It has been a summer. From a blowout Finals, to a blowout Cup, to the tightest race in the Central in years, sports ran the summer. This summer in sports has held us all captive with championships, training camps, and new beginnings. If you didn’t catch everything that has happened, don’t worry. I’m here to catch you up to speed. Here are the top five storylines from the summer:

The Heat was Cooled

The NBA Finals was set up to be the biggest matchup since the Celtics and Lakers in 2008. Sadly, though, it was not all that it was cracked up to be. The San Antonio Spurs completely dominated the Miami Heat in five games. The Heat were outscored by 70 points in those five games, with the majority of the fault being placed on their defense, or lack there of. Their only offense was Mr. LeBron James, who scored 141 of the Heat’s 458 points, and he will not be returning for the Heat.

The Kings are Kings

The Los Angeles Kings defeated the New York Rangers in the Stanley Cup Finals, four games to one. The Series looked to be a tightly fought contest with two of the best offenses in the NHL meeting to finalize the season. Sadly, it was not. The Kings completely demoralized the Rangers, holding them to just 10 goals in the five-game series, including a 3-0 victory for the Kings on the Rangers’ home ice. Marian Gaborik shone for the Kings on offense with an outstanding 14 goals and eight assists during their playoff run, while the Rangers’ top scorer, Martin St. Louis, only scored eight goals. In the end, we look back at this series as a complete mismatch, with the Los Angeles Kings dominated the New York Rangers.

Have No Fear, Football is Here

Thank goodness summer is coming to an end! That may sound bad, but it means the football season is right around the corner. The draft and preseason have brought us a taste of this year’s NFL, but they are nothing compared to the real thing.

The winners of the draft were clearly the St. Louis Rams, Jacksonville Jaguars, and New England Patriots. The Rams shored up both of their lines with the additions of Greg Robinson and Aaron Donald, while adding a potent offensive weapon in Tre Mason. The Rams should definitely be making waves in the West this season. The only thing standing in their way is the sad truth that their quarterback, Sam Bradford, will not be playing this season with an injury to his knee. The Jaguars, on the other hand, added a legitimate day-one starter in Blake Bortles to their roster. They even outfitted him with a pair of explosive receivers in Marqise Lee and Allen Robinson, who are sure to make Bortles’ job infinitely easier with their breakaway speed and reliable hands. Lastly, the Belichick-led New England Patriots have had themselves another outstanding draft. Belichick has finally come to terms with the fact that Tom Brady is not as he seems; he is just another mortal human being. This brings us the addition of Jimmy Garoppolo to the Patriots. They also drafted running back James White and and defensive end Dominique Easley to fill the holes in their team. All-in-all, the Patriots may very well have the best overall roster in the Brady-Belichick, especially on defense. I know it’s too early, but my projection for the Super Bowl is the Patriots over the reigning-champion Seattle Seahawks.

    Offense? Please?

What is there to say about the offense of the St. Louis Cardinals? Some applicable adjectives would be inconsistent, poor, and depleted. The only reason the Cardinals are still in the race for the division is that the Milwaukee Brewers have been just as bad since the All-Star break. The Cardinals have scored only 521 runs this season, while allowing 528. This would be first year that they finish with a negative run differential since 2007, when they went 78-84. All things considered, this year could be worse. We Cardinal fans have been spoiled with winning season after winning season, so anything except a division championship is considered a failure. The Cardinals are still clinging to a Wild Card spot, and they’re only a game-and-a-half behind the Brewers. With thirty games left in the season, and their perennial All-Star and Gold-Glove winning catcher returning soon, the Cardinals have plenty of time to come back and win the division. The key to their run will be their offense, or lack thereof. We can only hope that pivotal players, like Matt Holliday and Jhonny Peralta, can get into a grove and lead this team to victory.

Welcome Back, Mr. James

It doesn’t matter what happened this summer, or what happen in the fall, LeBron James stole the show with his bombshell of an announcement. He will be returning to his hometown to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers. James is not the only one on the Cavs’ roster, though. They’ve made some big-time moves, acquiring Kevin Love via trade, signing Mike Miller as a free agent, and signing Kyrie Irving to a five-year, $90 million contract extension. The Cavaliers obviously did not want to lose him for a few years; he will be with the team until 2020, when the extension expires. While LeBron was definitely the biggest signing, Love will be looking to get a little love on offense. He was the only star on his old team, the Timberwolves, meaning that he got all of the possession time. Only time will tell how the two big stars in Cleveland will work it out on the court.