What I Learned From Sports in 2023
What I Learned From Sports in 2023
From 'Swelce' (or is it 'Traylor'?) to Wemby — and everything in between — The Messenger staff picked the biggest sports lessons and moments of the year. Here were my contributions.
The following blurbs were my contributions to The Messenger’s sports round-up for 2023.
With 2023 nearly in the rear-view mirror, we’re looking back on a sports year that was full of surprises. Here are The Messenger’s staff picks for the biggest lessons we learned, storylines we followed and trends we watched over the past 12 months — both on the field and off.
Sports is in an era of relative parity.
This was a good year for previously ringless teams. Aside from the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces, who won their second consecutive title in October, the rest of 2023’s major professional champions — the Denver Nuggets, Vegas Golden Knights and Texas Rangers — were all of the first-time variety. (According to The New York Times’ NFL playoff odds, as of Week 15, there’s also a 12% chance the Super Bowl will belong to one of the dozen remaining franchises that has never won one before.) College was a bit more mixed, with UConn winning its fifth basketball title on the men’s side and the football playoff field entirely populated by teams who’ve won championships before. But even there, LSU won its first women’s title on the hardwood in April. And we also got a new winner in the Women’s World Cup when Spain captured the crown in August (more on that later). So if you belong to a long-suffering fan base, 2023 should give you hope that your team can actually win the big one someday.
The generational prospects have arrived.
Rare is the year when not one, but two of the most hyped young players in the history of their sports hit the pro scene — but that’s what happened in 2023, with Victor Wembanyama and Connor Bedard making their respective debuts in the NBA and NHL. For Wemby, the potential was obvious to anyone with a pair of eyes: At 7-foot-4, he is one of the tallest players in NBA history, but he also showcased silky-smooth shooting and passing skills as a teenager in Europe. Bedard is less physically imposing, but his shot is a howitzer and he was coming off easily the best World Juniors performance by a 17-year-old ever. The scariest part is that the prospect train should gain even more steam in 2024, with Caitlin Clark — the modern women’s Division I leader in points per game — projected to go first overall in the WNBA draft next April if she declares.
Leagues are getting experimental.
In search of new fans — or simply hanging on to the ones they already had — we saw multiple leagues tinker with their protocols in 2023. The most notable case study came in baseball, which added a pitch clock, banned the infield shift and limited pickoff throws, among other changes. Mostly, the new rules worked, reducing game times and encouraging stolen bases while attendance rose and median fan age dropped. (One of the only concerns is whether the faster pace of play led to an increase in arm injuries for pitchers as the season went on.) The other big example belonged to the NBA, which added the creatively named In-Season Tournament to mostly (though not unanimously) positive reviews. Both developments could provide a preview of things to come, as leagues attempt to maintain relevance in an increasingly fractured entertainment market — and fight against data suggesting that younger generations are losing interest in live sports.
Filed under: General