Current State of Things (2023 Edition)
After God, my fiancé, my family, and my friends, the greatest love in my life is my sports teams. They bring out passion and emotions I don't experience in other aspects of my life and take me to another place as a welcome distraction from everything else going on in my life. Whether it's rallying friends to hit the bar, watching from the comfort of my TV(s) at home with my fiancé, or the thrill of actually attending a game in person, it's always been something I love and enjoy and something that brings people together and unifies them for a common cause. I'll be the first to admit I have a lot of teams I enjoy following, though some more than others, but it keeps life interesting as there's always someone to follow year-round, and because not always will all of them be true championship contenders but most years two or maybe three of them will be.
So in this article, which may become an annual practice, I thought it would be fun to take an inside look at each team I actively root for. To evaluate which ones are title contenders, which ones are rebuilding, and which are somewhere in the middle. This seemed like appropriate timing as only the Rays are currently in season and they've barely scratched the surface, with all the others in the off-season preparing for a new campaign. So we'll take this team by team, starting with some of the less important ones (not that any are unimportant, but not all are created equal and there's a bit of a hierarchy) and ending with ones near and dear to our hearts. With a couple surprise bonus teams at the end too!
Orlando Magic
League: NBA
Head Coach: Jamahl Mosley (entering Year 3)
GM: John Hammond (entering Year 7)
Last Seasons Record: 34-48
Last Seasons Result: Missed Playoffs
Best Result Ever: Reached (but did not win) NBA Finals (1995 & 2009)
I'm doing them first because they're kind of my newest team but they're the only pro sports team in my new city and I have always been one for supporting the teams where you live or lived.
Two years ago the Magic decided to blow things up and hit the reset button. They had a team that was pretty middle-of-the-pack but never got beyond the first round of the playoffs. With veterans who weren't getting any younger or better, management decided the right thing to do was start over and invest in a young core. And that's just what they did. The Magic traded away their veterans which created more spending money to unload those contracts to other teams and they received draft picks in exchange for many of those deals as well. And they build a team filled with players 24 and under who had high upside but needed proper development to reach their full potential.
And so thus the rebuild began. In year 1, inexperience got the best of them and the Magic still sucked, winning only 22 games, but that was expected and welcomed as it helped them land the #1 overall pick in last year's draft. They used the selection on Paolo Banchero, a wing player from Duke who went on to win Rookie of the Year and helped the Magic improve their win total to 34. Banchero has superstar potential, something any NBA team needs to ascend to the top, and at only 20 years old he's only beginning to scratch the surface. But the Magic did well to supplement Banchero with a core of talented young players like Markelle Fultz, Wendell Carter, Cole Anthony, Jalen Suggs, and the Wagner brothers Franz and Moritz.
The Magic also have the opportunity to further improve the team this summer. They have the 2nd most spending money currently of all 30 NBA teams, and while the draft picks aren't officially set in stone until May 16, they will most likely own the 6th overall pick (their own) and also the 12th overall pick (acquired in a trade with the Chicago Bulls). So with plenty of money to spend and two high draft picks, the Magic will attempt to find pieces that will propel the team back into the playoffs, something it hasn't achieved since the 2020 season. It's still a couple years away from being a championship contender, but making the playoffs would be a good realistic goal for a young developing group in year 3 of its rebuild.
Tampa Bay Rays
League: MLB
Head Coach: Kevin Cash (Year 9)
GM: Peter Bendix (Year 2)
Last Seasons Record: 86-76
Last Seasons Result: Eliminated in Round 1
Best Result Ever: Reached (but did not win) World Series (2008 & 2020)
It's early, but this looks like a team capable of winning a World Series. The Rays are currently 29-9, the best record in baseball to this point. It's a team that's been knocking on the door for a few years now, having reached the playoffs each of the last 4 seasons and reaching the World Series in 2020 where they lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 6 games.
The Rays are normally known for elite pitching and defense but subpar batting, but this seems like a year where the bats are finally on par with the pitching. The Rays best hitters include Wander Franco, Randy Arazorena, Yandy Diaz, and Brandon Lowe while their starting pitchers (you typically carry 5 or 6 because their arms need rest in between games) include Shane McClanahan, Tyler Glasnow, Zach Eflin, and Drew Rasmussen. The Rays had two more elite pitchers, Shane Baz and Jeffrey Springs, who are out for the season with Tommy John surgery, a common ailment for pitchers.
