Back in the saddle again

With the beginning of a new year I figure that there is no better time to get back to work on this blog. I should’ve been writing way more often…but life has a way of getting in the way sometimes. You are in luck however that from now until the end of June I will be posting weekly.

There have been plenty of reviews over the last two weeks about the sports events that marked 2006 so I won’t rehash what has already been done. I prefer to look forward to 2007 and appreciate what is upcoming.

Coming up soon the finale of the world junior tournament…will Canada continue its undefeated streak that has endured two full tournaments and one subsequent round of round-robin play? The odds are in their corner to continue that as none of the other contenders have looked particularly good so far. Oftentimes in these short do or die tournaments what wins it is goaltending and defence and to date…the Canadians are the best in those categories.

Also due up shortly is the penultimate match of the college football season..many thanks to USC for destroying Michigan to assure that there will be no grumblings (should Ohio State lose) that they should’ve been given a national title shot. My odds on favourite in this one Ohio State, and perhaps you can chalk that up to my personal bias. But this team has played with the mantel of the number 1 team all year-long and has not faltered once. Something tells me that they will manage to keep that stretch alive. I do nonetheless expect it to be a nailbiter with a tough tough tough Florida team. Expect Troy Smith to be the difference.

Soon after that is the one that people refer to as the Grandaddy of them all, the number 1 sporting event in North America …the Super Bowl. It should be interesting this year as I expect as do many people that this will be a Super Bowl of firsts…if the matchup shakes out as expected it should be San Diego vs. New Orleans. I can only hope this holds to be true as I would like to see the Rivers vs. Brees matchup, the LT show at the big show, and the Old coach (Schottenheimer) vs. the New coach (Sean Payton). Although the storylines leading up to it would be interesting I expect the game won’t be much of a challenge as the AFC is clearly stronger than the NFC. I can tell you I am secretly wishing that Tiki wins the Super Bowl to secure his legacy as a fantastic NFL player. Which seems unlikely at this time because Eli…is quite simply not the same NFL player as his brother, however that might be a good thing come playoff time.

Never mind the second halves of the NBA and NHL seasons that are yet to come…Will the cup return back to Canada? Will Carolina Hurricanes or the Miami Heat manage to get their acts together or will they follow the Pittsburgh Steelers and fail to make the playoffs in their defense of their championships.

In addition to that we get to find out if Tiger Woods will continue his assault on the record book? Or will the upcoming birth of his child affect his ability to strike fear and dominate on the golf course….Something tells me he might do something special this year.

What about the only other sports figure to be nearly as dominant over the last few years…Roger Federer…he has made it his mission to win the French this year…and I for one believe strongly that barring injury he will do it. In fact barring injury I would go out on a limb and say he will take home the entire Grand Slam this year. As good as Nadal can be I think Federer has started to figure him out and no one else is even close right now.

All that is yet to come in 2007…and I haven’t even mentioned March Madness, baseball, the Champions League and much more!

So far the year 2007 promises to be a special one…and I think it will be one to remember for years…and I for one can’t wait to see what happens.