5 sports storylines we can't wait to see unfold through the rest of 2017
We recently looked back at 8.5 of our favorites sports moments so far this year, but guess what?
We still have half of 2017 yet to come! With that in mind, here are five more sports storylines we can't wait to see unfold between now and year's end.
Mayweather vs. McGregor
Let's call this what it is: A boxing match that's a spectacle meant to generate revenue more than it is a legitimate sporting competition. How so? Conor McGregor is a UFC legend who's not really a boxer. Floyd Mayweather is a 40-year-old fighter known more for his technical proficiency and defensive style than exciting fights or knocking people out.
Here's some video of McGregor training for the upcoming match. I guess we could call this boxing?
And yet. And yet.
Between the sheer bizarreness of it all, the relentless promotion, and the relatively small chance that something interesting actually does happen, we're still going to be paying attention when these two finally do step into the ring. The sports industrial complex wins again!
NFL season: A tale of two QBs
Arguably the two most compelling stories surrounding this upcoming NFL season revolve around quarterbacks -- and for very different reasons.
First, there's Tom Brady. The dude just won (another) Super Bowl, he turns 40 in August, and he shows no signs of wanting to call it quits anytime soon. That's wild. If watching a 40-year-old man try to evade 300-pound 20-somethings hellbent on destroying him sounds entertaining to you, then tune into New England Patriots games this fall!
Second, there's Colin Kaepernick. His national anthem protests last season became A Thing and then some, but Kaepernick is still a decent-enough quarterback and by all accounts a great teammate. Yet he can't seem to find an NFL job this off-season, leading many informed observers to conclude that he's being blackballed.
Will he be on a roster this season? And if so, where?
The great NBA arms race
The NBA off-season is crazy. And now it's extra crazy with the league both mortified and motivated by the dominance of the Golden State Warriors.
Plenty of players will be on the move in July, as teams look to assemble rosters that might actually give Golden State a run for its money. Tracking player movements speculating about what they mean is like catnip for sports nerd's, and this summer won't let NBA fans down.
Then the actual season starts in late October, and watching the Warriors defend their throne against the league's new landscape should be delightful.
Usain Bolt's final race
One of this century's most thrilling athletes wraps up his legendary career at the IAAF World Championships in August.
Even better, the competition takes place in London, where Bolt stole the show at the 2012 Olympics.
He's won nine Olympic gold medals and 11 world championships in his career -- and his final 100-meter race in August is an occasion that's not to be missed.
A World Series redux?
Despite some darker aspects, last year's World Series between the Chicago Cubs was truly a fall classic.
Two underdogs, a marathon Game 7, a cult hero -- seriously, what more could a sports fan ask for?
Well, um, maybe a rematch? Cleveland currently sits in first place in its division, while the Cubs are floating around the .500 mark. So a World Series redux itself might not be in the cards.
But no matter the teams involved, it will be fun to see if this year's MLB finals can come close to matching last year's lofty standard.
Sam Laird is Mashable's Senior Sports Reporter. He covers the wide, weird world of sports from all angles -- as well as occasional other topics -- from Mashable's San Francisco bureau. Before joining Mashable in November 2011, his freelance work appeared in publications including the New York Times, New York Times Magazine, Slam, and East Bay Express. Sam is a graduate of UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz, and basketball and burritos take up most of his spare time. Follow him on Twitter @samcmlaird.