Unlike NFL, NBA, and NHL, baseball does not have a salary cap, and teams are allowed to spend as much money on contracts as their wealthy owners can afford. The Rays actually have one of the lowest budgets and payrolls among baseball's 30 pro teams, but this front office is rather genius when it comes to scouting young talent and spending every time as efficiently as it possibly can. Analytics and number crunching have also helped the Rays get ahead of rival teams with more spending money. Kevin Cash is regarded as one of baseball's best coaches and most brilliant minds.
One other story to monitor when it comes to the Rays is whether or not the team will remain in Tampa long term. Their lease at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg will end after the 2026 season, at which point they'll need to either have a new stadium in the area to play in, or be forced to re-locate. This is an issue the city brass has been trying to solve for years but so far plan after plan has fallen through and time is running out to make it work. Ideally the Rays would be able to move to the Tampa side of the bridge, which would generate more nightly revenue than having to commute into St. Pete, as would a shiny new ballpark. Hopefully it gets done and baseball can remain in the bay area for the long haul.
But moving back to the present rather than worrying about the future, it's a promising start for the Rays and will be interesting to see if they can sustain it all the way to the finish. Baseball plays a grueling 162 game regular season schedule with games almost every night from late March to early October. Only 12 of the 30 teams reach the playoffs, with the top 4 getting a first round bye and guaranteeing themselves a spot in the final 8 teams left. While it's still super early, the Rays are in the driver's seat to clinch not only a first round bye, but home field advantage throughout the playoffs. And maybe, just maybe, win the franchise's first ever World Series.
League: NCAAB
Head Coach: Leonard Hamilton (Entering Year 22)
Head Coach: Leonard Hamilton (Entering Year 22)
Last Season's Record: 9-23
Last Season's Result: Did not make March Madness
Last Season's Result: Did not make March Madness
Best Result Ever: Reached (but did not win) National Title game (1972)
New York Giants
Unlike the Rays, this is a program very much in a rebuilding phase. After a run of 5 straight seasons of making March Madness (I'm counting the COVID year here because they were going to be a 1 or 2 seed before the pandemic caused the cancellation of the tournament that year). 3 of which they reached the Sweet 16 or further, the Seminoles have since had back to back years of missing out on March Madness. They went 17-14 two years ago before going an abysmal 9-23 this past season. The lack of success caused some of their players to enter the transfer portal and seek a new university to call home, including their two highest scoring players.
Leonard Hamilton has been a great coach for the program, which amounted to little to nothing when he inherited it back in 2002 but that he has since built into a nationally relevant program. And he did so at a university where basketball very much loomed in the shadow of football and to a smaller extent baseball. But he also turns 75 before the start of next season and one has to wonder how much longer he'll wish to continue coaching before retiring. At that age, you're not super interested in rebuilding, you're just trying to win as much as you can before your coaching career is over. I don't think FSU would ever dismiss him, however a 3rd straight disappointing season of missing the tournament would probably make boosters antsy and cause some discussions of whether or not he should retire and pass the torch to a new successor.
Like the Rays and Magic, the Seminoles have never won the national title. These are some of my favorite teams to follow because you wonder if once, just once, in your lifetime they will ever reach the top of the mountain. Florida State has only reached the Final 4 once in its 75 year history. They reached the championship game that year where they endured a hard fought 5 point loss to UCLA, a dominant program that won 10 national titles between 1964 and 1975 including that one. So it has been a long 51 year wait for FSU to reach the Final 4 once again. They did make a recent surprise run to the Elite 8 in 2018 as a 9 seed before falling to Michigan in a game that would have sent them to their 2nd ever Final 4 and ended the massive drought.
I wouldn't say the expectations are super high for the Noles next season. It'll likely be a large cast of new faces and younger players still developing. But with teams like that you just hope to see growth and signs that the program is headed in a positive direction. And perhaps they can surprise me and others.
