All We Want for Christmas
Christmas is just under a week away. That means holiday cheer is spreading through the air like a nice dusting of pollen in the springtime.
Mariah Carey's isolated Christmas vocals are playing on our iPhones, the wallets that lay in our pockets have holes in them from all of the loot we've spent on loved ones, and do you remember that guy you worked with for the last five years? Well, he probably isn't coming back to work on Monday after the holiday party.
In the spirit of the holidays and all things jolly, it's only to right to have a Christmas list. As sports fans, that list can be both cumbersome and expensive, or it can be simple. Ours is somewhere stuck in the middle.
Behold, all the things that we want for Christmas as sports fans—don't forget, once you hit the end of the slideshow, drop a comment below and add on to the fun.
An Extended College Football Playoff
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Don't get it twisted: The current playoff scenario we have in place is a lot better than the whole BCS ranking system we had to endure since 1998.
Watching the top four teams in the nation duke it out should make for some compelling television. Still, a lot of fans are still left wanting more. College football could become even more special if the committee stretched that field out and included more teams in the big tournament.
Of course, there would be a ton of obstacles to overcome—figuring out a schedule and the whole money piece come to mind. Despite the challenges, this expansion has to take place.
It's like making a Christmas wish that you know won't come true but you still hold onto like Charles Foster Kane holds onto his snow globe. In the end, if an expanded playoff does come to the forefront, we will all be better off.
An Extra Dose of Gregg Popovich's Sideline Interviews
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Don't let his white beard fool you; San Antonio Spurs basketball general Gregg Popovich isn't Santa Claus. There's nothing jolly about the gruff coach who has enough NBA championship rings to fill his right hand.
Besides his brilliant strategies and schemes, Pop's sideline interviews have become the stuff legends are made of. His answers are always short and condescending.
Whenever the Spurs are featured on national TV, fans get to enjoy two of the league's greatest attractions: beautiful, free-flowing San Antonio basketball and Coach Popovich's words of wisdom.
He's been doing it for years, and it never gets stale or redundant. So please, Gregg, how about you bless all of us with more of your verbal mastery?
Rest of the NHL Season to Be Healthy and Mumps Free
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The mumps outbreak that has taken the NHL by storm over the last couple of weeks has been a stunning revelation for the league.
Kudos to ESPN.com's staff, who did a great job of giving us more information about the mumps virus and all of the players who have been diagnosed with it. The timeline they construed is informative and depressing to digest.
Look, it can't be pleasant to contract the virus. That's why, our hope is that the rest of the NHL season will be mumps-free. We don't need it affecting the health of the players and to a lesser extent the outcome of games.
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The Return of the Dunk Contest
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Technically speaking, the NBA dunk contest is still around. Each year during All-Star weekend, guys get in front of a crowd and put forth their best efforts.
That's cool, and we appreciate it. However, that doesn't mean basketball freaks can't figure out that the "real" slam-drunk greatness is missing.
What happened to the days when some the league's best players got involved? It was almost like a rite of passage. Dominique Wilkins, Michael Jordan, Clyde Drexler, Shawn Kemp, Vince Carter and Julius Erving all took flight.
Were there some underwhelming performers who joined them? Absolutely. But at least fans got to see their favorite stars go to work. Today's contest just doesn't pack the same punch as it used to.
Yes, once in a while bigger names like Dwight Howard and Blake Griffin will show up. And to be fair, we've seen some awesome dunks from the likes of lesser-known talents like Jason Richardson and Desmond Mason.
But we still need more. LeBron James has basically left us high and dry, while the NBA has gone out and watered down the process with rule changes—take a look at all of the adjustments that the dunk contest has endured since its inception, via David Pincus of Sports Illustrated.
Let's go back to the days when simple was better. No more nonsense. It's time to fix the dunk contest once and for all. Do you hear me, Kris Kringle?
Tom Brady's Signature Ugg
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If Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving is getting his own signature shoe from the geniuses over at Nike, why can't New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady get his own signature Ugg?
For Bill Belichick's sake, the man has become the face of the company. He's tattered across the website and has done a series of commercials representing the comfort brand.
