From Hail Marys to grand slams, college basketball to the WNBA, 2024 was a year of change and triumph in sports

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Stephen Curry put France to bed in the men’s gold medal basketball game at the 2024 Summer Olympics. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)

You know that old bit about how confused someone who’d been in a coma for five or 10 or 20 years would be upon waking up to see the present day? Yeah, you didn’t have to be in a coma to be shocked at the sudden changes across sports in 2024. Heck, if you took a good nap this year, there’s a decent chance the sports world changed while you were out.

(But if you have been in a coma for the past 30 years, welcome back. The Boston Celtics are still winning titles, and Mike Tyson is still fighting. Sort of.)

Change is inevitable in sports. Players age out and retire — LeBron James excepted, of course. Teams rise to supremacy and then fall from that peak — the Kansas City Chiefs excepted, of course. Rookies debut, franchises move, conferences realign. It’s part of the deal you accept when you become a sports fan. (It’s also why everyone thinks sports were better back when they were younger.)

Still, even by typical “change-is-inevitable” standards, 2024 was a pivotal year, one of those where you can clearly see the “before” and “after” surrounding it. Not even Timothée Chalamet saw this coming.

Two sports above all others defined and embodied change in 2024: college football and the WNBA. One reorganized itself at a fundamental level, the other hit new heights of popularity.

On campuses, at tailgates, on message boards, and on talk-radio phone lines all over the country, the talk of college football in 2024 was college football itself. New conferences for blue-chip programs, the end of decades-old rivalries, a new playoff structure that allowed a dozen new schools to dream national championship dreams. Combine the playoff and realignment with still-new NIL and transfer portal disruptions, and college football is changing at its very DNA.

Over in the WNBA, the arrival of Caitlin Clark energized ticket sales and viewership all over the league, as millions discovered what longtime fans of the W already know. The combination of Clark’s massive impact with established…

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Source link : https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/from-hail-marys-to-grand-slams-college-basketball-to-the-wnba-2024-was-a-year-of-change-and-triumph-in-sports-191813038.html

Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-12-23 19:18:00

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