League: NFL
Head Coach: Brian Daboll (Entering Year 2)
GM: Joe Schoen (Entering Year 2)
Last Season's Record: 9-7-1
Last Season's Result: Lost in Divisional Round (Round 2 of playoffs)
Best Result Ever: Won Super Bowl (1987, 1991, 2008, 2012)
The lone pro team on my list that doesn't hail from the great state of Florida, but it's hear because of the childhood connection and it's what I grew up on. Every Sunday Dad and I would watch the Giants and some of my fondest sports memories ever as a kid were watching them win the two Super Bowls in the 2000s with Eli Manning quarterbacking the team and leading them to big upsets over the massively favored New England Patriots.
From 2017-2022 the Giants had a horrendous win/loss record of 22-59. If we go a little further back to 2012, they have a record of 61-102 and only reached the playoffs once in a span of 10 seasons, where they were eliminated in the first round by the Green Bay Packers. The Giants went through 4 different head coaches in that span before ownership made the executive decision once again to blow it all up and start over this past season. Joe Shoen, a former assistant GM for the Buffalo Bills who helped their rebuild to a Super Bowl contender, was hired as the new GM, and he hired a fellow Bills colleague, Brian Daboll, who was their offensive coordinator, to be the new head coach.
The new regime has things ahead of schedule in New York. Most people thought fixing all of the Giants problems and building them back into a playoff team was going to be a multi-year process, but this group managed to not only get them there, but even win a game. The playoff victory over Minnesota proved that the Giants making the playoffs was no fluke, but then the blowout loss to the Eagles in the 2nd round showed that there remains a distinct gap between the Giants and the NFL's elite teams.
And so year 2 is all about trying to close that gap. The Giants had some important decisions to make in free agency, mainly if they were going to keep QB Daniel Jones (the #6 overall pick in 2019) and star RB Saquon Barkley (the #2 overall pick in 2018) . The Giants rewarded Jones with a lucrative extension while using the franchise tag on Barkley, keeping him on the team for at least 1 more season, but they still hope to reach a long-term agreement with him as well. The Giants then, for the first time in a long time, aggressively spent money bringing in players that could help the team win now and continue reaching the playoffs.
The biggest question continues to be whether or not Jones is capable of being the QB of a Super Bowl winning team. He's shown good improvement over 4 years, going from one of the league's worst QB's to an above average one. But can he ever reach that elite tier of a Mahomes or Burrow or Josh Allen or Jalen Hurts? That I'm not confident. But perhaps he just has to be serviceable enough, if the rest of the roster around him is just enough. I don't think that's in the cards for the Giants yet, I think they're still at least 1 year away from being a true Super Bowl contender. But this year is a great opportunity to build off of last season's success by making a 2nd straight playoffs and cementing that as the new yearly expectation after several seasons of sucking.
League: NFL
Head Coach: Todd Bowles (Entering Year 2)
GM: Jason Licht (Entering Year 10)
Last Season's Record: 8-9
Last Season's Result: Lost in Wild Card round (round 1)
Best Result Ever: Won Super Bowl (2003, 2021)
Tampa Bay Lightning
This may end up being the inverse of the Giants. It's been a good past 3 years in Tampa with Tom Brady at the helm, winning the Super Bowl 3 seasons ago followed by a pair of division titles and playoff appearances. The Bucs have had their time in the sun (both literally and figuratively) but they now enter a transitionary phase of life after Brady.
Step #1 was to attempt to fill the GOAT sized hole left at the QB position and with very little salary cap space and not a high enough draft pick to grab an elite prospect from this year's class options were rather limited. Still, Tampa was able to use the little spending money it had to sign Baker Mayfield, a former #1 overall draft pick for the Cleveland Browns in 2018 who also spent time with the Panthers and Rams. His best season came in the 2020-21 season, where he led the Browns to an 11-5 record and playoff appearance and their first playoff win since 1994 (and the only one in my lifetime). But in the two years that followed things went downhill. Injuries plagued Mayfield in the 2021-22 season as the Browns missed the playoffs and had a losing record and decided to move on and release Mayfield. The Panthers rolled the dice on him in the offseason and signed him to a contract, but he was released once more after the team started 1-5 and wanted to explore other options. He was later signed and finished the season with the Los Angeles Rams after their own QB, Matt Stafford, suffered a season ending injury. Mayfield went 2-3 in 5 games with a Rams team that was already out of playoff contention.
The other option in Tampa is Kyle Trask, a young QB entering his 3rd season that the Bucs selected in the 2nd round of the draft in 2021. Trask had an impressive college career at UF where over two seasons he threw 69 touchdowns to only 15 interceptions and held a 17-5 record as a starter. But since arriving in Tampa two years ago, Trask has been a project whose assignment has been to sit back and learn from Brady and veteran back up Blaine Gabbert.
