CBS Sports’ 24 most impactful stories of 2024: Kansas City Chiefs, Caitlin Clark, 12-team CFP vie for No. 1

As 2024 comes to a close, now is as good a time as ever to reflect upon the last 12 months in sports. Between the Olympics, a back-to-back Super Bowl champion, an unforgettable rookie season and much more, we won’t soon forget the biggest sports stories from this past year.

Early in the year, the Kansas City Chiefs cemented their place on this list by becoming just the eighth team all-time to win back-to-back Super Bowl titles. The fact that it came in such dramatic fashion, winning just the second overtime game in Super Bowl history, made it even more memorable.

In the summer, the world got together in Paris to compete in the 2024 Olympics. The United States fared well and produced some inspiring performances with none better than Simone Biles completing her comeback to win all-round gold in gymnastics. Everywhere from the track to the basketball court, the U.S. managed to make international headlines.

Even in a summer that contained a deluge of Olympic moments, Caitlin Clark dominated the front page of news outlets everywhere while the WNBA continued its explosion of popularity. Clark led an exciting rookie class into the league and fans responded by flocking to women’s basketball game in record numbers.

While those stories were among the very biggest from 2024, there were still plenty more. Shohei Ohtani had an eventful first season in a Los Angeles Dodgers uniform, the Boston Celtics raised their 18th banner and LeBron James became one-half of the first father-son duo to play together in the NBA.

Without any further ado, let’s jump into the 24 most impactful sports stories of 2024.

24. Geno Auriemma wins record

Geno Auriemma already had the resume to make a case for himself as the greatest college basketball coach of all-time, but now he has the win total to prove it. Just last month, Auriemma notched his 1,217th career victory to become the winningest basketball coach in the history of Division I basketball.

Auriemma got that historic win with an 85-41 victory over Fairleigh Dickinson, and it propelled him past longtime Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer. Since taking over at UConn in 1985, Auriemma has turned the program into a perennial powerhouse. In addition to his freshly broken all-time wins record, here are a few more eye-popping numbers from his tenure.

• 111 straight wins from 2014-2017
• 29 regular-season conference championships
• 28 conference tournament titles
• 11 national championships
• 8 Naismith Coach of the Year awards

Auriemma will only continue adding to his win total — and possibly more — throughout the 2024-25 season, and beyond. Led by superstar Paige Bueckers, the Huskies are the No. 4 team in America with their sights set on another banner. And last summer the 70-year-old coach signed a five-year extension. Good luck trying to catch him.

23. Cody Rhodes wins undisputed WWE title at Wrestlemania XL

The match for the Undisputed WWE Universal title belt was a true spectacle that delivered on multiple fronts. It completed a comeback arc that began years ago, and it featured some of the biggest names from the WWE’s past and present.

The title match began simply, with Cody Rhodes and defending champion Roman Reigns squaring off in the ring, but it certainly didn’t end that way. The chaos began with Reigns getting help from the likes of Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa and ended with superstars like John Cena and Seth Rollins lending Rhodes a hand.

One of the biggest pops of the night came when The Rock entered the ring for the first time in 11 years. The Rock was even choke-slammed in a brief cameo appearance by The Undertaker.

The match ended with Rhodes hitting a trio of Cross Rhodes on Reigns to get a three-count and the win. That victory for Rhodes was special on a number of levels. For starters, it completed a story arc that began in 2022, when he returned to the WWE after a few years with AEW. On top of that, Rhodes was able to earn the title belt that eluded his father, Dusty Rhodes, throughout his wrestling career.

22. Athletics, Coyotes find new homes

This year, two different Big Four franchises announced relocation. The Oakland A’s, led by owner John Fisher, revealed plans to move to Las Vegas via Sacramento. The other team, the Arizona Coyotes, were sold and moved to Salt Lake City after years of turmoil in the Phoenix area.

