A Strange Upcoming Year?

It is far too early in the calendar year to draw any reasonable conclusions, but there are a few unusual circumstances in the sports world that might lead one to conclude that 2025 will be a year of strange happenings.  Consider:

• The betting favorite for the team that will represent the NFC in this year’s Super Bowl Game is the Detroit Lions.  This will be the 59^th iteration of the Super Bowl and the Lions have taken part in exactly none of the previous 58 games.
• Another serious NFC contender to play in that game is the Minnesota Vikings.  The last time the Vikings were in the Super Bowl, the opposing QB was Ken Stabler.
• In case you had not noticed, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won their division for the fourth consecutive season.  That had never happened before…
• Meanwhile, the Buffalo Bills won their division for the fifth consecutive season.  Even though the Bills played in – – and lost – – four consecutive Super Bowl Games, they had never won their division 5 times in a row.

Strange doings in the sports world early in 2025 are not limited to the NFL; perhaps some examples from the NBA will suggest a year of unusual sporting circumstances:

• As of this morning, the Oklahoma Thunder of the NBA sport a record of 30-5 and the team has won 15 games in a row.  There are 8 NBA teams today that have not won a total of 15 games this season, let alone 15 games in a row.
• Believe it or not, the Thunder do NOT have the best record in the NBA as of today; the Cleveland Cavaliers – – of all teams – – check in with a record of 31-4 and they are riding a 10-game winning streak.

The status of men’s college basketball suggests an unusual change of circumstances for this year:

• Only one “blueblood basketball team” – – Duke – – is ranked in the Top-5 today.  The other 4 schools have had strong programs in recent years, but none are legendary college basketball programs:
  • • Tennessee – – ranked #1
    • Auburn – – ranked #2
    • Iowa St. – – ranked #3
    • Alabama – – ranked #5
• Meanwhile, perennial powerhouses are not even in the Top-10 this morning such as:
  • • Kansas – – ranked #11
    • Michigan St. – – ranked #16
    • Gonzaga – – ranked #18
    • UCLA – – ranked #22
    • Michigan – – ranked #24

And “across the pond” in the English Premier League, you can find an element of strangeness in the table as of today.  The season over there is just past the halfway point in terms of games played; while the final standings may change dramatically, there is a decent sample size to try to analyze and digest:

• Manchester United – – EPL champions for 13 seasons – – finds itself in 13^th place in the 20-team league.  Man U is 23 points from the top of the table and only 7 points clear of the relegation zone.
• Manchester City – – 8-time EPL champion and champions for the last 4 consecutive seasons – – are in 6^th place this morning and would not qualify for any of the international club competitions if that were to be their final position.
• Nottingham Forest was only promoted to the EPL for the last two seasons after spending the previous 14 seasons in the Championship.  As of this morning, Nottingham Forest is in 3^rd place in the EPL.
• Bournemouth has spent the last 10 seasons cycling between the EPL and the Championship; it was promoted to the EPL two seasons ago along with Nottingham Forest.  Today, Bournemouth is in 7^th place in the table, only 1 point behind Manchester City, 9 points ahead of Tottenham Hotspur and 10 points ahead of Manchester United.

I remember in 12^th grade English class having been assigned to write an essay on Shakespeare’s use of birds as omens in the play Macbeth.  My initial reaction to the assignment was that this was going to be impossible because I did not recall any animals as part of the play we had just read.  Then I took a closer look and indeed there were mentions of ravens and owls and falcons in the text.  My lesson there was that you have to look closely if you are trying to find “unusual things” in a larger work.  So, maybe that lesson applies here to these early oddities in 2025?  If only I had access to three witches in a park nearby who might give me a prophecy for 2025.

“Double, double toil and trouble ;

Fire burn and caldron bubble.

Cool it with a baboon’s blood,

Then the charm is firm and good.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………