The two will compete in training camp for the right to be the starter. Mayfield entering it as his last real shot to be an NFL starting QB, while Trask enters it just hoping for a shot in general after patiently waiting. My honest prediction is Mayfield will begin the year as the team's starter but Trask will also see the field at some point as the Bucs' brass will want to know what they have in him. If things don't start well, expect that to happen sooner rather than later.
When it comes to the rest of the offense, Mike Evans and Chris Godwin are still in town to catch passes from whoever the QB is. Second year running back Rachaad White will become the team's primary RB after sharing the duties with Leonard Fournette last season while another second year player. Cade Otton, will attempt to step up as the team's starting tight end. The offensive line hopes to be better at protecting the QBs and creating holes for the RBs after being one of the biggest weaknesses on the team last season. The defense may still be a stronger unit than the offense, as it still features a number of playmakers like Vita Vea, Devin White, Carlton Davis, Jamel Dean, and Antonine Winfield. The Bucs used their first round pick, 19th overall, on Calijah Kancey, a pass rusher from Pittsburgh that they are hoping will help generate more pressure on opposing QBs.
One final bit of good news for Tampa is that the NFC South remains a wide open division. As a reminder the division includes the Bucs, New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons, and Carolina Panthers, and I have no reason to believe any of the other 3 are significantly better than Tampa. The team with the best record from that group will win that division, make the playoffs, and host a playoff game. Like last year, 8 or 9 wins may be enough to get the job done so Tampa is hoping Mayfield and/or Trask can help them reach that number. But even if they make it, it's hard to envision this as a team capable of making a deep playoff run, but hey, once you're in anything can happen.
It feels like the ceiling for this team is probably a middle of the pack team while the floor is being a bottom 5 team with a very high 2024 draft pick. Honestly that might not be the worst thing in the world when it comes to the long term to draft an elite QB and prepare for the future. I have always been someone who believes having an elite QB is the key ingredient to winning championships, and the two currently on the roster are probably average at best. A lot can change between now and next April, but the consensus #1 pick at this point is QB Caleb Williams out of USC, a prospect who draws similarities to Patrick Mahomes with his mobility and ability to keep plays alive with his legs combined with great arm strength and ability to make all the throws.
Regardless of how this year goes, Bucs fans should be at peace. They went all in during the Brady era and got their Super Bowl. When that window closes, it's not uncommon for a few years of sucking and sadness to follow, but you're okay with that if you win one of those elusive championships. So these could be trying times for the Bucs, but even if they are that just means they can go get their next franchise QB and begin the rebuild and long term plans for chasing the franchise's 3rd Super Bowl.
League: NHL
Head Coach: Jon Cooper
GM: Julien Brisebois
Last Season's Record: 46-30-6
Last Season's Result: Eliminated in Round 1
Best Result Ever: Won Stanley Cup (2004, 2020, 2021)
After 3 straight Stanley Cup Finals appearances, two of which resulted in championships, fatigue caught up with the Bolts who fell to the Toronto Maple Leafs in an extremely competitive 6 game series in round 1. 3 of the 4 losses came in overtime on home ice, two of which they blew a late lead, one of which they blew a 3 goal 3rd period lead. The Bolts were due for an early exit, they had played the max number of games over the past 3 seasons and that took it's toll, especially on older veteran players. You can't get to a Stanley Cup Final EVERY year and it speaks to the greatness of this group that they were able to do so not one, not two, but three consecutive years. But now the name of the game is rest and rehab. The additional time off that they haven't had since 2019 should be beneficial, and then it will be time to gear up for another run.
This is a well-constructed roster with a solid combination of star power and great depth. While every player contributes to the success of the team in hockey, there are 5 from this group that absolutely have to be mentioned when it comes to discussing the team's success: Steven Stamkos, Nikita Kucherov ("KUUUUCHHHHH!"), Brayden Point, Victor Hedman, and Andrei Vasilevskiy.