The A’s officially announced their relocation plans after rejecting a five-year lease to remain at the Oakland Coliseum. After 56 years in Oakland, the team played its final game in the city on Sept. 29, a 6-4 loss to the Seattle Mariners. That game marked the end of major-league sports in Oakland, with the Warriors leaving for San Francisco in 2019 and the Raiders heading for Sin City in early 2020.

As part of their move, the A’s will play in Sutter Health Park, which holds roughly 14,000 fans, from 2025-27 while their new Las Vegas stadium is built. Their future home will be built on the former site of the Tropicana casino. Once the move is complete, it will mark the fourth major-league sports team in Las Vegas with the NFL, NHL and WNBA already there.

The Coyotes’ move was one that had been in the works for a while. Former owner Alex Meruelo failed to get approval for a permanent home in Phoenix, Tempe or Tuscon, and the team had spent two seasons sharing an arena with Arizona State’s hockey team.

The Coyotes’ time in Arizona was marred by instability and financial troubles, but the franchise got a fresh start when Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith stepped in to buy the team. Smith moved the team to Salt Lake City and renamed it the Utah Hockey Club, with permanent name yet to be announced.

The Coyotes were the first NHL team to relocate since the Atlanta Thrashers moved up to Winnipeg in 2011, and the A’s are the first MLB team to relocate since the Montreal Expos moved to Washington, D.C. in 2004.

21. Jake Paul defeats Mike Tyson

Perhaps the biggest combat spectacle of the year was the boxing match between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul. The legendary boxer and the social media-star-turned boxer squared off in front of a massive crowd at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, but the fight went the way you would expect when one of the combatants is closer to 60 than 40.

Those hoping to see some version of prime Tyson, even a diminished version, were disappointed. It has been 19 years since Tyson’s last professional bout, and it showed. (Some even questioned the bout’s legitmacy.)

Paul, 31 years younger than the 58-year-old Tyson, simply had more gas in the tank. The fight did go all eight rounds, but it mostly consisted of Paul running around Tyson and scoring jabs while the aging legend struggled to keep up. In the end, Paul won by unanimous decision as Tyson simply wasn’t able to land any devastating blows on his much younger opponent, landing 18 punches through the entire fight.

After his victory, Paul tipped his cap to Tyson, referring to him as the “GOAT,” but what is the next step for Paul is in his boxing career? Will he try to fight more active boxers and work his way to a world title? As for Tyson, he suggested his time in the ring may not be over, but it remains to be seen whether he will get another bout on the books.

20. U.S. basketball teams take down France to win gold

The United States had a good showing at the Paris Games, and the basketball teams were no exception. The men and women both flexed some muscle against the rest of the world on the court, and they both earned the gold-medal with hard-fought games against the host nation.

In the preliminary round, the men rolled to a 3-0 record without much resistance, posting a plus-64 point differential in the process. The first knockout round game against Brazil wasn’t very competitive either as the Americans erupted for a 122-87 win. The rest of the tournament was a little more difficult. In the semifinal, Nikola Jokic and Serbia led the U.S. by 11 points at halftime. That’s when Steph Curry stepped up and hit some big shots to ignite a comeback. He finished the game with 36 points and shot 64.3% from beyond the three-point line.

In the gold medal game against France, Curry came up clutch again. In the final three minutes, Curry knocked down four 3-point attempts to put France to sleep and deliver a gold medal in his first Olympic appearance.

Similarly, the women cruised through round robin play, but they didn’t really get pushed until the final. Like the men, the women faced the host nation, and France gave them everything they could handle. That game was a back-and-forth affair throughout as the U.S. struggled to hit shots, especially from deep. An American squad that did not have Caitlin Clark was able to gut out a win thanks to late free throws from Kelsey Plum and Kaleah Cooper — and a little luck. France’s Gabby Williams thought she tied the game with a 3-pointer as time expired, but her foot was on the line, giving Team USA a 67-66 win.

19. JJ Redick goes from podcast host to Lakers coach

Following a 15-year career in the NBA, which included 4,704 career 3-pointers, JJ Redick went into media and launched the high successful podcast, “The Old Man and the Three.” It seemed like Redick was destined to be a rockstar in the basketball media world, and then the Los Angeles Lakers came calling.

