The main soccer headline of 2023 may sound familiar: One of the biggest superstars in soccer (and sports) stuns the world by moving to the United States. But not even David Beckham’s ’07 transfer to the LA Galaxy could match the fever pitch of Lionel Messi’s signing with Inter Miami, the MLS club co-owned by Beckham (who is also the team president). Fresh off a dramatic World Cup triumph with Argentina in Qatar, Messi shocked the world by choosing MLS over FC Barcelona and offers reportedly worth $400 million a year from Saudi Arabia.
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Looking back at the year in sports through the eyes of SB Nation
It was quite a year in sports.
2023 began with Travis Kelce beefing with the mayor of Cincinnati, and it ended with him dating Taylor Swift.
But there was obviously more to the year that was in sports than Kelce and Swift. Over the past 12 months, here at SB Nation we did our best to cover it all, from what was happening on the field, to what was happening off it, and everything in between. Out of the thousands upon thousands of stories we published a year ago, here are our personal favorites.
If it wasn’t already clear that the Broncos and Russell Wilson have crossed the proverbial Rubicon, a nugget buried in last night’s article from Mark Maske of the Washington Post removes any and all lingering doubt.
Cincinnati Bengals offensive lineman Orlando Brown had quite the holiday weekend.
Two days before Christmas, Brown took the field with his teammates to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers. His mind may not have entirely been on the task at hand, however, given that his fiancée was at the hospital preparing to give birth to his son.
Brown opted out of seeing the birth of what was his second son, Sonny, to be there for his team. The Bengals were blown out by the Steelers 34-11, and after the game Brown was able to watch the birth of his son on FaceTime.
The North Carolina QB has it all and should be the pick for Chicago. Plus: The Patriots get their QB (just not Caleb Williams), and a long wait for defensive players.
USC’s quick-trigger signal caller is exactly what Washington needs and would electrify D.C. Plus: North Carolina QB Drake Maye has it all and should be the No. 1 overall pick for Chicago.
USC’s quick-trigger signal caller is exactly what the Commanders need and would electrify D.C. Plus: North Carolina QB Drake Maye has it all and should be the No. 1 overall pick for Chicago.
Christmas break isn’t quite the halfway point in the men’s college basketball season, but it does function as the All-Star break does in pro sports: a midseason reset for teams before the stretch run. Several conferences have played one or two conference games in December, but post-Christmas teams shift into league play for good. These games will shape NCAA tournament bubble and seeding discussions all the way through Selection Sunday.
All that makes this period the perfect time to reset Sports Illustrated’s preseason conference championship picks.
The mainstay is still there, same as always, same team and same place, in the front and in the middle of the Philadelphia Eagles’ defense. For 187 games and 181 starts at defensive tackle (with a cameo, for three seasons, at defensive end), Fletcher Cox has added consistency to a franchise with no shortage of turnover. As a member of multiple outfits’ All-Decade teams for the 2010s, he helped make Philadelphia’s defense fierce. He won a Super Bowl (LII) and reached another (LVII) and still came back, each and every season, including for this one, his 12th.
There is nobody in the NBA like Nikola Jokić. He loves harness racing yet seems blasé about basketball. After winning the Finals in June he bemoaned having to stay in Denver for the parade, and he likened his dominance to eating ice cream 10 days in a row—as in, even things you love doing can become tiresome.
Still, on the court there is no greater offensive force in the league than the Joker, who can make sure his team gets a good shot down the floor on nearly every possession.
Jokić is one of the NBA’s most nonchalant players.