All of the attention in the sports world has been given to the Super Bowl and the more recent “Deflategate” allegations against the New England Patriots. What you may not know is that there are plenty of other events going on in the sports world both in the good ol’ US of A and around the world. Here are four things that are happening in sports besides Super Bowl preparations.
NHL Staying as Cool as Ice
The NHL season is just past its halfway point, but clear leaders have yet to be decided. The Eastern Conference top eight are separated by just seven points top-to-bottom; the first place Tampa Bay Lightning have 64 points on the season, while the eighth-placed Boston Bruins have registered 57 points. This is going to be a fun and exciting ride down the stretch as these eight teams fight for playoff position and a chance to make an appearance in the Stanley Cup Final. As far as the Western Conference is concerned, there is a fairly steady drop off of talent after the fifth-placed Winnipeg Jets, with 60 points, but between the sixth-placed San Jose Sharks (56 points) and the Dallas Stars (49 points) in 11 is the real race to watch. These seven teams are sure to battle it out to earn the final spots in the Western Conference Playoffs.
All About Those Balls, No Treble
If you are looking for a real race to the finish, the NBA is the league for you. The Eastern Conference 2-10 teams are separated by a mere 11 games, a very small amount considering that there are about 40 games left for each team. This is not because the teams are that good; rather, it is because all of the teams are exquisitely mediocre. In the Western Conference, the Golden State Warriors have opened up at least a five-game lead on every team in the conference, but the 2-6 teams are separated by just one-and-a-half games, while the 7-10 teams have just five games separating them. The races for home playoff games (and even just making the playoffs) is on.
Winter X Games Keeping it Chill
The Winter X Games in Aspen, Colorado opened up this past Wednesday with the Women’s Ski SuperJump Final. Maddie Bowman won that event with a time of 85.66 seconds. As of press time, five other events have gone final, but the big story is that American snowboarder Shaun White is making his return to competitive snowboarding after multiple injuries and 11 months off. White finished in fourth of in the Men’s Snowboard SuperPipe with a time of 82.00 seconds; Danny Davis won the event with a best run of 93.66 seconds. This was not a happy return to snowboarding for the highly-heralded White as he will not compete in any more competitions in these X Games.
Australian Open Gets Down, Down Under
Through the first two rounds of this year’s Australian Open, the biggest storyline so far is the upset of second-ranked Roger Federer by the unranked Italian Andreas Seppi in four sets. Seppi will face Nick Kyrgious in the fourth round out of seven. The top-ranked Novak Djokovic remains the clear favorite in this tournament, and his only conceivable challenge in this tournament is third-ranked Rafel Nadal, whom Djokovic would only face if they both reach the final round. As far as the women’s side of the bracket is concerned, Maria Sharapova is all but a lock to make it to the finals unless Simona Halep can pull off a great upset in the semifinals. The upper part of the bracket is a little less certain. Serena Williams is definitely the favorite, but Petra Kvitova has a chance to make an equally great upset in the semifinals against Williams, should they both make it there. Whomever advances through either of these tournaments, though, they are sure to excite everyone following the Australian Open.