The Lakers fired former coach Darvin Ham in May, and the team went through a coaching search that extended far and wide. One of the places the Lakers looked was Redick’s podcast studio. On June 20, after getting turned down by UConn coach Dan Hurley, the Lakers hired Redick to be the 29th coach in franchise history.

Redick’s hiring was somewhat controversial because, while he had plenty of playing experience at the NBA level, he’d never spent any time coaching at the collegiate or pro levels. That meant Redick would be forced to learn on the job while trying to get the most out of roster that includes superstars like LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Through his first 26 games as coach, Redick has experienced mixed results. The Lakers are 14-12, which projects out to have them in the mix for a spot in Western Conference play-in tournament.

18. U.S. Track and Field leaves competition in the dust

The United States had a great showing in track and field at the 2024 Paris Olympics, piling up medals and making some history in the process. The headliners were sprinters Noah Lyles being crowned the fastest man in the world by winning a photo finish in the men’s 100m event, and a redemption of sorts for Sha’Carri Richardson who earned two medals, including gold in the 4x100m relay.

Lyles didn’t get off to the best of starts in the event, but he closed the gap at a rapid pace and beat Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson by a nose. That wasn’t the only medal Lyles won in Paris. He took home bronze in the 200m event, which is usually his specialty, but the world-class sprinter had been dealing with COVID-19 prior to the race.

While Lyles had some notable performances, the rest of the Track and Field team were equally brilliant. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone set a world record in the women’s 400m hurdles. The men’s and women’s 4x400m relay teams both took home gold with the women literally running way from the rest of the world.

In the 10,000m race, Grant Fisher became just the second American in the last 56 years to medal in the event, winning bronze by just 0.33 seconds.

In total, the United States won 34 track and field medals in Paris. That was more than three times the second-place country, Kenya (11). Seven of those medals were gold, and no other country won more than two.

17. Travis Hunter wins Heisman Trophy as two-way player

For just the second time in college football history — and the first since Charles Woodson in 1997 — a defensive player won the Heisman Trophy when Travis Hunter took home the award. Hunter, a two-way player, did everything for Colorado while putting together a season for the ages.

As a cornerback, Hunter made opposing quarterbacks think twice about throwing his way this fall. His 11 passes defended led the Big 12, and he recorded four interceptions. On offense, Hunter also led the conference with 92 receptions and 14 receiving touchdowns, and his 1,152 receiving yards ranked third in the Big 12.

The most impressive part of Hunter’s campaign, and what might have put him over the top, is that he managed to play at such a high level despite the physical toll it took. Hunter played 1,487 snaps, far more than the other Heisman Trophy finalists. Just making it through a full season, let alone playing at a Heisman-caliber level, was a testament to Hunter’s fitness and athletic ability. (And it was also revealed that he poured some of his endorsement money back into the NIL collective so that other teammates could benefit.)

The No. 1 overall player in the 2022 signing class, per 247Sports, is now expected to declare for the 2025 NFL Draft. Following a highly productive college career on both sides of the ball, Hunter is expected to be one of the first players off the board, and two of our CBS Sports experts have him going to the New England Patriots at No. 3 overall in the latest mock draft.

16. USWNT redeems itself with gold at 2024 Olympics

Coming off a Round of 16 exit at the 2023 Women’s World Cup, the USWNT needed a good showing at the Paris Olympics. In the face of all that pressure, the U.S. women finished the tournament atop the podium.

The USWNT rolled through the group stage, going 3-0-0 and posting a plus-7 goal differential in the process. However, things got a little more tense in the knockout stage. The quarterfinal game against Japan and the semifinal game against Germany both went to extra time, but the USWNT came up with clutch goals. 

Trinity Rodman scored the game-winner in the 105th minute against Japan, and Sophia Smith tallied the deciding goal in the 95th minute against Germany.

