Penton: Looking into 2025’s crystal ball
By Bruce Penton
Almost guaranteed to happen in 2025:
January — Russian sniper Alex Ovechkin continues his pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s record for most career National Hockey League goals (894), but might wind up a half-dozen or so short by the end of the 2024-25 season. When the calendar flipped over to 2025, the Great 8 was 25 goals short.
February — The Four Nations Faceoff tournament, dubbed the Few Nations Faceoff by a Montreal columnist because of the absence of players from Switzerland, Russia, Denmark, Czech Republic, Slovakia, among other hockey-playing countries, is a major success and no one misses the event it replaced — the NHL all-star game.
March — Perennial threats Kevin Koe and Brad Gushue falter at the Brier, confirming that the old guard is on the way out, and Canada’s new guard, led by 2025 champion Matt Dunstone, has officially arrived.
April — Rory McIlroy’s remade golf swing will finally result in a Masters’ championship, giving the Northern Irishman the coveted career grand slam. On April 1, the Leafs shock the NHL world by trading Auston Matthews for two first-round draft picks. “We were 7-1 when he was injured, so it shows we really don’t need him,” said a Leafs’ spokesman.
May — The Blue Jays get off to a promising .500 start into the second month of the MLB season and World Series parade plans begin to be formulated.
June — The NHL’s Stanley Cup playoffs, which used to end in early April during the Original 6 days, finally winds up on June 22, with the Oilers finally claiming the title after last year’s Game 7 heartbreak. Their opponent in the final? Ottawa Senators.
July — As the Jays fade, they make a big splash at the trade deadline, sending slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr., to a contender for a number of young prospects. With Guerrero, Jr., unsigned past the end of the 2025 season, Blue Jays’ brass figure they may as well get some young talent in exchange for the slugger before he becomes a free agent.
August — B.C. Lions new head coach Buck Pierce’s work with quarterback Nathan Rourke results in an 8-0 record to start the Canadian Football League season and Vancouver fans are dreaming of the team’s first Grey Cup since 2011.
September — The National Football League season gets under way and defending Super Bowl champion Detroit Lions are again odds-on favourites to win it all.
October — Baseball’s mega millions teams, the Yankees and Dodgers, win their respective league championships, leaving Mets’ fans to wonder if that $765 million for Juan Soto was really worth it.
November — Cooper Flagg is on the way in and LeBron James is on the way out as the National Basketball Association enters a new era.
December — Year-end reviews of the sports happenings over the previous 12 months are printed and show undoubtedly that most sports columnists have no idea what they're talking about when they make predictions.
TV fact from Yahoo Sports “Football is the most popular TV show in America — by a ridiculous margin. Of the 100 most-watched broadcasts of 2023, 96 were football games (93 NFL, three NCAA).”
Andrew Hammond on Bluesky.app: “Bill Belichick dealing with NIL. Bill Belichick at Media Days. Bill Belichick dealing with six or seven reporters in a cramped auxiliary after a rain-soaked game at Virginia. It’s all gonna be so glorious. I give it two years.”
Stewart Mandel of The Athletic, on UNC hiring Bill Belichick as head football coach: “Unless Belichick can magically restore eligibility for Tom Brady, I fail to see how this will end well.”
Denny Carter on bluesky.app: “Report: Tom Brady to enrol at the University of North Carolina.”
Jack Todd of the Montreal Gazette: “The fuss over the roster selections for the Few Nations Cup makes little sense. First, an international men’s hockey competition without the Swiss, Danes, Slovaks and Czechs isn’t really international at all.”
Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: “Spoiled Alabama fans whining about their three-loss team not getting an invitation to the College Football Playoff is like listening to Warren Buffett complain about not getting a senior discount.”
Jack Finarelli on his website, sports curmudgeon.com: “Famous Idaho Potato bowl: Northern Illinois Huskies play the Fresno State Bulldogs. This should be the Canine Bowl, right … ?”
RJ Currie of sportsdeke.com: “According to a recent global study, Detroit is one of the most dangerous U.S. cities to visit. Especially if you're an NFL team.”
Comedy guy Torben Rolfsen of Vancouver: ”I invited some friends over to listen to the Canucks-Wild game on the radio. I told them we were going to party like it was 1949.”
Legendary coach Bill Belichick, on Jets’ owner Woody Johnson’s approach to running the NFL franchise: “Ready, fire, aim.”
Columnist Norman Chad, on Twitter: “I will be proposing an eight-day week next year, designating the eighth day as one the NFL can never play on.”
Steve Simmons of the Toronto Star: “Terrible time to be a sports fan in Chicago. The Bears stink. The Blackhawks stink. The White Sox stink. The Bulls aren’t any good. Not much to care about in one of the great sporting towns in America.”
Care to comment? Email brucepenton2003@yahoo.ca