11 Storylines Heading Into 2011: Part I

With just a few days left in 2010, you know what that means: Year In Review lists!

Everyone’s got one. ESPN; People Magazine; Time; MSNBC; The Spice Channel; Telemundo; The weird guy who lives at the bus station. Everybody.

Just not me.

While 2010 was an interesting year to say the least, I’m not big on looking back. I don’t do it in my personal life, with relationships, in my writing and I’m not going to do it here either.

Instead, let’s think about the future by breaking down 11 biggest sports story lines heading into 2011. We’ll capture a few here in Part I, with Part II being posted on Thursday.

Enjoy, and as always I'm curious to know what you're most looking forward to in 2011.

Let's get to the list!

11. My Continued Evolution As An MMA Fan: Confession time: I know I’m supposed to be the all-knowing sports guy, considering, well, that I run a sports website and all. Hypothetically, I’m supposed to have an opinion on everything, which I basically do…except for mixed martial arts.

Now to you longtime readers of this site, you know that one of my New Year’s Resolutions for 2010 was to “figure out MMA.” Unfortunately even now, 365 days later, I’m no closer to really understanding the sport, than I am to understanding how scientists split the atom 70 years ago. Needless to say, I’ve got some work to do.

I guess my biggest thing with MMA, is that it’s really the only sport I don’t “get,” the intricacies of. Everything is else is pretty self-explanatory. I’ve been watching basketball, baseball and football my whole life. Tennis and golf pretty much come down to “see ball, hit ball, crush opponent.” And even though we call boxing the “sweet science,” all it really is, is one guy pummeling the other. I remember watching the Shane Mosley-Floyd Mayweather fight with friends last spring, and even the blondest girl in the room could figure out on instinct alone that Mayweather was the better fighter that night.

As for MMA, well, it’s not quite that easy.

Yes by the end of every fight there’s usually a clear-cut winner, but I guess I just don’t understand exactly how we get there. There are so many moving parts that make an MMA fight: The grappling, the kick boxing, the Muay Thai. Truthfully, I need a roadmap to figure it all out.

And at this point I’d be willing to pay someone to explain, almost like one of those college kids who pays his buddy to write a term paper for him. I don’t want to do all the work that goes into figuring out MMA, I just want to, well, get it!

So if you’ve got any advice, opinions or thoughts, I’m all ears. Really I’m just hopeful that “Figuring out MMA,” won’t be on this list heading into 2012 as well.

10. The Continued Evolution of the NCAA: Except for Elin Nordegren’s lawyer, and this Katie Perry chick everyone’s talking about, did anyone have a bigger year than the NCAA? Seriously, these guys were everywhere, and almost like a piece of Christmas roast stuck in your teeth, we just couldn’t get rid of them no matter how hard anyone tried.

Off the top of my head, here are a few things the NCAA got mixed up in 2010: The Cam Newton saga; Major investigations of the football programs at USC, North Carolina and Ohio State; putting UConn basketball on probation; Eligibility issues surrounding two of the best incoming freshmen in college basketball, Kansas’ Josh Selby and Kentucky’s Enes Kanter; the A.J. Green mess at Georgia; not to mention a whole lot of smaller scale cases. As I joked many times, if you’re looking for work during these tough economic times, just go ahead and call the NCAA. They seem to have plenty to dole out.

Of course with the good comes the bad, and the NCAA most certainly took their fair share of criticism in 2010. The criticism wasn’t so much about the penalties themselves, but how  the NCAA came to their decisions on those penalties. Every ruling seemed to be independent of the last. Nothing made much sense.

That was most certainly the case last week, when five Ohio State football players were suspended for accepting improper benefits, starting…next year. Of course, since the players weren’t “properly educated,” they’re still allowed to play in the Sugar Bowl in a few weeks. Huh?

Really though, I think that the Cam Newton and Ohio State decisions may have been the tipping point for the NCAA. For a long time the organization at least pretended to act under the “guise,” of amateurism. With these rulings, I don’t think even the most steadfast of supporters (and I’m one of them) even believes that anymore.

And that’s where the problem lies with the NCAA. Simply put, the public is onto them.

With the technology we have, and the way our society is, we have too much information at our fingertips, access to too many opinions and can congregate too quickly. News leads to educated discussion in forums like Twitter, and in the case of these last 12 months, educated discussion lead to a lot of public bitterness toward the NCAA.

I especially noticed this during the ruling with Ohio State. Once the story came out, it wasn’t so much about the news itself, as much as the issues surrounding the news. Why were these guys allowed to play in the bowl game? How could they not have been “educated,” by one of the most well-run athletics departments in the country? Why was the penalty so inconsistent with that of other players who committed similar violations? Again, after the ruling, everyone had an educated discussion, which all basically centered around “My God is the NCAA stupid.”

And it’s because of that, I don’t know how many more years the NCAA can keep going with the charade. Changes aren’t going to happen overnight, but at some point, the public’s disgust for the NCAA has to overrule its power at some point, right? You can’t have this many people angry with something before at least a little overhaul takes place.

While that change probably won’t happen in 2011, it will be coming soon, even if as I said, if they’re minor.

If 2010 proved anything, its that nobody is buying what the NCAA is selling anymore. People are ready for some change.

9. The Continuation Of A Very Exciting College Basketball Season: For all the crap that people have spewed on the NCAA over the past year, to their credit, they still put on a pretty darn good basketball tournament every March. Sure it’s not perfect, and maybe 68 teams if four too many. But even after all these years, the NCAA Tournament is still the most exciting postseason in sports.