Let's start with the captain himself. Stamkos is the leader of the team and a fan favorite who was essential on and off the ice to Tampa's success. On the ice no one hit a better one-timer (a shot taken immediately as a pass is being received), the guy's shot is an absolute rocket which made him lethal on the power play when he set up on the wing waiting for an open look. Point is the best goal-scorer on the team and one whose ways of scoring goals are a little less one-dimensional than Stamkos, using his blazing speed and being able to score from different areas of the ice but often towards the middle. And though he's known for being a good scorer he's an underrated defensive player as well. Then there's Kucherov, maybe the most important piece of the offense because everything flows through him. He's a threat to score, though maybe not to the same degree at Point and Stamkos, but his gift is incredible vision and passing. He's able to process things extremely quickly and foresee where his teammates will be open before things develop. Because of this he's almost always one of the league leaders in assists and his presence on this ice makes his teammates around him better. He contributes a good amount of goals to the cause himself, but no one is responsible for more goals when you combine the ones he scores plus the ones where he sets up others to score. Next we have Hedman, the anchor of the defense and an assistant captain to Stamkos. Hedman is regarded as one of the best defensemen in the NHL, being nominated for defensive player of the year 5 separate times, but only winning the award once in 2018. And lastly we have the Big Cat himself, Vasy. When Vasy is on his A game, it's not much different than placing a brick wall in front of the net. And there were several games during the playoff runs where the rest of the Lightning were not on their A-games, but still came out with a victory because Vasy was just that spectacular and bailed them out by letting nothing through.
And then behind the stars, the Lightning have a great collection of young talent that they hope can take the baton from the older guys when it's time. Stamkos and Hedman turn 35 and 33 next season respectively so their careers may only have a good year or two remaining. But the Lightning have locked up a handful of their next generation guys like Anthony Cirelli, Erik Cernak, Mikhail Sergachev, and Nick Paul to long term deals. Brandon Hagel will be eligible for a new contract next year as well and the Lightning should work hard to keep him. Mikey Eyssimont is another player who showed promise down the stretch and was rewarded with a cheap two year contract.
And then we get to the decisions they'll need to make this summer. The biggest free agent is probably Alex Killorn, a solid player and fan favorite who has been with the Bolts since they drafted him back in 2007. There's mutual interest between Killorn and the Lightning to keep him in Tampa, but doing so would probably require a pay cut to make it work within the salary cap and would require Killorn to turn down bigger offers from elsewhere. Tanner Jeannot is another interesting one to monitor. The Bolts acquired Jeannot from Nashville at the trade deadline for a collection of draft picks, but then he didn't really meet the expectations the Bolts had for him. Still, he's only 26 and the Bolts may want to keep him on board and see what they have in him after all the draft equity they gave up. One free agent name I do expect them to have a good chance of bringing back is Ross Colton, a young player who has done a lot of good for them. And then there's a collection of older guys they should probably just move on from as they aim to get younger and faster like Corey Perry, Ian Cole, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, and Brian Elliot.
As with every year, expect a new face or two to join the team as well. One priority for the Lightning should be finding a quality back up goaltender so they can get Vasy more rest in-season. The Lightning do not own a draft pick until round 6, having elected to consistently trade those away to bring in players that continued to help them sustain their championship window.
But that window remains open, and has been open since 2015, where they've made playoffs 7 of those 8 years and reached the Stanley Cup Final in 4 of them. While the division is competitive (they play in a division with Florida, Toronto, and Boston) I still expect them to be a playoff team. And once they're in, they've proven they're capable of beating just about anyone in a 7 game series. After all, playoff hockey is a different animal where the majority of the series are toss ups that will end up going 6 or 7 games. But this is a really good team, supplemented by a really good coaching staff and really good front office, so I'm excited to see what next year brings.
FSU Football
League: NCAAF
Head Coach: Mike Norvell (Entering Year 4)
Last Season's Record: 10-3
Last Season's Result: Did not make College Football Playoff
Best Result Ever: National Champions (1993, 1999, 2013)
Saved the best for last! While every other team on the list I had the privilege of introducing you to, this was the one that we both had a personal connection to before we even met. FSU played such an important role in our lives, not just football, but more in terms of the education we received, the memories we made, the people we met, the places we liked to hang out, it was truly some of the best times of our lives. But football certainly was a big part of the FSU experience. Waking up on a Saturday and knowing I got to go to Doak and watch the Noles was the best feeling in the world. And all the tradition it entailed: Chief Osceola & Renegade, the Marching Chiefs before kickoff, doing the chop, hearing the fight song on every score and the warchant echo throughout the stadium, it was the best. And so many wonderful people I got to experience those games with from parents to grandparents to siblings to classmates to fellow church groupies to friends visiting. Still to this day one of my favorite weekly traditions is rolling out of bed on a Saturday after completing a work week, pouring myself a cup of coffee, grabbing my blankie, and throwing on College Gameday. Something you may finally get to enjoy with me since you'll be leaving Orlando Health. It's the perfect appetizer to the day before watching the Noles. But more than anything, and more than any other team, I'm excited to spend a lifetime watching FSU together with my wife.