The gold medal match against Brazil was just as close, with the teams locked at 0-0 through 56 minutes. Then, in the 57th minute, Mallory Swanson got behind the Brazilians and placed a shot into the lower-right corner to get the game’s only goal.

From there, the USWNT was able to fend off Brazil’s efforts to tie the match, and they captured their first goal medial in 12 years. After an embarrassing exit at the World Cup, the USWNT found redemption on the international stage just months later.

15. Panthers win Stanley Cup in return to Final

The Florida Panthers were agonizingly close to lifting the Stanley Cup in 2023, but they ran out of gas and healthy bodies, losing to the Vegas Golden Knights in five games. One year later, the Panthers got their first Stanley Cup as they held off a dramatic comeback by the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup Final.

The Panthers won the first three games, holding the Oilers’ offense to just four goals thanks to outstanding team defense and stellar goaltending from Sergei Bobrovsky, who boasted a .953 save percentage in those contests.

Backed into a corner, Connor McDavid and the Oilers fought back to win three straight games, outscoring the Panthers 18-5 in that span. Edmonton was looking to become just the fourth team in NHL history to win a series after falling behind 3-0 and the second to do it in a Stanley Cup Final.

In Game 7, the teams exchanged goals in the first period, but Sam Reinhart broke the tie in the second period. His tally proved to be the game-winner as Florida would hold off Edmonton for the final 24:49 of game time.

The most impressive part of Florida’s victory was its balanced attack. Evan Rodrigues had four goals in the final, and four more Panthers had two. Anton Lundell notched five assists, a sign of things to come in 2024-25.

While he fell short of hockey’s ultimate prize, McDavid still had a historic postseason. His 34 assists were most all-time in a single playoff run. His 42 points were fourth all-time, behind just Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. Because of that, McDavid became the sixth player ever to win the Conn Smythe as playoff MVP while not being on the team that won the Stanley Cup.

14. Liberty win first WNBA title in thrilling series vs. Lynx

The New York Liberty were on a revenge tour in 2024, and they ended it with the first WNBA title in franchise history. After finishing the regular season atop the standings, the Liberty rolled through the first couple rounds before meeting the Minnesota Lynx for an epic WNBA Finals.

In Game 1, the Lynx drew first blood in The Big Apple. Napheesa Collier knocked down a jump shot with 8.1 seconds left in overtime to deliver a win for Minnesota, but New York responded with back-to-back wins in Games 2 and 3.

Breanna Stewart totaled 51 points in those consecutive wins as she put the Liberty on her back to give them a 2-1 series lead.

Game 4 was another back-and-forth battle for all four quarters, but the Lynx were able to keep their season alive with a pair of free throws from Bridget Carleton to give them an 82-80 victory. Kayla McBride knocked down three of her six 3-point attempts and led the team with 19 points.

The fifth and deciding game was a slugfest that went to overtime. The Lynx did an excellent job of limiting Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu, holding them to 18 combined points on 5 of 34 from the field. That defensive effort was for naught as Jonquel Jones and Leonie Fiebich picked up the slack.

Defensively, the Liberty were outstanding, allowing just two points in overtime for a 67-62 win. Jones took home the WNBA Finals MVP after averaging 17.8 points and 7.6 rebounds per game.

That Game 5 win for the Liberty capped off an exciting WNBA Playoffs that displayed the growing popularity of the sport. Postseason games averaged 1.1 million viewers, which was a 139% increase over the 2023 playoffs.

13. Alabama left out of first 12-team College Football Playoff

College football continued to evolve this year, and the biggest change came in the postseason. The College Football Playoff expanded to 12 teams, and the new format created some intense debate down the stretch in the regular season.

Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the expanded field was the battle for the last playoff spot, which essentially came down to Alabama (9-3) and SMU (11-2). The Crimson Tide’s resume had some impressive wins, including a thrilling victory over No. 2 Georgia and a blowout of LSU in Death Valley. However, Alabama also suffered two brutal losses, one to Vanderbilt and another one to Oklahoma.

