2022 in Sport
Why the World Cup is the biggest sporting event in the world and 10 of biggest stories of the year.
The World Cup Recap
The last major sporting event of the year has arguably been biggest. Not just because it encompasses teams over 6 continents. It’s because it has had it almost all of the major story lines in sport all wrapped up in one.
The Game: The World Cup final between Argentina and defending champion France had over 3 billion viewers; the largest sporting event of the year.
Similar to many NCAA March Madness tournaments, there have been plenty of upsets and surprising runs including Saudi Arabia beating Argentina in the group stage to Morocco being the first African nation to make the World-Cup Semifinals. In the end we had FIFA’s 3rd-ranked and 4th-ranked teams playing in the finale. This was arguably the game of the year and the best World Cup final as Argentina defeated France on penalty kicks 4–2 after the game was tied 3–3 after extra time. Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé lived up to their billing as 2 or the top players in the world as they combined for 5 of the 6 goals scored in the game and both players converted their chances when they game moved to penalities.
The Conversation Piece: The biggest issue facing sport this year has been the reporting of migrant workers leading up and during the World Cup. There is very little debate on whether the treatment of migrant workers should have been better in the years leading up to the World Cup but there is debate on whether the reforms (including the ending of the kafala system) that have taken place after. Whether or not you feel like there have been enough change, shapes how not only you view the impact of the World Cup but how you feel about the impact of how sport has shaped society.
One term, in particular, that grew from the controversy was Sportwashing, term that talks about using sport to improve tarnished reputations whether that comes from individuals, companies, or countries.
The Last Dance and the Future: You have players who are considered to be the best to play the game stating that this would be their final World Cup. This includes Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric, and Lionel Messi.. You also have a 22 year old Kylian Mbappé trying to cement their legacy by becoming a two-time World Cup champion and a Golden Boot winner.
The Scandal: You can’t think about the World Cup without questioning how the World Cup came to Qatar in 2022 especially due to the extreme heat that takes during the World Cup outside of its normal window. Netflix’s FIFA Uncovered did a very good job of explaining all of the circumstances that led to the Qatar decision and the ultimate backlash that resulted from it.
The Nobility: On the other hand, there is something very noble and simple about how the World Cup operates. I believe it’s simplicity leads to its successes. Many of their votes come down to one country receiving one vote regardless of its population, team success, or worldwide influence. Some of their awards come down to results versus the opinion of voters(i.e. most goals scored by a player receives the Golden Boot). The structure of their tournament is democratic- from the drawing of teams into groups to the fact that each team plays everyone team in the group once for the beginning stages of the tournament.
Some of these rules and structures may lead to undesirable results(see the scandal paragraph above) but their rules are easy to understand and gives, at least, the impression of being fair.
The Tournament: One of my favorite things about the World Cup is the actual timing of how games are played. Each game has its own time window; which lets countries have their own individual spotlight with one notable, and genius exception.
On the final day of group play, the 4 teams in a group play 2 games simultaneously. With only 2 teams in a group advancing to its knockout stage, this means that the result of one game may affect whether the team in the other game moves on to the knockout. This creates for great in-game strategies like seeing Mexico trying and failing to score 3 goals against Saudi Arabia to move to knockout round while Poland was trying and succeeded by not losing by more than 2 goals to Argentina.
Sports at its best is great theater and this allows for it at a early part of the tournament. There is already discussion for 2026, when the tournament expands to 48 teams, to keep the same group format so they maintain the last day of group play drama.
The Business: When sport became a global event, it had to consider different cultures and laws as well as corporate interests from their corporate sponsors. When those things are not align, it creates compromise or conflict. For this World Cup, the laws restricting alcohol in Qatar does not align with the beer sales of the World Cup’s sponsor Budweiser.
In this case a compromise emerged in which beer was allowed outside of stadiums at the FIFA Festival and Budweiser came up with the great idea of sending beer to the winning country. Fortunately for them, the winning team does not have major restrictions on alcohol consumption.
With all of the storylines, the World Cup has been quite entertaining but there have also been other huge storylines this year. Here are 10 of the best.
