12 Things in Sports We Were Wrong About in 2014

As fans, we all want to think we know everything about what's going on in sports.

Whether that's making a prediction about how a team will perform, choosing a player as the next breakout star or which head coach is going to get canned first, we all have opinions.

That's, in part, what makes sports so great.

But, as well-informed as we all might be, we're not always right in those prognostications—and 2014 left a lot of us with some that ended up being way wrong.

The Dallas Cowboys Can't Win with Tony Romo

Brandon Wade/Associated Press

Are the Dallas Cowboys the Super Bowl favorites as another NFL regular season winds down? Probably not.

But, had you said to anyone back in August the team would be sitting at 11-4, potentially end up as a top-two seed in the conference and quarterback Tony Romo would be considered an MVP candidate, people may have looked at you a little crazy.

That's because the 'Boys had a signal-caller who always seemed to make a critical mistake by throwing an interception, failing in the fourth quarter or having something that was determined by a higher being happen.

Not this year, though, as Romo has thrown for 34 touchdowns and just nine interceptions, showing why Dallas invested so much in him in 2013 with a big extension.

Sure, they haven't won anything yet—and the resurgence of a running game has certainly lightened Romo's load—but Dallas looks like a team that, at the very least, could make a deep run towards a Super Bowl.

March Madness Isn't so Hard to Predict

OK, so there are probably few people who truly think predicting the winner of the NCAA tournament is easy business.

I mean, there's a reason they call it March Madness for a reason, right?

Yet, even with upsets and unpredictability in every round, things always seem to work out in the end for most people's brackets, as top seeds wound up getting to the Elite Eight and Final Four, at least making you feel, somewhat, good about your selections.

Not in 2014, though.

With teams like Duke getting knocked out in their first game, the No. 11-seeded Dayton Flyers making a run to the Elite Eight and the title game featuring a seventh-seed (UConn) and an eighth-seed (Kentucky), this year showed even the most consistent teams all season long fail to show up on the biggest stage.

Need more proof? Just look at the predictions based off of FiveThirtyEight's analysis prior to the tourney starting.

The Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers Are the Teams to Beat

Ted S. Warren/Associated Press

Following intense battles the past two seasons that saw the San Francisco 49ers reach three straight NFC title games and the Seattle Seahawks win the Super Bowl earlier in 2014, both teams entered this season as the favorites to win the NFC.

Well, 50 percent ain't bad, right?

While the Hawks have gotten healthy at the right time and turned their season around, potentially ending as the No. 1-seed in the NFC, the Niners never seemed to get their year going, battling injuries, inconsistent quarterback play and locker room turmoil that has had led to rumors about head coach Jim Harbaugh jumping ship following their final game.

For three seasons, Seahawks-Niners has, arguably, been the best rivalry in the league. But in 2014, it was a total dud.

The L.A. Dodgers Were Going to Win the World Series

Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press

With a payroll that hovered above the $235 million mark, it was clear the L.A. Dodgers assembled a team that had both high-priced and talented players.

And while the team did its part by winning 94 games and reaching the playoffs, the ambitions in La La Land were higher than just a good season with a couple champagne corks popped for making the knockout round.

They wanted it all.

Unfortunately, even with the NL's league MVP and Cy Young Award winner, Clayton Kershaw, and a group that sent four guys to the All-Star Game, the Dodgers bowed out of the postseason in the NLDS, losing to the St. Louis Cardinals in four games.

With an intense overhaul this offseason to help change course, Los Angeles is hoping a revamped roster and new strategy will make all those experts who picked them to win last season actually look smart in 2015—because it disappointed in 2014.

The San Antonio Spurs Couldn't Recover, Right?

We all remember the shot that broke the spirit and psyche of the San Antonio Spurs in the 2013 NBA Finals, sending them into a free fall from near champs to runners-up when all was said and done.

And, after a season in which they proved to be on a mission to get back to the title round, the Spurs matched up against their foes from 2013 once again—the Miami Heat.

Billed as the encore presentation of the best NBA Finals in years, there were serious questions surrounding the Spurs heading into the series, mostly about how their minds could handle the thought of 2013 and, more importantly, if their championship window had shut.

They answered those quite convincingly.

Owning the Heat the entire series, San Antonio looked like the younger, more dominant team, winning by a margin of 18 points in their four victories and closing the Heat out in five.

We don't know how they do it, but the Spurs continue to show they are freaks of nature and one of the top teams in the league year after year.

The Chicago Blackhawks Were Going to Repeat

Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

After winning the 2013 Stanley Cup title, the Chicago Blackhawks looked the part in assembling a team that could, once again, end the 2014 season with Lord Stanley's Cup as a beer mug.