The Mustangs didn’t have Alabama’s strength of schedule, but the devastating losses weren’t there. SMU’s two losses, which were against BYU and Clemson, came by a combined six points. The second of those two losses was in the ACC Championship, which was decided by a last-second field goal.

When it came time for the selection committee to make its final decision, SMU got the nod over Alabama, and the Tide were left out of the College Football Playoff field for just the third time.

The first 12-team field was as follows:

1. Oregon
2. Georgia
3. Boise State
4. Arizona State
5. Texas
6. Penn State
7. Notre Dame
8. Ohio State
9. Tennessee
11. SMU
12. Clemson

The other notable change to the playoff format is that fans will get to see on-campus playoff games this weekend. Texas will host Clemson, Penn State will host SMU, Notre Dame will host Indiana and Ohio State will host Tennessee. Those should provide raucous atmospheres and bring a new energy to the college football postseason.

12. Juan Soto signs record contract with Mets

Juan Soto was the hottest name on the MLB free agent market this offseason, and he parlayed that into a historic contract with the New York Mets. Soto agreed to a 15-year, $765 million contract with the Mets, which is the richest deal in baseball history.

Shohei Ohtani’s mammoth $700 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers held the record for all of one year before Soto signed with the Mets. It’s not hard to see why Soto, 26, commanded such an eye-popping price tag on the open market. He’s already put together a lengthy list of accolades and accomplishments at a young age.

• 5 Silver Slugger Awards
• 4-time MLB All-Star
• 3-time All-MLB First Team
• 2020 NL Batting title
• World Series champion

Making this even sweeter for the Mets is the fact that they poached Soto from the New York Yankees after he smashed 41 home runs and racking up 109 RBI for his lone season in pinstripes. Soto only got better in the postseason, hitting .327 with four homers and nine RBI while leading the Yankees to the World Series.

Heading into 2025, the Mets will be one of the favorites to win the World Series after reaching the NLCS last fall and signing Soto. It will be a very fun summer for baseball in New York.

11. LeBron, Bronny James take the court as teammates

LeBron James has done a lot in his NBA career, but he accomplished a first in his 22nd NBA season. On opening night James and his son, Bronny James, made history as the first father-son duo to play in a game together.

Coming out of USC, Bronny was the No. 55 overall pick in last summer’s draft, and he didn’t have to wait long to take the court with his dad. During the second quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers’ season-opener against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Bronny checked into the game and made NBA history with his father.

James always said he wanted to play long enough to play with his son, and he got that opportunity on Oct. 22. Once that moment occurred, LeBron and Bronny posed for pictures with Ken Griffey — Jr. and Sr.

Bronny didn’t remain in the game, a 110-103 win, for very long. He played three minutes and did not register a point, but LeBron notched 16 points to go along with five rebounds and four assists in 25 minutes of playing time.

Since that debut, Bronny has split time between the NBA and G League. He logged his first points with the Lakers in a loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Oct. 30.

10. UConn goes back-to-back in March Madness

For the first time since Florida won consecutive titles in 2006 and 2007, the NCAA Tournament saw a back-to-back champion when UConn cut down the nets in Glendale, Arizona. The Huskies rolled through March Madness, and they appeared to do so while barely breaking a sweat.

UConn entered the NCAA Tournament with a 31-3 record, and it somehow found a way to elevate its game even more. The Huskies throttled Stetson, 91-52, in the first round. That result was a poor omen for any team unlucky enough to face UConn the rest of the way.

The closest game the Huskies played in the tournament was a 14-point win over Alabama in the Final Four. UConn’s average margin of victory in March Madness was 23.3 points, and the team’s dominant run ended with a 75-60 win over Purdue in the national championship.

In that national title, Tristen Newton notched 20 points, seven assists and five rebounds. Newton was named the NCAA Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, averaging 14.5 points and 7.2 rebounds over the Huskies’ six games.

UConn coach Dan Hurley returned to pursue a third consecutive national championship in 2024-25, but his future with the program seemed in question for at least part of the offseason. That’s because the Los Angeles Lakers tried to lure Hurley away from college basketball, but he chose to remain with the Huskies.