1. The Los Angeles Superbowl: The Perfect Hollywood Story:
The NFL got the perfect story for the first Super Bowl in So-Fi Stadium. The biggest stars for the Rams showed up when it mattered most while the rest of the Super Bowl activities highlighted the glitz, glamour and culture of Los Angeles. The LA Rams, led by former Detroit Lions QB Matthew Stafford, engineered a 4th quarter drive that ended with a touchdown pass to Cooper Kupp to put the Rams ahead 23–20, Then, the final drive by the Bengals was stopped by the Rams defense led by defensive captain Aaron Donald.
Supplementing a great game was a halftime concert which highlighted the impact of west coast rap and hip-hop culture featuring Dr. Dre. The Super Bowl also featured a Hollywood opener narrated by Halle Berry and the Rock introducing Super Bowl LVI in a way only that the Rock can. The Rams went all-in on the 2021–2022 season in hopes to win a Super Bowl at the home stadiums and based on the result, trading away all of those future draft picks was worth it.
2. The Dubs Dynasty
The Warriors were going for a three-peat (and 4 championships in a 5 year stretch) when Klay Thompson injured his hamstring and then his ACL. Subsequent injuries to Thompson and Curry along with the departure of Kevin Durant left many fans wondering if the dynasty has ended while the Warriors many of the core players (Curry, Thompson and Green in particular)insisted that a healthy Warriors team is still the best team in the NBA. The Warriors proved it in 2022 by beating a young Celtics 4 games to 2 games and has shown for a team to truly take its mantle in their eyes, they would have to beat them at full strength in a playoff series.
3. Tennis Golden Age
This year marks the beginning of the back stages of one of the greatest periods in Tennis history.
Serena Williams decided the “evolve away” from tennis after playing more than 1,000 matches over 27 years while Roger Federer retired in September after playing more than 1,500 matches over 24 years.
You also have Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic who may be in the back stages of their career but are still playing and have surpassed Roger Federer in Grand Slam titles. Serena may have not passed Margaret Court in total Grand Slam titles, but she does have to most championships in the Open Era.
Including Venus Williams and Justine Henin, there was a point in time over the past 20 years that you knew who to expect in many of the championship matches in Men and Women’s tennis. While fans may be able to expect more parity in the future, these legends will be missed once they hang up their rackets professionally.
4. Sport Discourse: Kyrie Irving, Deion Sanders, and Brittany Griner
I wrote a year ago about Kyrie stating you don’t have agree with someone 100% of the time in order to admit he has a point. Kyrie has proven that and seems to relish in being a contrarian. In this latest saga, Kyrie posted a link to his movie on his twitter page that many claimed to have anti-Semitic tropes. His reluctance to debunk the claims and to meet with the Brooklyn Nets is believed to have led to his suspension and the termination of his shoe deal with Nike. The outrage to his post and the outrage of the backlash to his suspension became a major talking amongst the sport community.
This case does bring an interesting question in the age of social media; should individuals be responsible for their sharing of information on their social platform when it is not their words and if so, to what extent? It also brings to light the role the media has in the amplification of stories which Lebron James alluded just a few weeks later in his post-game interview.
Furthermore, it brings into question discourse on any sport decision that has created social divisions. One of the main things I appreciate about sport is that it allows for important discussions to be had on what is (typically) a not serious issue. It can be Deion Sanders leaving a HBCU to join a P5 Conference and subsequent discussion about the disparity of funding amongst HBCUs to other schools, the history of HBCU Athletics and the dearth of African-American head coaches in Power 5 Football.
Then, you have the issue of Brittany Griner, WNBA All-Star center being detained in Russia. You have that sport conversation on why there is a huge gap between what women basketball players receive in compensation in some European and Asian leagues versus the WNBA. Then you have the serious conversation of the political strategy and decisions that relate to prisoner exchanges. It’s important for individuals to be engaged and have these conversations but without it becoming toxic.
There’s nothing inherently wrong about agreeing with a result and wanting the process or the situation to be different.
5. The New Frontier in College Athletics
The Name, Image and Likeness Legislation, the transfer portal , and the additional years of eligibility that some players received due to the Covid pandemic have made its impact on college sports in 2022 and beyond.
Some student-athletes have gained more freedom and access to be more fairly compensated. This is especially true for the women student-athletes who may have gotten less traditional media exposure.
