10 Sports Questions That Will Be Answered in 2017
A lot changed in the world of sports in 2016.
Cleveland, Ohio, a town maligned over the decades for the many failures of its professional sports teams, became a city of champions for multiple reasons this year. The city may have one more title to celebrate if the Cleveland Indians can continue a remarkable run all the way to a World Series.
Sports fans in northeast Ohio won't soon forget the events of 2016.
Two of Cleveland's champions will be tested in 2017.
Will Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James ever again match his performances in the final three games of the 2016 NBA Finals? Can Stipe Miocic, a Cleveland resident and passionate fan of the city's teams, cement himself as arguably the greatest heavyweight in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship?
There are, of course, a plethora of sports questions that will be answered in 2017 that have nothing to do with Cleveland. Is Tony Romo's time with the Dallas Cowboys running out? Are the Chicago Cubs about to become baseball's next dynasty? What do you think happens with the Golden State Warriors over the next 12 months?
The start of 2017 is still months away, but fans have reasons to look forward to the new year. What are your predictions for the questions asked in this piece?
Will Roman Abramovich Trust Antonio Conte for More Than a Year?
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Antonio Conte enjoyed much success while serving as manager for Juventus, the giants of Serie A and of Italian club football. Conte took charge of the Italian national team in 2014, and he officially became Chelsea boss this past summer.
History suggest Conte won't be with the London outfit for long.
The official Chelsea website lists the managers who came and went under owner Roman Abramovich over the past several years. Andre Villas-Boas didn't last a single season after taking the job in June 2011. Roberto Di Matteo won the Champions League with Chelsea, but that didn't prevent him from being fired roughly eight months after he replaced Villas-Boas. Jose Mourinho's second stint with the club ended in December 2015, half a year after he guided the Blues to a Premier League title.
Conte is currently in the middle of rebuilding a club that was in the relegation zone for a period of time last fall. We can only guess how much patience Abramovich will have before he pulls the trigger on his next managerial decision.
Chelsea entered the October international break sitting seventh in the Premier League table. As Mark Ogden of the Independent wrote in late September, there are reasons to believe Conte may already be in trouble at Chelsea.
Are the New England Patriots the Greatest NFL Dynasty Ever?
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Some have already crowned the New England Patriots the greatest dynasty in NFL history. Pro Football Talk's Michael David Smith wrote about this in February 2015 after the Patriots won the Super Bowl for the fourth time in franchise history. Rick Gosselin of the Dallas Morning News also touched upon the subject in October 2015.
The Patriots are not yet kings of the supposed Super Bowl era. Per NFL.com, the Patriots, Dallas Cowboys, Pittsburgh Steelers and Denver Broncos all have eight Super Bowl appearances on their resumes. New England won the Super Bowl in four out of eight chances. The Steelers currently own six versions of Super Bowl rings, while the San Francisco 49ers and Cowboys won the Super Bowl five times over the past five decades.
With that said, six of New England's trips to the Super Bowl occurred during one regime. Bill Belichick has been the New England head coach throughout the 2000s, and Tom Brady took over at quarterback in 2001. The two make for arguably the best coach-QB tandem in the history of the NFL.
Brady isn't getting any younger, as will be pointed out later in this piece. He is theoretically closer to his retirement than his physical prime.
If he is able to guide the Patriots to a ninth and maybe even a 10th Super Bowl over the next two years, we'll have to consider this current New England team the greatest dynasty in NFL history.
Will Championships Become Obsolete in the UFC?
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UFC championships already started to become obsolete in 2016. As Jeff Fox of MMA-Manifesto.com explained, UFC 202 set the record for the most pay-per-view buys in company history. That show was headlined by Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz, two men who didn't battle for a title.
The UFC 200 show that occurred this July is currently in the top four for pay-per-view buys among UFC events. The Miesha Tate versus Amanda Nunes title fight headlined that card, but Brock Lesnar versus Mark Hunt, a non-title bout, was the biggest fight of that show.