9. Michigan wins first national title in 26 years

Since the 1997 season, when Michigan finished atop the AP Poll, the program had been desperately searching for its next national championship. Just over 26 years later, the Wolverines finally broke through with an undefeated 15-0 campaign that culminated with a win over Washington in the national championship.

Following a third straight win over Ohio State and a third straight Big Ten Championship, the Wolverines squared off against Alabama in the College Football Playoff semifinal, and it was an instant classic. J.J. McCarthy engineered a clutch game-tying drive late in the fourth quarter, which included a critical fourth-down conversion, and it ended with a touchdown pass to Roman Wilson with 1:34 remaining in regulation.

In overtime, running back Blake Corum did all the work, rushing for 25 yards and a touchdown. On the ensuing Alabama possession, the Wolverines got a goal line stand for the win.

The national championship game was less thrilling, thanks to the Michigan defense, which limited the Huskies’ high-powered offense to 301 total yards and intercepted Michel Penix Jr. twice. The Wolverines’ offense, on the other hand, got whatever it wanted on the ground with 303 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns in a 34-13 win.

All of this was happening in the fallout from the Connor Stalions scandal, in which the former Michigan staffer was accused of stealing other teams’ signals. That saga continued this year when the NCAA handed down its notice of allegations and Netflix released a documentary on Stalions.

In the wake of Michigan’s national championship, Jim Harbaugh chose to jump back to the NFL, taking over the Los Angeles Chargers. In his place, Sherrone Moore took over as the Wolverines’ coach and led the team to a fourth straight win over Ohio State.

8. Celtics roll through playoffs to capture 18th NBA title

Frankly, the Boston Celtics did everything they could to make the 2024 NBA Playoffs as boring as possible. They rolled through all four rounds en route to a record-setting 18th NBA championship.

After going 64-18 in the regular season and winning the Eastern Conference by a whopping 14 games, the Celtics proved they were really just that much better than everyone else. Boston went 16-3 in the postseason, including a sweep of the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals, and it never allowed a series to reach Game 6.

In the NBA Finals, the Celtics handled business against the Dallas Mavericks with relative ease, only dropping Game 4. In the Game 5 series clincher, Boston roared out to a 67-46 lead at halftime and slammed the door the rest of the way for a decisive 106-88 victory.

Finally, after seven seasons together, the star duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown got their first championship. Brown, whose selection in the 2016 NBA Draft was booed by fans at the time, took home the Bill Russell Finals MVP Trophy. In addition to averaging 20.8 points per game, Brown was responsible for putting a lid on Luka Doncic.

After 17 years in the NBA, veteran Al Horford was finally able to call himself a world champion. His 186 playoff games without a ring were the second-most behind only Karl Malone.

With the Celtics able to get over the playoff hump last season, they’re off and running again in 2025-25. Boston is 17-4, just one game back of the Cleveland Cavaliers for first in the conference, and it looks banner No. 19 might be on the horizon.

7. Shohei Ohtani’s eventful first season with the Dodgers

Shohei Ohtani’s first season with the Los Angeles Dodgers was an eventful one, and it ended with him celebrating a World Series. Along the way, there was some controversy and one of the greatest feats in baseball history.

With Ohtani coming to the Dodgers on a $700 million contract, much was expected of him, but he hardly got out of the gates before controversy struck. Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s then interpreter, was alleged to have stolen almost $17 million from the MLB superstar and used it to place illegal wagers.

Mizuhara would later plead guilty to bank and tax fraud charges, and he’s currently facing the possibility 33 years in prison and a $1.25 million fine.

As that saga was playing out, Ohtani was hitting the cover off the baseball and screaming across the base path. That all led to Sept. 19, when Ohtani played his way into the MLB record books. With a legendary single-game performance, Ohtani created the 50-50 club. The Dodgers’ slugger hit his 49th, 50th and 51st home runs of the season while also stealing his 50th and 51st bases.

