With the NFL and NCAA football seasons beginning to hit their strides and basketball—both NBA and NCAA—also about to begin, we are confronted with many potential storylines. It is difficult to accurately analyze all the variables at play in any given sports season, but, I will nonetheless attempt to do so. So, without any further delay, here is a series of hot takes that just might play out as we observe the sports seasons at hand.
Hot take: the Toronto Raptors are going to sweep the NBA Finals. With all the trades and free-agent signings over the summer, such as the Demar Derozan and Kawhi Leonard swap, there has been a lot of talk regarding who will rise and who will fall as teams seek to figure out their chemistry and schemes. It may be a long shot, but with the additions of Leonard and Green, this experience should be enough for the Raptors to overcome the young Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers. Once reaching the Finals, whoever comes out of the West will be so worn out by the overwhelming talent they will have come up against that they will simply be overpowered in four games by the new Toronto Raptors.
Hot take: kickers are bad because soccer is cool now. This year has been a rough one for NFL kickers. In week two alone there were 19 missed kicks—12 of them field goals. Many of these were potential game-winning field goals that resulted in losses for their teams. While many see this as a mystery, it is most likely due to the fact that soccer is cool now. Previously, cool guys who could kick a ball far would join NFL teams for fame and money. Now, however, after the World Cup and all the excitement it brought, kickers have decided to stay in soccer since it’s cool, thus causing weaker kickers to claim the NFL jobs.
Hot take: within three years NHL will be the most popular eSports game out there. With the rise of eSports and new developments such as the NBA and NBA 2K eSports joining up, eSports will most likely only continue to grow. But, while many think sports such as basketball and football will dominate these growing leagues, there is a chance that hockey will actually shoot ahead and overtake them both. Unfortunately, since eSports athletes do not get as sweaty—and we all know there is a direct correlation between how much we like a sport and how sweaty the athletes get—eSports will most likely never surpass traditional sports in popularity.
Hot take: the Sacramento Kings are moving to Los Angeles. Sacramento is on the rise with young talents like Buddy Hield, Marvin Bagley III, and De’Aaron Fox holding it down. But, Sacramento simply cannot handle this much potential talent. Therefore, it is likely that the Kings will move to Los Angeles, joining the Lakers and the Clippers. Los Angeles is the only city that can handle the star power of these three athletes, especially when you throw in the likes of Nemanja Bjelica and Skal Labissière. They are a hot team, and they need to plan for the future.
