December is shaping up to be one of the most exciting months this year.
The NBA is through the first quarter of the season, highlighted by Golden State’s unremarkable undefeated streak to open the 2015-16 campaign. The college football playoff will be decided after this weekend. The NFL playoff hunt is narrowing as teams start preparing for the offseason and the draft next year. Hockey is in full swing as well and then we have baseball trying to steal some headlines with the ridiculous free agent signings.
It’s turning out to be a great conclusion to another eventful year of sports.
The Warriors haven’t lost a step from last year’s NBA finals as they jumped out to a 20-0 start to pad a 24-game winning streak. They’re bound to pick up their first loss soon as they’re in the middle of a seven-game road trip. But it beckons the question of whether this year’s team will be labeled as one of the best in NBA history.
The Bulls teams from the 1990s were loaded with talent and like one ex-Bull said last month, the NBA was much stronger collectively than it is now. Each team in the league had at least two to three superstars. Now, we’re looking at about half the teams with a superstar or two. Golden State is riding momentum and doesn’t appear to be slowing down, even when it eventually picks up its first loss.
The college football playoff is about to become messier after this weekend, especially if the conference title games include any upsets.
Alabama could lose to Florida. North Carolina is playing well and could upset Clemson, causing all sorts of commotion at the top of the polls. We also have Notre Dame, Ohio State, Stanford among others looking to grab one of those elusive spots and I know a lot of people are hoping chaos ensues come this Saturday.
Nothing would be better than to give the football committee a monstrous headache to decide which four teams are worthy of advancing to the playoff bracket.
Then we have the professional ranks of football creating their own chaos. Whatever happened to Green Bay is beyond me but at least it’s covering the bad fall Atlanta is suffering after starting the season strongly. The playoff picture is clearing up some, although still murky, and Fallon’s Josh Mauga and the Chiefs, who visit Oakland on Sunday, have a grip on one of the wild card berths. Even the Raiders aren’t out of it, unlike the 49ers, which saw management continue to sabotage this program that went to the Super Bowl three seasons ago.
Hockey’s getting pretty exciting right now, although the fight for the Stanley Cup comes at a more exciting time. And don’t forget about college basketball is getting exciting with the conference clashes, although, like hockey, it’s more fun to watch during the postseason.
Lastly, we have baseball trying to grab some headlines, especially with David Price’s ludicrous contract with the Red Sox. No baseball player — or any person — is worth that kind of money. I just hope the Giants learned their lesson from signing Barry Zito, Tim Lincecum and Tim Hudson to insane offers that just didn’t work out for the team. San Francisco needs to remove itself from the Zack Grienke sweepstakes and focus more on developing its pitching or finding someone affordable.
Thomas Ranson can be contacted at lvnsports@yahoo.com.