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HAPPY NEW YEAR
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“YEAR IN REVIEW”
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It’s 2024…One last look back at 2023 and big sports stories…here-there-everywhere.

PETER SEIDLER….The passing of the Padres lead owner brought an outpouring of emotion from baseball fans and from citizens for all the things ‘St Peter’ stood for.  What a good owner.  What a greater person.

AZTECS-MARCH MADNESS…A once in a lifetime trip to the Final 4 and then to the championship game.  They earned it with defense, selflessness, and outside shooting.  An enormous coaching job by Brian Dutcher.

PADRES FAB FOUR..Fan Fest in February debuted the Fab 4-roster put together by AJ Preller.   Excitement for a pennant race, the playoffs, the World Series hopes

PADRES FAILURE…The Fab 4-failed across the board, hitting a combined .110 points below their career stats.  Injuries.  The clubhouse chemistry problems.  The Juan Soto trade.  The decision to let Manager Bob Melvin walk to San Francisco.  A near 40M-tax bill for their high payroll.  The decision to cut payroll by 50M for next year.  The bankruptcy of Bally Sports-costing the team 60M in TV revenue.  What a difference a year makes.

CHARGERS CRAP OUT…Bad karma a bitch.  Fans watched the Raiders build a (42-0) lead, then expand it to (63-7) and win (63-21).  The First Family of Football fired the GM-Coach  12-hours later, but the Spanos family still owns the  failing franchise.

AZTECS FOOTBALL FAILURE…Empty seats, lousy losses, the force ourt of once successful coach Brady Hoke.  The arrival of Sean Lewis as new head coach with his passing game resume of accomplishments at Colorado-Kent State-Syracuse-Bowling Green.  The sight of Snapdragon Stadium being 50% empty has to be alarming.

USD..A horrid football season, the investigation into sexual hazing incidents involving players, the inaccessibility of new coach Brandon Moore, the refusal of transparency of the university about the players involved, and then the firing of Athletic Director William McGillis without explanation.  All this from a small Catholic school.

SDFC…MLS Soccer coming in 2025, but leads to the death of the popular San Diego Loyal-USFL.  San Diego Wave soccer continues.

GULLS-GRUESOME…The AHL club with its worst season ever, a lst place finish and another coaching changing.
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DODGERS SPENDING SPREE…Ohtani-Yamamoto-Glasnow…The signings and trades amounted to a (1.1B) gift under the tree to Dodgers fans

MESSI TO MIAMI…Soccer’s global icon chooses to turn down Saudi super money and elects to come to the MLS.

SAUDI-BLOOD MONEY…At first it was golf, now it’s soccer, Cristiano Ronaldo-Neymar and more jump for big money deals.

PGA-LIV…War and Peace.  A merger announced in the middle of the night to end the Civil War in golf, but details still not finalized.

DEATH OF THE PAC 12…First it was USC-UCLA leaving then 8-more schools left in the collapse of the Conference of Champions, which had been in business since 1915, leaving Oregon State-Washington State as the lone conference members.

COACH PRIME-COLORADO..Pick any headline-it caught your attention, Deion Sanders to CU…his roster told to go to the transfer portal, the opening 3-wins of the season-must see TV, then the collapse of the team losing 7-of-8 games.  Talk is cheap-following it up is tougher.

BRITTENY GRINER…US-Russian politics galvanized by the drug arrest and jailing of the WNBA star and the months of negotiations on a prisoner swamp

DAMAR HAMLIN..The world stopped and watched EMT units and the NFL protocols save the life of the Bills defensive back on the field in a game against the Bengals.

WORLD SERIES HEROES…From 100-loss seasons to the Fall Classic in one year’s time-great stories about the Texas Rangers-Arizona Diamondbacks

MARCH MADNESS…Some show by LSU-Iowa in women’s basketball and Angel Reese’s post game picture..’See the Ring on my Finger’ .to Caitlan Clark of the Hawkeyes after the LSU win

FALL FAILURES…The NCAA is reeling under the Transfer Portal, the NIL financial pools, player defections, the collapse of Bowl Games.  Alot to clean up in the next year to fix college sports.

FLORIDA STATE FIASCO…The Seminoles went (13-0) and did not make the playoffs…with an uproar in Tallahassee.  They then get smoked (63-6) in their Orange Bowl game.

NEW CHAMPION…New Year’s Day Bowl games, so much anticipation, Washington-Texas..Michigan-Alabama, whether you like Jim Harbaugh or Nick Saban or not.

NOVAK SHINES…Tennis’ superstar Djokovic comes off his COVID ban of a year ago to win 3-Grand Slam events when they let him into the country, winning the Aussie-French-US Open.

WIMBLEDON WARRIOR..The arrival of Carlos Alcarez at Wimbledon.

SIMONE COMEBACK..Simone Biles left gymnastics with mental health issues…Two years later she returns as a world champion on mat and for all the kids who struggle with depression.

MAD MAX…Formula 1-has seen so many great drivers in its history, Max Verstappen, Team Red Bulls wins a record 19-races this year, the best ever.

PAYDAY…Jon Rahm leaves the PGA Tour to take a reported (400M) payday to join LIV golf next year after spending 2023 denouncing the LIV’s existence.

DENVER DOES IT…Longtime ABA-NBA member had never won a title…the Nuggets did with Nikola Jokic.

SHOOTING GUARDS-GUNS…Ja Morant 25-game suspension for repeated gun incidents.

TREVOR BAUER BARRED…A record 302-game suspension over sexual misconduct, he leaves MLB and signs with Yokahama Bay Stars.  His suspension is over, no one has signed him yet.

AARON RODGERS MOVES…The love me-love me not era in Green Bay is over, and Rodgers gets traded to the Jets, then gets hurt, torn achilles, in his first game.

THE HOODIE ERA OVER…Now at (4-12)..New England may well remove Bill Belichick at the end of the season, as they are still searching for a replacement for Tom Brady.  The Pats, under Belichick, are (28-37) since TB12 left the building.

WASHINGTON EXILE..Disgraced owner Daniel Snyder sells the franchise for a record 6B and then moves to London, England

DEATH OF NEWSPAPERS..The New York Times folds its entire sports department after its purchase of the Athletic.  The LA Times ends game story coverage and turns sports pages into feature articles and big pictures.

NFL-TV…Give me your credit card, as the NFL expands its media packages onto streaming.  Big paydays, reduced ratings for streaming members, but money in every owner’s pockets.  Your games may be on CBS-NBC-ABC-ESPN but also You Tube, Amazon and Peacock.  There seems no end to what they ask of fans and what they will charge.

IN MEMORIUM…
..Jimmy Brown
..Dick Butkus
..Bob Knight
..Brooks Robinson
..Tim McCarver
..Bud Grant
..Johnny Lujack
..Charles White
..Willis Reed
..Bobby Hull
..Billy Packer

..Cale Yarbrough

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