In the sports world, it was a year filled with record-breaking performances, come-from-behind victories, and historic championship wins. But you probably already know that the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl, the Denver Nuggets won the NBA Finals, and maybe some team won the World Series (sorry, other parts of the country I stopped watching before it ended).
It’s the unpredictability that keeps us coming back as sports fans. So instead of just looking back at the biggest moments of 2023, why not count down the top 10 most surprising moments of the year?
And yes, just to be forewarned, we pass Taylor Swift in the crowd.
10. Show me the money!
Talk about something amazing. What about 700 million reasons why your jaw falls out? After months of speculation and numerous tracking flights on FlightAware, Shohei Ohtani has signed a 10-year, $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers. This deal eliminates the previous largest overall contract in history (Mike Trout’s $425.6 million) and largest annual contract in history (Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer’s $43.3 million). Granted, this is like him signing two players at once, so maybe his $350 million per player isn’t that bad?
Of course, the news that Ohtani would actually defer his $68 million annual payment added to the shock. According to ESPN, the bulk of the contract ($680 million) is actually scheduled to be paid between 2034 and 2043. So, the good news is that I still have 10 years until I become best friends with Ohtani.
9. How far can you run in 2 hours?
Admittedly, this is a bit of a surprise moment, but sometimes sports moments can be quite shocking, so you have to be mentally prepared. Perhaps the most famous metric in the history of the sport is the 4-minute mile. So famous that many people know Roger Bannister’s name, even though they can’t say anything about him other than that for the first time he ran the mile in less than four minutes. No other race distance or time can match this fame, but that may soon be coming to an end.
At the Chicago Marathon in October, Kenyan Kelvin Kiptum (who is said to be five times faster) shortened the marathon world record to 2 hours and 35 seconds, coming close to breaking the two-hour mark. That barrier could be broken in 2024, especially in an Olympic year.
8. 92,000 Close Friends
In a banner year for women’s college sports, we couldn’t help but take note of two insane attendance records set this year. In August, the Nebraska women’s volleyball team played in front of just over 92,000 fans. No, that’s not a typo. This is not just the largest crowd for a women’s sports event in college, or the largest crowd for a women’s sports event in the United States, but actually the largest crowd ever for a women’s sports event in the entire world.
The game was played at Memorial Stadium, home of the Cornhuskers football team. (Not that Nebraska football was worth watching.) Before you ask, yes, it was paid attendance.
Sticking with the Midwest, the Iowa women’s basketball team set its own record in October by playing an outdoor game at the football stadium, Kinnick Stadium, with 55,646 fans in attendance. At the exhibition! Of course, Hawkeye Caitlin Clark was in attendance, so I was a little surprised the entire state of Iowa didn’t participate. She recorded a triple-double in the win over DePaul, setting a record for the largest attendance ever for a women’s basketball game.
7. cicada– controversial
When is an undefeated record in a Power 5 conference not as good as a one-loss record in a Power 5 conference? When you’re at Florida State and you lose your star quarterback. The final year of the four-team College Football Playoff got lost in the final controversy, expanding to 12 teams for the 2024-25 season, with the Seminoles still clinched the championship despite winning every game. . In a no-win situation for the selection committee, two teams with one loss (Alabama and Texas) advanced ahead of Florida State.
Meanwhile, the discussion-filled talk show lasted a week. Meanwhile, Jordan Travis is out this year, and Alabama and Texas are likely the better teams at this point.
By the end of December, Florida had sued the Atlantic Coast Conference, saying the Seminole Tribe’s disrespect was “the culmination of the ACC’s longstanding failure to live up to its most basic promises to Florida and its member states.” This comes a day after the ACC filed a preemptive lawsuit against the FSU Board of Governors, saying the school has “obligations to the conference of which it belongs and has benefited for over 30 years.” As if the conference situation in college sports wasn’t already in turmoil, we’re now hurtling towards the complete collapse of the system.
6. So much for “Twist”
Simone Biles has nothing left to prove on her impressive resume, but she surprised everyone in June by announcing she wasn’t quite good enough to reach the top of the world in gymnastics. Biles missed most of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics because of her mental health issues. She cited a case of “twisties” (a mental block that causes one to lose direction in the air) as the reason for canceling most of her events.