Unfortunately, others have missed out on opportunities that they have expected due to the huge increase of eligible student-athletes in college.
From the university's perspective, the pursuit of additional funding has led schools to join different conferences and to expand the college football playoffs from 4 teams to 12.
6. LIV Golf/PGA Tour
Of All the “top” leagues that have gotten competition from a startup, no league has faced a biggest competitor than LIV Golf presents for the PGA tour. With promises of bigger payouts and less tournaments, LIV Golf has attracted some of the best and biggest stars in golf including Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson. Others like Tiger Woods, Rory Mcilory, Justin Thomas, and Jon Rahm have chosen to stay with the PGA Tour.
The Masters, considered to the be the most prestigious golf event, has tried to appease each group for the time being with keeping the same tournament requirements as before which allows both LIV and PGA golfers to compete for the 2023 Masters. However, this means in 2024 and beyond, less LIV golfers will not be eligible as their tournaments won’t reach the requirements. That may ultimately determine whether LIV becomes an even bigger threat to the PGA.
7. Win Wembanyama by Losing?
For the NBA, there has never been a more anticipated amateur basketball prospect in recent memory than Victor Wembanyama . A 7’3 prodigy who looks to have similar offensive skills to Kevin Durant when he was college and similar defensive skills to Rudy Gobert while he was playing at Chobet.
With the leveling out of the NBA Lottery to 14 percent for three worst regular season records and the creation of NBA play in-game tournament, there is less incentive than ever to tank for the 1st park, However, as teams struggles this year, GMs may start to consider if the chance or drafting Victor is worth sitting or trading established veterans for.
9. A New College Basketball Powerhouse
I feel like in each league’s existence- a rivalry or passing on the torch takes the league to the next level.
Women’s Basketball had one in the 2000s with the University of Tennessee led by Coach Pat Summit and the University of Connecticut (UCONN)led by Geno Auriemma. Now they may have another one now with UCONN and the University of South Carolina (USC) coached by Dawn Staley.
USC announced there their position as the new premier team in women’s college basketball with a 64–49 victory over the UCONN Huskies. Dawn Staley is women basketball royalty with her play with at the University of Virginia, Charlotte Sting, Houston Comets and USA Basketball. With her personality and style highlighted by Louis Vuitton letterman jacket that went viral along her resume is a big reason why many top recruits choose to play there.
9. Coach K Last Dance
On the men’s college basketball side, the biggest story was Coach K’s retirement (with all due respect to Kansas winning the title). Coach K’s success as a coach was only matched by his longevity especially considering that he re-invented himself from primarily focusing on 4 year players (Johnny Dawkins, Grant Hill) to players who were trying to enter the NBA draft as soon as possible (Kyrie Irving, Paolo Banchero).
He’s loved by some, hated by others, but most of all he has been a fixture of the sport. His first and last loss at Duke came at archrival University of North Carolina while many considered to be one of the biggest rivalries in all of sport.
10.The Dominant Teams
The two most dominant teams this year and over the past few years was the Tampa Bay Lightning and the University of Oklahoma’s Softball.
Even though the Lightning lost to the Colorado Avalanche in the Stanley Cup Finals, it marks the third straight year that they went to the finals after winning the previous 2. This makes the Lightning the first team to do so in the Salary Cap era. They have also made it to 4 Stanley Cups in the past 8 years. The team shows no signs of slowing down with a 20–11 record this season.
The University of Oklahoma Sooners softball team went 59–3 in their 2021–2022 season; ending with their national championship victory over the University of Texas. If the 59–3 record wasn’t enough, 40 of those victories ended early by the run rule. Even with many of their games ending early, the Sooners had the best offense, best pitching, the National Freshman of the year (Jordy Bahl) and the National Player of the Year (Jocelyn Alo). Jocelyn has hit an astounding 30 home runs over the past 3 collegiate season. This was after their 56–4 national championship season in the previous season. The team’s talent has gotten to the point where the question is who will win the title: Oklahoma or the field?
That is all for the wide array of sport stories in 2022. If anyone has another story, feel free to mention it in the comments.
Soon to be farewell to 2022 and here’s to a great 2023!
