By TERRY LYONS, Editor of Digital Sports Desk
Could it happen?
As one who doubted the success of the New England Patriots as the 2025 NFL season began, it’s hard to believe there’s enough Kool Aid in all of Boston to go out on an ice-covered limb and predict the Patriots as Super Bowl LX champions.
That’s an especially difficult task as this year’s NFL is about as even and unpredictable as any season in the last 50 years. Just look at the fact a preseason pick of the Detroit Lions to play the Kansas City Chiefs (or the Baltimore Ravens) would’ve been a credible choice for any NFL maven.
Nope. No Chiefs. No Lions. No Ravens. You mean an NFL maven says, “Doubt the Ravens, Evermore?”
That leaves us with a really WILD pro football wild card weekend with only AFC regular season champion Denver Broncos and NFC top seed Seattle Seahawks assured to play in the divisional round of January 17-18.
Everyone else? Good luck with your predictions.
Here are mine.
NFL PLAYOFF PICKS: With two games being played as this bulldog edition hits Al Gore ‘s online creation, it’s time to make some predictions with a possible goose-egg Saturday start just as likely as two correct picks, although the LA Rams look pretty good. Admittedly, the columnist has had a gallon of clam chowder flavored Kool-Aid, New England stylewith the final, Super Bowl selection … Here are the picks and, of course, there’s a chance the NFL brackets do not set up the way these picks are chosen, but, what the hell.
WILD CARD
AFC Wild Card Winner 1 – Bills
AFC Wild Card Winner 2 – Patriots
AFC Wild Card Winner 3 – Texans
NFC Wild Card Winner 1 – Rams
NFC Wild Card Winner 2 – Bears
NFC Wild Card Winner 3 – Eagles
DIVISIONAL PLAYOFFS
AFC Division Winner 1 – Broncos
AFC Division Winner 2 – Patriots
NFC Division Winner 1 – Seahawks
NFC Division Winner 2 – Eagles
CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
AFC Conference Winner – Patriots
NFC Conference Winner – Eagles
SUPER BOWL LX
Super Bowl Champion – Patriots
BOB WEIR / REST IN PEACE:
RIGHT AT PRESS TIME: The news of the Grateful Dead founding member, guitarist, vocalist, magician and storyteller Bob Weir’s death hit the airwaves via a heartfelt SOCIAL MEDIA post from Chloe Weir. The announcement of his death said he went peacefully. He was battling cancer but died of some underlying complications of the lungs.
These two clips are from Bob’s final shows at Golden Gate Park, performed this past summer (August 1-3, 2025), a three-night stand celebrating 60 years of music – pure magical music. My indoctrination into the Dead was way back in high school, but my Ph D. came from the late, great Bill Walton who often dove deep into the lyrics and vibes to lead the way for many of us.
Wrote Chloe on behalf of the family: “It is with profound sadness that we share the passing of Bobby Weir. He transitioned peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, after courageously beating cancer as only Bobby could. Unfortunately, he succumbed to underlying lung issues.
For over sixty years, Bobby took to the road. A guitarist, vocalist, storyteller, and founding member of the Grateful Dead. Bobby will forever be a guiding force whose unique artistry reshaped American music. His work did more than fill rooms with music; it was warm sunlight that filled the soul, building a community, a language, and a feeling of family that generations of fans carry with them. Every chord he played, every word he sang was an integral part of the stories he wove. There was an invitation: to feel, to question, to wander, and to belong.
Bobby’s final months reflected the same spirit that defined his life. Diagnosed in July, he began treatment only weeks before returning to his hometown stage for a three-night celebration of 60 years of music at Golden Gate Park. Those performances, emotional, soulful, and full of light, were not farewells, but gifts. Another act of resilience. An artist choosing, even then, to keep going by his own design. As we remember Bobby, it’s hard not to feel the echo of the way he lived. A man driftin’ and dreamin’, never worrying if the road would lead him home. A child of countless trees. A child of boundless seas.
There is no final curtain here, not really. Only the sense of someone setting off again.”