But the 26-year-old said she wasn’t ready to make that her last memory on the international stage. Biles has returned to competition and she looks exactly the same as she did heading into the Tokyo Games, and she has won every championship in sight, including the U.S. Championships (eighth) and World Championships (sixth). fulfilled. She will be the favorite to win several more gold medals in Paris, including her second individual all-around title.
Oh, and she married Green Bay Packers safety Jonathan Owens in April, starting a little Biles vs. Swift controversy, but that was just a joke.
5. The World’s Strongest Returns to WWE
There is no name more polarizing in the world of professional wrestling* than CM Punk. And for those who live in certain corners of the internet, no name is more hotly debated. Punk has spent much of the past decade ranting about how bad his job in WWE was and how happy he was to be done with it when he left in early 2014. He promised never to wrestle in WWE again and even dueled with the company’s attending doctor in court.
However, during the first half of 2023, while working for WWE’s main rival All Elite Wrestling, he got into a number of backstage fights, including allegedly assaulting company owner Tony Khan. , who returned to WWE in November after having a really bad day? Punk arrived at Survivor Series in his hometown of Chicago with a huge pop sound. It’s not exactly Monday Night Wars yet, but the behind-the-scenes drama is often more exciting than on-screen.
(*This list considers professional wrestling as a sport, so save the philosophical discussion for another time.)
4. Messimania is coming to the US
The jury is still out on whether America truly loves soccer, as it has for decades, but this year the world’s best players have sparked a new level of interest in the sport in the United States. There is no doubt about it. . Lionel Messi, who won the 2022 World Cup with Argentina last December, decided to join Inter Miami of MLS in June. Perhaps most impressively, he turned down a huge contract offer from a team in the Saudi soccer league. Clubs have poached A-list players for hundreds of millions of dollars in “sportswash” campaigns.
Messi made his debut with Inter Miami in July, won the League Cup in August, and made his debut in MLS competition in August, scoring 11 goals in 14 games. He also saw an increase in ticket sales everywhere he went. Although his team failed to make the playoffs, Messi won the Ballon d’Or as the world’s best player in October, his record eighth trophy.
The league is definitely – and I’m not kidding – looking forward to a full season with Messi in 2024.
3. Shock to the heart
Many of the moments on this list are light-hearted, but just a few days into 2023, Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed during a prime-time game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Reality has crashed into the sports world. We later learned that the then 24-year-old had gone into cardiac arrest and had to be resuscitated with CPR on the field. The stadium was silent as millions of people watched on television hoping for the best. Thankfully, Hamlin quickly recovered as the sports world followed closely. He was also cleared to play again and appeared in several games in the fall.
In a repeat of Hamlin’s collapse, LeBron James’ son Bronny went into cardiac arrest during a basketball practice at the University of Southern California in July. The elite recruit also had to be rushed to a nearby hospital, but has now made a full recovery. Like Hamlin, he has been cleared to play and has already appeared in several games during his freshman season.
2. Jets as usual
There’s no more iconic New York Jets story than the newly signed franchise quarterback getting injured on the fourth play of the season — yet Aaron Rodgers ruptures his Achilles tendon on the first drive against the Buffalo Bills. Our jaws were still hanging open. . Even if you’re not a Jets fan, you felt a little bad — or you would have, if Rodgers wasn’t so likable. You won’t find a better (worse?) example of a build-up to a big moment followed by a complete and utter thud.
And Rodgers continued to tease Jets fans throughout the season with a possible return, eventually announcing his exit from the Jets as the team fell out of playoff contention. Let’s try again next fall — if he doesn’t threaten to retire again.
1. Taylor and Travis
There’s nothing better than seeing a young couple in love. wherever. always. Inevitable. Just like this story you’re reading right now. Maybe it’s because there’s been so much darkness in the world lately — two ongoing wars, endless political and legal wrangling, mass shootings — Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift’s romance. Nothing has attracted as much attention from around the world. It was also a perfect crossover, as it appealed to his two very different fan bases.
Sure, the endless cutaways to Swift in the crowd were a little annoying for true soccer fans, but it’s harmless in the long run. She likes soccer now! So do you! So he’s having the worst season of his career and he’s distracted. It’s not all about your fantasy team.
Swiftie speculation continues in 2024. (This relationship will take another 6 months. Tops)