Honestly, just look at last season. In December, who thought Duke was a National Championship contender? Who thought Butler was a Final Four contender? Who thought Texas would be a favorite all season, before they ended up crashing and burning like a poorly oiled stock car (Slowly raising my hand)?

Well, I expect this year to be no different.

Looking across the country, it wouldn’t surprise me if any number of teams won the title. Starting with those Duke Blue Devils, they’re certainly the most talented team in the country (not to mention the most hideous to look at. Have you seen this Ryan Kelly kid? I’ve thrown up things more attractive than that guy). But since Kyrie Irving went down with injury, they just don’t seem to be the same team. They’re talented yes, but not nearly as confident. If Irving doesn’t come back, what becomes of them?

Moving halfway across the country, Ohio State looks pretty darn good too, but really, they’re one game with Jared Sullinger getting in foul trouble from being eliminated.  UConn will have the best player on the court regardless of who they play, but as we saw Monday night at Pittsburgh, does Kemba Walker have enough help around him? Same with Josh Selby and the Kansas Jayhawks. What if by some miracle Enes Kanter gets eligible for the second half of the season at Kentucky? And I haven’t even mentioned Syracuse, Michigan State, Villanova, Texas, San Diego State and a few other teams that you know will be players all season.

Sure those teams all have huge holes, but didn’t Duke at this time last year?

8. The Changing Of The Guard In Tennis: Look, I know I’m one of the 10 remaining tennis fans worldwide not living in a country that borders the Baltic Sea. So if you don’t care about tennis, go ahead and skip to the next part of this article. I promise my feelings won’t be hurt…very much.

As for me, well I love tennis and here’s why: It’s the simplest sport to understand. Two guys (or girls), two rackets, one court. The fittest, mentally toughest and most skilled on that day wins 10 times out of 10. It’s really that simple. No weird rules, no shady governing bodies, no overbearing coaches or teammates. Just man vs. man, woman vs. woman, may the best win.

And honestly, tennis is in for some exciting times in 2011, especially in the men’s game. That’s because after years of flirting with us like a sorority girl at a college bar looking for free drinks, Rafael Nadal officially ripped the title of “world’s best player,” from Roger Federer in 2010. Nadal won the last three majors of the 2010 season, did it on three different surfaces, and finally conquered the one place he could never seem to figure out: Flushing Meadows and the U.S. Open.

Now, I’m ready to see what Rafa’s got for an encore. While it’s no longer up for debate that he’s the best player in the world, the gap between Nadal and the rest of the competition isn’t nearly as wide as it seems. Federer’s still got juuuuuuuust enough juice left in the tank to make another run or two at a major title. Novak Djokovic’s formerly paper-soft mental physique has finally caught up to his physical talents. Andy Murray is just entering his prime athletically. And Juan Martin Del Potro may be the most skilled player on tour, you know, if he can actually stay healthy.

There’s going to be a lot going on in tennis in 2011, and if you’re not a fan, I suggest you start tuning in. It’s going to be a fun couple months.

7. No Major International Tournaments: Which is a major bummer, considering that two of the most exciting sporting events of 2010 were the Winter Olympics and World Cup. Thankfully, we’ve still got the 2011 Cricket World Cup to look forward to this summer (I’ve got Bangladesh going all the way!).

And while it’s way too early to start previewing the 2012 London Olympics (although, full-disclosure, I’m expecting huge things from the South Korean swim team), that doesn’t mean we can’t reflect back on all the fun we had during last year’s Olympics and World Cup.

What will I remember? Well, I’ve got especially fond memories of being on vacation with my buddies during the World Cup, and our days and routines quickly revolving around it. I’ll remember waking up in the morning and watching the early game, while fighting off a killer hangover from the previous night. I'll remember pretending to argue over sight-seeing adventures, before ultimately settling back on the couch, telling a few bad jokes, and watching the mid-morning games. I'll remember finally rolling out of bed around noon, and grabbing a bite to eat over the afternoon contests. With some vuvazuela talk and ugly haircuts mixed in for good measure.

Ahh, the memories. How soon until the London Games again?

6. Major League Baseball’s Arms Race: For those of you who read this site, you know that I was in a bit of a huff a few weeks ago after Carl Crawford signed with Boston. Yes I love my Red Sox, but still, there was something concerning about the state of baseball, when one team can just throw an extra $30 million at a guy that no one else can. Then the Phillies made Cliff Lee the richest of their rich pitchers, and we all forgot about Crawford.

Either way, we’re entering an interesting time in baseball. For years, it’s been a sport about “have’s,” and “have not’s,” but we’re really not even there anymore. Instead baseball is more like a caste system, with the Red Sox, Yankees and Phillies having more resources to compete than the rest of the league, even while teams like the Mets and the Dodgers (previously big spenders) tried to cut payroll this off-season. Or at least not take any more on.

And in the end, you know what that means? Actually as a reader smarter than I pointed out, not much.

Yes the Yankees, Red Sox and Phillies have more to spend than everyone else, but all that really offers them is the best chance to compete and the largest margin for error if one of their signings goes horribly wrong (See: Cameron, Michael). That’s it. As the Giants and Rangers proved this September, having the biggest payroll doesn’t guarantee championships.

Still, the big payrolls at least give us an interesting debate to close out 2010, with pitchers and catchers reporting verrrrrry soon.

Check back on Thursday for Part II of this article, including thoughts on what’s ahead for the NBA, NFL and College Football seasons…