SPORTS PREDICTIONS FOR 2021
I, Sportsradamus, the great, and all knowing one (not according to my wife), will now unveil my prognostications for this, the year 2021.
First, in no way should you blame me for not predicting the kind of year we had last year. There’s nobody on this planet that could have predicted the entire sports world would be shutdown by a pandemic. However, with that being said, I predict this year may not be much different.
Sure, we’re
back to playing our sports again, with abbreviated schedules and limited fan
attendance, but the dastardly COVID-19 is still out there, and the number of
cases won’t likely be declining any time soon. That means, I predict there will
still be disruption to sports seasons throughout the year. Games will be
postponed and entire leagues will cancel their seasons.
The 2020
Summer Olympics in Tokyo were postponed last year, and although the Olympic
competition is scheduled to begin July 21 of this year, it’s likely going to be
postponed again. Japan reported 7,855 new COVID-19 cases on Jan. 9, the highest
single-day total since the pandemic began. The only thing winning a gold medal
right now, is this coronavirus.
In the NFL,
if the Buffalo Bills beat the Kansas City Chiefs this weekend, look for the
Bills to advance all the way to winning their first ever Super Bowl title, by
defeating the Green Bay Packers. At the end of the season, New Orleans
quarterback Drew Brees will announce his retirement, and turn to a career as a
social media consultant.
Major
League Baseball will open its season on April 1, but the season will be
disrupted again by teams with players who test positive for the coronavirus.
The league will battle through the schedule changes, and in the end, the San
Diego Padres will defeat the New York Yankees in the World Series, giving San
Diego their first ever World Series title. Tony La Russa will be fired by the
Chicago White Sox after only one season; another DUI could be the final straw.
The Tulsa Drillers
and the entire Texas League will be forced to start their season late, as Major
League Baseball limits the number of players and teams permitted to attend
Spring Training at the same time. In order to stay on a schedule to finish the
season by mid-September, and to avoid players from different cities coming
together in the same clubhouse, the Texas League will cancel the All-Star Game,
and the schedule will include fewer off days. It won’t be an easy season for
the players or fans, as postponements and cancellations are inevitable, but the
Tulsa Drillers will once again claim the Texas League Championship.
There will
be a big coaching change announcement at Oklahoma State by June, and the
University of Tulsa will be looking for a new men’s basketball coach, as Frank
Haith succumbs to the seven-year itch and is courted away by a larger school in
a larger conference, with a larger paycheck.
The Tulsa Oilers will compete this spring in
the ECHL playoffs, but will fall just short of making it to the championship
series, by losing in the conference finals.
In the NHL,
the new divisions and the schedule of playing ONLY the teams in your division,
will sour on the fans really quick. The lack of variety of opponents in the
regular season, will indeed water-down the ideal of crowning a league champion.
The Vegas Golden Knights will defeat the Tampa Bay Lighting to win the Stanley
Cup.
In a
rematch of the 1976 NBA Finals, the Phoenix Suns will beat the Boston Celtics.
Following the season, Kyrie Irving will announce his retirement from the
Brooklyn Nets, to open a chain of CBD stores.
MORE RANDOM PREDICTIONS:
Following
the lead of the NHL in selling corporate naming rights for its divisions, the
NBA will rebrand itself the Sinopec Group League, and expand to China.
A woman
will be hired as head coach of a United Soccer League team, giving her the
needed experience to make the jump to being a head coach in MLS.
Speaking of
the USL, the league will delay the start of the season, likely to May, and FC
Tulsa will make it to the second round of the playoffs.
Mike Tyson
will once again step back into the boxing ring this year and will entice
Evander Holyfield to come out of retirement, so the two can battle it out for
the third time. Holyfield will have both ears covered with tape.
Rory
McIlroy will once again miss completing the elusive Grand Slam of Golf, while
missing the cut at The Masters. Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm, and Bryson
DeChambeau will finish in a three-way tie at Augusta. DeChambeau wins the
playoff.
