Week 17- What a Difference a Decade Makes

In January 2000, if I told you the following would happen in sports over the next 10 years, you would have thought I should go get my head check. And since at that time I did not have insurance, I would not have been able to.

The Patriots would be the NFL team of the decade. In 1999, they finished 8-8 and 4th in the division and just hired a failed head coach named Bill Belichick.

Pete Carroll would be the most successful head coach of the decade (in college). He was laughed out of New York and New England critics made fun of his rah-rah attitude. These same critics made fun when he was hired by USC. In hindsight, shouldn’t we have seen that he would have made a perfect college coach?

The Red Sox would win as many World Series in the decade as the Yankees. The fact that I would have predicted that they would win one World Series would have been sufficiently crazy.

Pete Rose would admit to betting on baseball. If you did NOT see this coming, you are blind.

More teams from Florida (1) would win the Stanley Cup than from Canada (0). A national outrage for our brothers to the north.

Boise State and Utah would each win more BCS Bowls than Notre Dame. Also, who would have guessed that Charlie Weiss could NOT walk on water?

Nine of the 20 league MVP named in the decade would have admitted or reported to have been used performance enhancing drugs. And attendance would continue to increase.

As the decade ends, the biggest ladies man in sports is not Derek Jeter or Kobe Bryant or Tom Brady, but Tiger Woods.

What will we be saying 10 years from now as we reflect on the “teens?”

Here are some stabs in the dark:

The NFL team of the decade will be the…Green Bay Packers. After the Brett Favre fiasco, they are due some karma. Plus they have a really, really good QB.

The Kansas City Royals will make the playoffs at least once. This falls into my “even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile” file. You can’t be bad that long without stumbling into one year of greatness.

Josh Hamilton will end up in rehab. He will share a room will re-lapsing Robert Downey Jr.

Greg Anderson, former trainer of Barry Bonds, will end up writing a tell-all book about Bonds. He will do this because at some point Bonds is going to get cheap or rude or both with Greg and piss him off enough to through him under the bus. Just call it Bonds Being Bonds.

Already dominating the national sports scene, ESPN will completely over take local sports coverage. The days of you independent local sports talk radio will be over. It will all be either a national program or local program run by the worldwide leader. Get ready for ESPN-Tulsa.

The NFL is going to do something very, very stupid. They have been too smug as top dog for too long. Burning evidence. Crushing competition. Snubbing the very place that makes them a popular as they are (Vegas). It will probably be a lockout in 2011, but do not rule out a huge PEDs scandal.

The early part of the decade will be marked by more and more lurid scandals becoming public involving very famous athletes. You can thank TMZ new sports division for this.

Speaking of PEDs, I have a feeling scandals will erupt in other sports such as basketball, hockey, soccer and golf. Yes, golf. And you know who better start sweating it.

As for golf, two bold predictions: A woman will become a regular player on the PGA Tour and by the end of the decade, the world’s greatest golfer will be from Asia (not half Asian as is currently).

The early part of the decade will be a little tough for the NBA because of finances, but by the end of the decade, people will ask if it is a real rival to the NFL in popularity.

And here are my very safe best for the next decade:

The US will not win the World Cup
The Jacksonville Jaguars will move (probably to LA)
Tiger will break Jack’s record
Jerry Jones will have cosmetic surgery again
People will bitch about the Yankees spending too much money
The Twins will be cheap and let Joe Mauer go
The Lakers will keep winning; the Clippers will keep losing
All our sports (except football) will see a continuing rise in players from overseas.
And the Miami Dolphins will win a Super Bowl! (more of a prayer than a prediction)

As for the predictions for this week’s game, it is a real crapshoot. With no one knowing for sure which team will play and which one are going to fold, I suggest you bet these games with our people’s money.

Colts at Bills -7.5
Saints at Panthers -7
Jaguars at Browns -1
Eagles at Cowboys -3
Bears -3 at Lions
Patriots +7.5 at Texans
Steelers -3 at Dolphins
Giants +9 at Vikings
Bengals +10 at Jets
49ers -7 at Rams
Falcons -2 at Bucs
Packers at Cardinals -3
Chiefs +12.5 at Broncos
Ravens at Raiders +10.5
Redskins at Chargers -4
Titans -4.5 at Seahawks

Last Week 6-10

Season 124-111-5