Now onto the actual team. This is the prime example of a team that reached the mountain top, then came crashing down to rock bottom, and is now on it's ascent to the tippity top once again. College was the golden years: the national title, the 29 game win streak, the Heisman trophy, and so much in between. Then after graduation things went into a downward spiral: Jimbo Fisher bolting for more money, Willie Taggart running the program into the ground, the end of an impressive bowl streak, getting our butts whooped by our rivals, losing records, long long droughts without being ranked, etc. And then along came Mike Norvell tasked with cleaning up the mess and restoring the program to the rightful standard.
Year by year, the progression was evident. In year 1, the Noles still struggled mightily, going 3-6 (they didn't play the usual 12 games that year due to the pandemic) as Norvell was still in the process of transitioning the roster from Taggart recruited players to his own guys. Year 2 began similarly, with the team starting 0-4, bringing Norvell's coaching record to 3-10 creating some whispers and speculation of another firing and coaching search. But then things began to turn around, as FSU won 5 of its next 7 before falling in a close game in it's season finale at UF. This gave FSU a final record of 5-7, one win short of being eligible for a bowl game.
Then year 3 came and FSU really found some momentum. It all started with a wild opening weekend win over LSU down in New Orleans. A game Florida State led most of the way, and then nearly gave away as LSU marched 99 yards and scored a touchdown in the games literal final second. An extra point away from tying it and forcing overtime, FSU managed to block the extra point, a jaw-dropping moment that gave them a massive victory and set the tone for the remainder of the season. #BlockInTheBayou will be one of those epic games FSU alumni remember for years to come. FSU would ride that momentum to a 4-0 start, before losing 3 straight in October, and then winning it's final 6, most of them in dominant fashion. This gave FSU a final record of 10-3 and a final ranking of #11 in the country. And finally, at long last, FSU was back where it belonged. A double digit win team, a fringe top 10 team, a top 2 team in the ACC, and a team that defeated both of its arch rivals.
The expectations are even higher in 2023. Jordan Travis returns at QB for his senior season as one of the best QB's in the country and someone who could legitimately win the Heisman Trophy. Cedric Benson and Lawrence Toafili are back to provide a 1-2 punch at running back. Johnny Wilson, a potential first round pick, is back at receiver to lead a deep group of pass catchers. Jared Verse, a defensive edge rusher, opted to return as well even though he was a likely top 10 pick in the NFL draft. There's several players I could continue to name drop, but the important thing to know is FSU brought almost the entire team back, and added even more talent to fill it's few holes through both the transfer portal and high school recruiting.
FSU has all of its chips in. There's a serious hunger to be elite this year and for a group of players who has been there for a while and helped rebuild the program to end their college careers on a very high note. Every pre-season poll and power ranking has them as a top 10 team with many of them having them top 5. Many people see this as a team that could finally dethrone Clemson in the ACC and be in the mix for a spot in the College Football Playoff, which only the 4 best teams reach. Georgia will likely enter the season as the #1 team, they have won the title two years in a row and are overtaking Alabama as the sport's most dominant program. Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan, USC, and Clemson will probably all be close behind. But so will FSU. This sincerely has a chance to be a very special team. One that has seen rock bottom, but put in blood, sweat, and tears into changing the narrative. So here's to hoping this is a group that returns to being #Unconquered.
Bonus Round!
One thing I appreciate is that there are a pair of teams you have gravitated towards without any real influence from my part whatsoever. Just teams whose logos and color schemes stood out, which I resonate because as a kid I tended to root for the teams with the cool mascots and uniforms. I both hated and sucked at art, but as a kid my mom would find a bunch of printable helmets that I would then color and draw the logos into, and then cut out and organize in my room from worst to best. I also had a collection of little mini college football helmets that you could purchase for each conference in sports stores at the mall. So I think it's cool that you have a couple teams where the logo design and color combination was appealing to you and drew you to them. So here they are.