When UFC president Dana White promised a future fight featuring Ronda Rousey and Cris "Cyborg" Justino if Rousey defeats Nunes on December 30, per Damon Martin of Fox Sports, he didn't say that fight will be for a championship.
We don't know if Cyborg can routinely compete at 135 pounds and in the bantamweight division. It doesn't matter, though, as Rousey versus Cyborg will likely draw a massive amount of pay-per-view buys even if no title is on the line.
As Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive discussed in Wednesday's edition of Wrestling Observer Live, the bantamweight championship will be put "on ice" for a period of time if Rousey wins the strap at UFC 207 and then prepares for a non-title fight against Cyborg. Casual fans won't care, as stars and names, not championships, sell fights.
UFC titles may become meaningless by the end of 2017.
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Will the Golden State Warriors Be the Best Team in NBA History?
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The 2015-16 Golden State Warriors are the greatest regular-season team in NBA history. Golden State surpassed the record for wins in a regular season earlier this year when the club notched 73 victories. Nobody can take that achievement away from the Warriors—even though Golden State lost the 2016 NBA Finals to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Warriors responded to that setback by acquiring one-time NBA Most Valuable Player Kevin Durant in July. Durant joined two-time reigning league MVP Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green to create what may be the best overall starting lineup in the history of the NBA.
Championships are not won on paper, of course. The trio of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh needed more than a single season together before they won a title with the Miami Heat.
Remember, though, that Durant joined what was already a "super team" that came a couple of baskets away from repeating as league champions.
Say, for the sake of argument, the Warriors win at least 73 regular-season contests and also the NBA Finals between now and next June. Golden State would, in such a case, have to be considered to be at least one of the greatest teams in NBA history.
Are Drew Brees and/or Tom Brady Close to Done?
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Neither New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees nor New England Patriots QB Tom Brady are showing their ages as of October 2016. Brees has tossed 10 touchdown passes in New Orleans' first four games of the 2016 campaign, while Tom Brady torched the Cleveland Browns for three touchdowns and 406 passing yards in his first appearance of the current campaign.
Brees turns 38 years old next January. Brady will be 40 at the start of the 2017 regular season. Age eventually catches up with all athletes, including these two all-time greats.
You may remember Peyton Manning tossed 55 touchdowns in 2013 and then threw 39 TDs in 2014. By 2015, however, Manning was, physically, a shell of his former self.
That's how quickly an athlete can lose their spark.
A lot can happen between now and December 31, 2017. Either man could suffer a physical setback. Both could be betrayed by their bodies. Whatever takes place over the next 14 months, football fans should enjoy watching Brees and Brady while they can.
Will the Chicago Cubs Be the Next MLB Dynasty?
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The Chicago Cubs are, right now today, the best team in baseball. The Cubs, the lovable losers who last won a World Series in 1908, posted the best record in the league this season, and they are currently four wins away from playing in the 2016 World Series.
Owen Watson of FanGraphs wrote last December about how the Cubs' assortment of young talent could help make the club baseball's latest dynasty. That was before the Cubbies won 103 games this season. That was before the Cubs acquired dynamite closer Aroldis Chapman before the trade deadline.
Money clearly isn't an issue for the Cubs these days. Per Spotrac, the Cubs sit fifth in team payroll. According to ESPN, the Cubs were fifth in overall attendance this season. The club should not have any problems maintaining a strong roster through 2017.
Fans of the Cubs have over 100 years of reasons to be pessimistic. Don't look now, North Siders, but you could be in for some glory days between now and the end of the decade.
Is Sidney Crosby's Career in Jeopardy?
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This question is a neither a hot take nor is it an overreaction to a story that went public earlier this month.
Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby recently suffered a concussion at some point. As Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo Sports wrote, some speculated Crosby first suffered the concussion during the World Cup of Hockey. The Penguins, meanwhile, say it happened during a practice on Friday.
Whatever caused Crosby's concussion is irrelevant for this piece. NHL.com's Wes Crosby wrote about Crosby's history with concussion-related problems for a piece published on Monday. Crosby missed a total of 101 games over the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons because of concussion symptoms.