Unfortunately, they ran into the Los Angeles Kings.

While the Hawks were favored to win the whole thing, the Kings proved to come out on top once the two faced each other in the Western Conference Finals earlier this spring, winning in seven games and making the Hawks wonder how the season ended the way it did.

Locking up young stars Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews to big extensions this past summer, though, Chicago looks primed to make a deep run towards a title, hoping to channel its inner-San Antonio Spurs and wind up with a championship-worthy rebound.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. Will Fight Manny Pacquiao

Alastair Grant/Associated Press

When it comes to high anticipation for a sporting event, there might not be anything bigger than the, presumed, bout between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao.

And, while every sports fan hoped this would happen in 2014, all the talk surrounding it never actually produced a fight, leaving both boxers trash talking through the media and getting a year older.

These two stepping in the ring has been discussed for years, with varying reasons as to why it has yet to happen. Hopefully, 2015 proves to be the year we finally get these two swinging at each other.

Until it happens, though, fans will be left twiddling their thumbs.

The SEC Reigns Supreme

Entering the 2014 national championship game, an SEC team had won the past seven titles, showing the college football world why it was considered the best conference in the nation.

And, while the Auburn Tigers made their trip to the Rose Bowl to face off against the Florida State Seminoles with just one loss, many believed they would end up lifting the crystal football as national champs.

Whether it was because of its "team of destiny" mantra after a couple unbelievable wins or because it played in the talented SEC, Auburn did hold its own, yet finished with a tough loss to the Seminoles in Pasadena.

The loss ended its conference's stranglehold in national championship games and made fans realize not every team was unbeatable.

Andrew Wiggins Will Be a Rookie Superstar

The 2014 No. 1 overall selection in Andrew Wiggins has shown flashes of stardom, but has he done it consistently enough to warrant the "next big thing" label? Not quite yet.

Yet, even before announcing his college decision a couple years ago, Wiggins was thought to be the most talented prep player since LeBron James, getting pub that would have many think he was a future Hall of Famer.

Sure, the kid is still just 18 years old who has only played 27 games in the NBA, but right now, Wiggins hasn't exploded like James did back during his rookie year in 2003.

The Minnesota Timberwolves forward could get there, but it won't happen in 2014—with some skeptical it will ever happen.

Brazil Will Defend Their Home Soil and Win the World Cup

Did Brazil look like the team to beat in the World Cup prior to star Neymar's back injury? Possibly.

But, even before he lay on the pitch in pain, there were rumors about the squad hiring a team psychologist to help cope with the pressure that came along with not only trying to win a title, but doing so on home soil.

Well, whatever they did vanished in a matter of 29 short minutes against Germany in the semifinals, as they allowed five goals in that span, completely wilting and losing their composure in a 7-1 defeat so shocking fans are still wondering how it happened.

Surrendering seven goals total and looking like a rec-league team, Brazil got far in the tournament but didn't win the whole thing as many predicted they would.

The Kansas City Royals Will Be the Same Ol' Royals

Charlie Riedel/Associated Press

Several times over the past decade, there were baseball experts who believed the Kansas City Royals were bound to break out of their two-decade-long slump and finally return to the postseason.

The team disappointed, though.

Prior to the 2014 season, a few of those same pundits invested in that belief, again, with Grantland predicting the Royals could contend in the AL Central and, possibly, even make the postseason.

Based on history, though, did any of us outside of Kansas City truly believe it would happen?

Absolutely not.

Yet, when it came to be October, there were the Cinderella Royals, winning in dramatic fashion and making a run to the World Series.

While the season ended with a tough-luck loss in Game 7 of the Fall Classic at home, K.C. showed it could indeed live up to some of the expectations that were put on it—even if no one else thought it really could.

LeBron James Could Never Leave the Miami Heat

David J. Phillip/Associated Press

Leading his Miami Heat to the NBA Finals for the fourth straight season, did anyone really believe LeBron James would depart South Beach?

No chance.

There were rumors and signs that, looking back on now, we could say might have led us to believe James was returning to the Cleveland Cavs. But, until the Heat lost in embarrassing fashion to the aforementioned San Antonio Spurs in five games, no one would have thought the King could give up such a perfect situation.

Playing alongside friends and future Hall of Famers Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, the team seemed destined to keep the good times rolling for another couple years and contend for titles together.

Oh, how that ended with the three words said on July 11—"I'm coming home."

By leaving Miami for Cleveland, James turned his back on the supermodel who knew how sexy she was for the girl who wanted to look that way, hoping he could turn the latter into something that was just as attractive and successful.

The verdict's still out on how James' return will go, but, even as recent as five months ago, no one would have thought he would be chasing a title in Northeast Ohio and not from South Beach.