League: NFL
Head Coach: Mike Vrabel (Entering Year 6)
GM: Ran Carthon (Entering Year 1)
Last Season's Record: 7-10
Last Season's Result: Missed playoffs
Best Result Ever: Reached (but did not win) Super Bowl (2000)
First and foremost I do love their color combination and logo and they play in probably my favorite city to visit (sorry New Orleans, you were a close #2!). I had no earthly idea what "Titans" had to do with Tennessee, so I googled it and apparently it's because Nashville is considered the "Athens of the South". My initial thought was shouldn't this be literal Athens, Georgia, but whatever. They have the Parthenon I guess.
Quick side note. If you want the rationale behind all the other team names on this list here it is. Orlando "Magic" because Disney. Tampa Bay "Rays", double meaning of sting/devil rays and rays of sunshine. New York "Giants" refers to the giant skyscrapers in the countries most populous city. Tampa Bay "Buccaneers" because Gasparilla and mythology that Tampa was a pirate town. Lightning is rather self-explanatory, the city gets many lightning strikes. And then "Seminoles" because Seminole tribe of Florida.
Ok class dismissed, back to the Titans. Tennessee had made the playoffs 4 of the past 5 seasons and 3 straight before this past season. The team started 7-3 but then proceeded to lose it's final 7 games, most importantly it's final game against the Jacksonville Jaguars which determined the AFC South title and a playoff spot. This was a brutal late-season collapse and the organization's longest losing streak since 2015. The season prior the Titans actually had the best record in the AFC and were the 1 seed entering the playoffs but were upset by the eventual AFC Champion Cincinnati Bengals in the 2nd round (their first and only playoff game that year because they had a first round bye). Two years before that, the Titans made it all the way to the AFC Championship game before losing to Patrick Mahomes and the eventual Super Bowl champion Chiefs.
So where do things stand with Tennessee now? That's a tough question to answer. On the one hand, if the version of the team that was 7-3 before it got plagued by injuries shows up, it could still be pretty good and content with the Jaguars for a division title. (The other two teams in the AFC South are the Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans, I don't expect either to be very good this year.). On the contrary, if the absolute crash and burn down the stretch this season was not a fluke, then it could be a tough year for the Titans. My honest feeling is that the Jaguars are the team to beat in this division, Trevor Lawrence is getting better rapidly and so is the team around him, but Tennessee probably still has enough finish 2nd ahead of Indy and Houston. Much like Tampa, I see Tennessee realistically as a middle tier team.
The strength of the Titans the past several seasons has been running back Derrick Henry. An absolute bulldozer of a man, the offense is content to ride him like a horse with their ground & pound strategy, prioritizing the run over the pass. But speaking of the pass, Ryan Tannehill is the current QB and has been since 2019 when he was traded from the Dolphins. However, the Titans traded up in round 2 of this year's draft to grab Will Levis, a QB from Kentucky who many thought would be a top 10 maybe even top 5 pick who happened to slide down the board and all the way out of round 1. If the team is to be competitive this year, it's likely because Henry was still a monster and Tannehill played well enough to remain the team's starting QB. On the other hand, if Henry's age and workload begins to catch up with him and Levis eventually usurped Tannehill, that could mean things went south (pun intended since they play in the AFC South) and signify the start of a rebuild.
It's also worth mentioning that the Titans hired a new GM this offseason, Ran Carthon, who was formerly the director of player personnel for the San Francisco 49ers. This is because, like any job, stupid decisions get stupid people fired, and such was the case for last year's GM Jon Robinson. The Titans were still a very competitive team entering the 2022 draft, as previously mentioned they had the best regular season record in the AFC, having gone 13-4. On draft night, Robinson decided to trade wide receiver AJ Brown, a superstar who was demanding a lucrative contract extension that Robinson simply did not wish to pay for. So Brown was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles for their first round pick (18th overall) and 3rd round pick. The Titans used that first round pick to draft his replacement: wide receiver Treylon Burks out of Arkansas. How did this pan out for both parties? Well, Burks only caught 1 touchdown pass all year and the Titans, as aforementioned, went 7-10 and missed the playoffs. Meanwhile, Brown racked up 88 catches for 1500 yards and 11 touchdowns and helped the Eagles reach the Super Bowl and come damn close to winning it. Brown caught 6 passes including a 45 yard touchdown in that Super Bowl game. Robinson's head scratching move, which many within the organization as well as the fan base opposed, ultimately cost him his job, and opened the door for Carthon. Carthon is a first-time GM, but he's off to a good start. Drafting one of the best offensive lineman in the 2023 class in round 1 and then trading up to grab the falling Levis in round 2.