For what it's worth, Crosby has not missed a considerable amount of time over the past several campaigns.
With that said, any story about Crosby suffering a head injury should cause Pittsburgh fans to worry.
Crosby is only 29 years old, but he has already achieved more than most. He is a two-time Stanley Cup champion, a two-time winner of the Art Ross Trophy, a two-time winner of the Hart Memorial Trophy, a two-time winner of the Olympic gold medal for team hockey and a winner of the World Cup of Hockey.
The public knows far more about chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) than we did even at the start of the decade. We've read far too many sad stories about former athletes who suffered brain injuries during their careers.
There may come a time, over the next 15 months, when somebody needs to speak with Crosby about his future away from the NHL if he suffers another concussion before the end of 2017.
Is Stipe Miocic the Greatest Heavyweight Champion in UFC History?
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Some of the most famous fighters in UFC history held the promotion's heavyweight championship in the past. Individuals such as Randy Couture, Josh Barnett, Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar are all part of that title's lineal history. Stipe Miocic became the latest man to hold the championship when he won it from Fabricio Werdum this May.
Miocic, from northeast Ohio, successfully defended the title at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland this September. That win put Miocic halfway to matching a historic mark. Per the official UFC website, no heavyweight champion accumulated more than two consecutive successful title defenses before losing the strap.
As Dave Doyle of MMA Fighting explained, Miocic asked for some time off following his last victory. Miocic should be ready to fight multiple times in 2017 after some rest and recovery.
If Miocic is able to defend his title twice in 2017, fans and analysts may have to consider him the greatest heavyweight champion in history for doing something no other heavyweight was able to accomplish.
Is the Tony Romo Era Over?
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The saga of Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo is well-known among diehard football fans.
Romo, who has never won a championship while with the Cowboys, has routinely been sidelined by injuries over the past two seasons. The 36-year-old appeared in only four regular-season games last year. Romo suffered a serious back injury during a preseason game this August, and he has yet to play this fall.
Rookie Dak Prescott has impressed while filling in for Romo, tossing four touchdowns and zero interceptions across his first five starts. Just as impressive, Prescott has completed 69 percent of his passes over that time. The Cowboys won four of their first five games.
Romo's inability to remain healthy coupled with Prescott's play are not the only reasons the Cowboys may consider moving on from Tony Romo in 2017.
USA Today's Nancy Armour explained: "By cutting or trading Romo in the offseason, the Cowboys could free up anywhere from $5 million to $14 million next year. But that balloons to more than $20 million in savings in both 2018 and 2019, the last year of his contract."
Even if Romo is able to return to the field before the end of 2016, the Cowboys cannot realistically depend on the veteran to be in the lineup for an entire season. The job is currently Prescott's to lose, and the Cowboys will re-evaluate the situation in 2017.
Has LeBron James' Decline Begun
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LeBron James guiding the Cleveland Cavaliers back from a 3-1 deficit in the 2016 NBA Finals to a series win over the Golden State Warriors will be discussed among passionate Cleveland fans for generations. Those individuals will recall how James scored 41 points in Game 5 and in Game 6, and they will speak about James' epic block of Andre Iguodala with under two minutes to play in Game 7.
We've all apparently forgotten James' performance in Game 4. James made only 11 of 21 shots that night. And he seemingly could not flip the figurative switch and find any offensive rhythm. The man who resumed his role as the greatest player in the NBA by the end of the series was a liability for the Cavs in the last quarter of Game 4.
That wasn't the first time in 2016 people speculated about James' decline. Seth Partnow of the Washington Post wrote about it in January. Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com mentioned the topic in February.
James turns 32 years old in December. A normal NBA superstar with no long history of serious injuries should still be in his prime at 32. James, however, is not a normal player. He entered the NBA back in 2003, and his body matured while playing against the best overall competition on the planet. James, to be blunt, has a lot of miles on him.
Wear and tear will catch up with James sooner than later. Will it happen in 2017?
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