headed up by a conventional face (white, outdated, male, purveyor of a legacy model) in partnership with a sovereign wealth fund looks like an inevitability. OC
At the very least one MLB group will threaten to maneuver cities
In November, Main League Baseball house owners unanimously authorised the Oakland A’s transfer to Las Vegas in 2028, a bitter finish to arduous negotiations between A’s possession and the town of Oakland. Town’s lease with the A’s residence stadium was set to run out in 2024, and proprietor John Fisher negotiated a cope with Las Vegas that assured extra public funding for a brand new stadium than Oakland was keen to supply. Count on different house owners to comply with Fisher’s playbook. The Chicago White Sox lease with Assured Charge subject expires in 2029, and proprietor Jerry Reinsdorf was noticed leaving a gathering with Nashville mayor Freddie O’Connell in December. The Milwaukee Brewers had been rumored to be in search of a brand new residence earlier than the Wisconsin state legislature handed a $500m invoice to publicly fund renovations to their residence ballpark (the town is predicted to signal a brand new 30-year lease with the group quickly).
The stakes are clear: with cities like Nashville and Charlotte expressing curiosity in internet hosting Main League Baseball groups (MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has indicated he’d prefer to see a group in Nashville), count on house owners to demand extra public funding from cities as their stadium leases close to expiration. GB
Signal as much as Soccer with Jonathan Wilson
Jonathan Wilson brings skilled evaluation on the largest tales from European soccer
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The Dallas Cowboys rent Invoice Belichick
The Hoodie would be the head coach of the Cowboys to start out the 2024 season. The long run Corridor of Fame coach, who turns 72 in April, hasn’t been capable of finding success since Tom Brady departed New England and shall be let go after what’s absolutely been his worst season on the sidelines. One other disappointing end for Mike McCarthy and the Cowboys can have Jerry Jones trying to make a transfer. Jones, whose weak point for splashy hires is well-documented, will look to rent from his buddy Invoice Parcells’ teaching tree and snag the Hoodie. Belichick, a six-time Tremendous Bowl champion as a head coach, will inherit a confirmed quarterback and a gifted roster that may assist him catch Don Shula and develop into the league’s all-time winningest coach. NL
Hikaru Nakumura wins the world chess championship
Nakamura enters 2024 ranked third on the planet and having booked his place in April’s eight-man candidates event to find out the challenger to Ding Liren’s world title within the fall. Ding has made restricted appearances resulting from unspecified well being points since profitable the crown vacated by Magnus Carlsen, that means April’s double round-robin gauntlet in Toronto could show harder to win than the world championship match itself. It says right here that Nakamura, at 36 and with Carlsen having abdicated, is prepared for his second. The five-time US champion, whose important profession is as a streamer with tens of millions of followers, will develop into the second ever American champion within the 138-year historical past of world title matchplay and first since Bobby Fischer, kicking off a stateside chess growth that can make The Queen’s Gambit impact appear quaint. BAG
The NBA will see (one other) first-time champion
Sure, the Nationwide Basketball Affiliation is a league of bluebloods. There’s a motive the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics every boast 17 championships apiece over the league’s 77-year historical past, marking about half of the overall NBA finals wins. Different groups like San Antonio, Golden State, Miami, Philly and Chicago maintain a number of rings, too. However extra not too long ago, parody has develop into one thing of a actuality within the NBA. Denver received their first Larry O’Brien trophy in 2023 and we expect this 12 months the league will crown yet one more first-time winner. Meaning groups like these listed above should sit on the sidelines because the confetti falls on a brand new champ. So, who would possibly that be? Greatest bets are both Oklahoma Metropolis or Minnesota, that are presently atop the Western Convention. However don’t look now – the LA Clippers may get into the fold with newcomer James Harden working level and the freshly heathy (knock on wooden) Kawhi Leonard and Paul George working the wings. Sure, it’s anybody’s to win and we expect will probably be a first-time group as soon as once more in 2024. JU