Isn't it time our fathers were able to get their hands on a pair of Brady's signature boots? So while his kids are out there representing Michael Jordan, LeBron James or even Kevin Durant, pops can be at home with the fireplace cranking, cardigan sweater wrapped around him, cooling out with his Ugg Bradys.
The End of the Pro Bowl
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We can all agree on one thing: The NFL's Pro Bowl has got to go. Can it stick around as a badge of honor to give players their due? Absolutely.
As far as the game goes, enough is enough. There's been talk in the past about canning the Pro Bowl, but nothing has come to fruition yet.
Recently, the NFL's bigwigs have even tried to incorporate a fantasy element in order to engage audiences. The 2013 Pro Bowl featured Deion Sanders and Jerry Rice drafting their own teams for the "big" game.
Despite those efforts, ratings were down from previous broadcasts. The bad news is, even with the ratings not up to the NFL's usually high standards, they are still significantly higher than all of the other major professional sports bodies' All-Star games.
Until the well runs dry and people tune out, we will have to suffer through the Pro Bowl and all of the monotonous football that comes with it.
Revised NBA Christmas Jerseys
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The NBA on Christmas has become a tradition. It's not quite on the same mountain as the NFL's Thanksgiving Day games, but it gets the job done for sports fans looking to get their fix after they open presents.
Dressing for the part, the league hands out Christmas alternative jerseys every year. In what should be a time to display some radical ideas and bold designs, most of the jerseys the players are forced to wear have been dreadful.
They were blown out and dull, and some of them even had sleeves.
This year, the NBA unveiled their new-look jerseys for Santa Claus' day of reckoning, and finally it looks like they've taken a step in the right direction.
The design is sharp and refined. The only unusual part came down to the league's decision to incorporate front names on the back of the jerseys in favor of the customary last names.
We can't complain, though. Our Christmas dream of fresh jerseys is coming true right before our eyes.
The Chicago Cubs to Finally Win the World Series
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Theo Epstein's pet project of rebuilding the Chicago Cubs into a contender culminated this offseason when he hired Joe Maddon to manage the team and added pitching ace Jon Lester.
The 30-year-old was one of the biggest prizes of the 2014 free-agency class, and when he chose to ink a deal with the Cubs Epstein told Patrick Mooney of CSNChicago.com that he "was ready to soak myself in deer urine, if necessary."
A six-year contract worth $155 million is all it took to bring Epstein over to Wrigley Field, per Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports.
Hopefully with a roster juiced with young talent, an experienced manager and a two-time World Series-winning pitcher in Lester, the Cubs will have enough to make a push for the pennant.
Similar to the Kansas City Royals this past year, in today's MLB, "never say never" is a fitting locution.
Wouldn't that be nice? In case you forgot, the last time Cubs fans enjoyed a World Series title was way back in 1908.
More Jon Gruden
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"I'll tell you what, man. A little more Jon Gruden behind the microphone would be awesome, man."
ESPN Monday Night Football announcer and former NFL head coach Jon Gruden has become one of the highlights of watching each ESPN broadcast. The way he rants, raves and talks about the game of football is informative at times and downright entertaining at others.
Gruden's mannerisms and vocal knowledge have spurred faux Twitter accounts, wondrous impressions and more.
Our Christmas gift of getting more Gruden in one way has already come true. He signed an extension through 2021 to stay with the network, per ESPN.com.
But that's not good enough. We want more Gruden. Go on and have him announce NBA games, college hoops and more. Turn him into the Gus Johnson of ESPN.
When we're given the gift of John Madden 2.0, we, as a nation, as a people, can't mess this up. Please, ESPN, unleash the Gruden.
Less Injuries
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Putting all of the jokes and fun aside for a second, there's nothing worse than watching athletes suffer injuries.
Hopefully, Christmas and the New Year shortly thereafter will give us fewer injuries, and the ones that do occur will be minor in nature. When you watch young guys like Milwaukee Bucks forward Jabari Parker tear his ACL, per ESPN.com's Marc Stein, you can't help but feel bad.
It doesn't matter if it's the NBA, NFL, NHL or even MLB. Fans of any sport or team can send their positive thoughts and vibes.
Hopefully, as sports and science continue to fuse together, we will see less and less of these catastrophic ailments impact players.
All MLB, NBA, NHL, college football and NFL information and stats provided by ESPN.com, unless noted otherwise.
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