“It must be getting early, clocks are running late
Paint-by-number morning sky looks so phony
Dawn is breaking everywhere, light a candle, curse the glare
Draw the curtains, I don’t care ‘cause it’s alright,
I will get by
I will get by
I will get by
I will survive.”
HERE NOW, THE NOTES: As long as we were playing the prediction game up above, how about a few more for 2026?
- The “U” to win the CFP championship as tough “D” and home field advantage win out at Hard Rock. Indiana will have put up a fight like no other.
- Jannik Sinner to win Down Under at the 2026 Australian Open
- William Byron to make it a three-peat at the 2026 Daytona 500
- Canada to win the gold at Milan Winter Olympics men’s ice hockey
- UConn to win 2026 BIG EAST men’s basketball tournament (and women’s, too)
- Michigan to take the 2026 Final Four in men’s hoops
- Scottie Scheffler to get back on track and win The Masters
- Colorado Avs and Florida Panthers to meet for The Cup (Avs to win)
- OKC to repeat at the NBA Finals and take their second Larry O’Brien Trophy
- LA Dodgers to repeat at 2026 World Series, defeating the NYY
- No Triple Crown winner in 2026
- Cameron Boozer to go No. 1 in NBA Draft
- Jannik Sinner to repeat at Wimbledon (singles)
- Iga Świątek to repeat in Ladies’ singles in London
- Scottie Scheffler to take the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup
Some more in-depth analysis and additional predictions to come before each season/playoffs begin. In the list above, you’ll notice a LOT of chalk. The WWYI office reports, “Carlos Alcaraz is on Line One.”
TIDBITS & NUGGETS: Good News: Zach Harper of The Athletic pointed out that Muggsy Bogues turned 61 years of age on Friday. The 5-foot-3 guard entertained NBA audiences for a solid 14 seasons. … Bad News: Former NBAer and shot blocker extraordinaire Jawann Oldham died this past week in Atlanta at the age of 68. Oldham hailed from Seattle, Washington.
The Tallahassee Quarterback Club Foundation, the Florida-based creator and sponsor of the Fred Biletnikoff Award, honored unanimous 1st-Team All-America receiver Makai Lemon of the University of Southern California as the 2025 winner of the prestigious Biletnikoff Award.
Legendary sportscaster Al Michaels will return to call the 2026-27 NFL season for Prime Video, according to a report by Richard Deitsch of The Sports Business Journal.
Former Ravens head coach John Harbaugh seems to be the answer to every NFL team’s dreams. Harbaugh, fired by Baltimore this week, put the brakes on every NFL team that drew their ax on NFL Black Monday (maybe we should call it Red Monday, thus with the ax falling)? … The NY Post has been swooning over a possible Harbaugh hiring for the football Giants.
New York Islanders rookie defenseman Matthew Schaefer is the likely Calder Trophy winner come April/May and he’s proving to be the best NYI blue-liner since the great Denis Potvin (not to put any pressure on the rook).
The LIV Tour started its season this week with a qualifier at Black Diamond Ranch in Lecanto, Florida while the PGA Tour opens this Thursday at the SONY Open in Honolulu, Hawaii. Pro golf is back but Brooks Koepka is not.
As expected, pro golfer Brooks Koepka applied for reinstatement to the PGA TOUR. ESPN first reported that the expected became true. Koepka, 35, decided to leave LIV Golf and announced it on December 23. He had one year left on his contract with the Saudi-backed pro circuit. Koepka will not be eligible to return to the PGA Tour until August, 2026 at the very earliest.
Koepka was one of the top PGA Tour players to jumo to LIV Golf in 2022, reportedly cashing a $125 million check as an enticement for the love.
BASEBALL HALL of FAME: Neither WWYI nor Digital Sports Desk have a ballot for the Baseball Hall of Fame. That’s fine, but it doesn’t stop a baseball scribe from casting a phantom ballot. Here are the picks this year, using the less is more theory with five choices for baseball infamy amongst the 27 players eligible on the BBWAA official ballot.
- Carlos Beltran
- Andruw Jones
- Andy Pettitte
- Alex Rodriguez
- David Wright