The last thing worth mentioning is that Tennessee has plans to build a beautiful futuristic new stadium, which is on track to be ready in 2027. The new stadium will be adjacent to the current Nissan Stadium just across the river from Broadway St in the heart of Nashville.
The Super Bowl trophy case remains empty for the Titans. Having reached the game only once, where as the clock expired they were tackled 1 yard short of the end zone of a touchdown that (with the extra point) would have tied the game and forced overtime. It's been a patient 23 year and counting wait to return. But with a new GM, new stadium incoming, and possible new QB in town, there is exciting change happening in NashVegas.
League: NHL
Head Coach: Dave Hakstol
GM: Ron Francis
This season's record: 46-28-8
This season's result: Currently tied 2-2 in 2nd round with Dallas
Best Result Ever: See above
Again, major props to the logo and color scheme. The "S" shaped tentacle is bad ass and I've seen other variations of the logo where it coils around an anchor. The three different shades of blue (deep sea, shadow, light) work so well with the small accents of red and white.
It's only the 2nd year ever of the Seattle Kraken, which brought the NHL to an ideal number of 32 teams (ideal because you can have two conferences of 16, with 2 divisions of 8 within each conference). Thus the story of the Seattle Kraken cannot be properly told without explaining how adding a team works in the NHL.
It begins with the other 31 teams and who they were allowed to keep. The rules were that each team had two options, they could keep 11 players if it followed the following format: 7 offensive players, 3 defensive players, and 1 goaltender, OR they could keep only 9 players but have no positional restrictions to follow. Any players left unprotected after those selections by each team became eligible for the Kraken to select to join their own team. Seattle was then allowed to select 1 unprotected player from each of the 31 teams' current rosters. If selected, the Kraken would assume that player's contract, meaning however much money and however many years left on the deal.
So let's take Tampa as an example. The Lightning elected to go the route where they protected 9 players regardless of position and they chose to protect the following: Stamkos, Kucherov, Point, Vasy, Hedman, Cirelli, Cernak, Sergachev, and Ryan McDonough (a defensive player whom they traded to Nashville last offseason due to salary cap issues). Seattle was then allowed to pick one and only one member of the Tampa Bay Lightning who wasn't one of those 9 names. They selected Yanni Gourde, a really good young offensive player who was critical to the Lightning's two Stanley Cups. Seattle then repeats the same process for the other 30 teams and boom just like that the Kraken have a hockey team. They were still allowed to sign free agents with whatever money remained under the salary cap after the expansion draft and then they still were allowed to partake in the NHL draft with every other team to select rookies.
And so began the Seattle Kraken. As you may have guessed, the organization targeted young players with high upside in the expansion draft. Understandably, that meant the first year didn't go super well as the newly constructed roster needed time to develop and come together and learn to play with one another, and the Kraken went 27-49-6 in their inaugural year.
Expectations weren't much higher in year 2. Almost everyone expected the team would improve, but that it still take some time to become a playoff team, let alone a team that could win a playoff series. But the Kraken surpassed the expectations in ten-fold. Seattle improved their win total by 19, which was good enough to secure a playoff spot and first round match up against defending champion Colorado. Many felt Seattle's young scrappy team would give Colorado some problems but few actually believed they could win the series. But once more, the Kraken surprised, shocking the defending champs and eliminating them in an epic 7-game series. This set up a second round match up with the Dallas Stars, which is currently ongoing and tied at two games a piece with a pivotal game 5 set for tonight.
No matter what happens, the Kraken have already exceeded expectations and have an incredibly bright future ahead of them. That being said, there's no time like the present, and they're gonna try to ride this momentum as far as it will take them here and now. Chapter 2 of the Kraken's story is still being written. But both the present and future look quite promising for the NHL's newest team.
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