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.

[This column appeared in the Tulsa Beacon newspaper on Jan. 14, 2021]