That historic season sealed another MVP award for Ohtani, making him just the 12th player ever to win the award three times. Ohtani proved he was worth the cruise liner of money the Dodgers spent on him, and he wasn’t even able to take mound, which he will do in 2025.

6. Scottie Scheffler’s season for the ages

Scottie Scheffler dominated his sport as much as any other athlete in 2024, lapping his opponents on the course every weekend. Scheffler was in his own stratosphere, and he turned in one of the best seasons of all-time with his dominance stretching from Augusta, Georgia, to Paris.

On the PGA Tour, Scheffler became just the third golfer since 1983 to win seven events. Tiger Woods did it four times, and Vijay Singh did it once. Among those seven were wins at The Masters, The Players Championship and the Tour Championship. All that winning resulted in Scheffler earning $62 million, which was roughly seven times more than Jack Nicklaus made in his entire career.

Not even a brief jail stint during the PGA Championship could slow down Scheffler. Shortly after he was released, Scheffler shot 5-under in the second round.

Of course, all those PGA Tour wins don’t even include the rarest gem in Scheffler’s collection, a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Scheffler came from behind to beat Tommy Fleetwood and stand atop the podium, shooting a 62 in the final round to make it happen.

Scheffler went wire-to-wire as the No. 1 golfer in the world this year, but no one needed the ranking to tell them that. Scheffler simply outclassed everyone else in the sport.

5. Bill Belichick, Nick Saban end prolific runs

This football season has featured a pair of notable absences on the sidelines. That’s because Nick Saban and Bill Belichick took gigs in media after ending their legendary tenures with Alabama and the New England Patriots, respectively.

The Patriots hired Belichick all the way back in 1999, and in just his second year on the job, they won Super Bowl XXXVI with Tom Brady under center. That was the first of six Super Bowls that Belichick would win with the Patriots, and Belichick left New England just 26 wins shy of Don Shula for the all-time record.

Between the Patriots and the Cleveland Browns, Belichick was an NFL head coach for 29 years, which is a type of longevity rarely seen anymore. Like Saban, Belichick’s trophy case is overflowing.

• 302 wins
• 17 division titles
• 9 AFC championships
• 6 Super Bowls

Those wondering whether Belichick would take another coaching job didn’t have to wait long for their answer. North Carolina hired Bill Belichick earlier this month as the NFL legend will enter the ever-changing landscape of modern college football. All eyes will be on Belichick to see if he can build another dynasty, this time at the college level.

Following his 17th season at Alabama, Saban chose to retire, ending one of the best tenures in college football history. In 2007, Saban took over the Crimson Tide at a time when the program was mired in mediocrity. Just two years later, Saban led the team to its first national title in 17 years. That kicked off a dynasty in Tuscaloosa, and Saban left as the winningest coach in Alabama history with 206 victories under his belt.

In total, Saban spent 28 years as a head coach in college football. Throughout that time, he built a resume that gives him a strong argument for the greatest of all-time.

• 292 wins
• 12 conference championships
• 7 national championships

Since Saban went out on his own terms, its seems less likely he’ll be rejoining Belichick among the coaching ranks. I guess everyone can dream of a world in which another prominent ACC program makes a change and goes after Saban so we can see the two coaching giants go head-to-head.

4. Freddie Freeman rises to the occasion in World Series

The World Series matchup between the Dodgers and Yankees was the most anticipated in recent memory, and it delivered some jaw-dropping moments. One of those moments came in Game 1 when Freddie Freeman delivered a dramatic win for the Dodgers.

In the bottom of the 10th inning, the Yankees were one out away from taking a 1-0 series lead in Los Angeles. With two runners on, Mookie Betts came to the plate for the Dodgers, and the Yankees elected to walk the bases loaded in order to face Freeman instead. That proved to be a poor decision.

Freeman took the first pitch he saw from Nestor Cortes and deposited it into the right field seats at Dodger Stadium. It was the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history and just the second all-time in the MLB playoffs.

That hit proved to be a spark for the Dodgers as they won the next two games and finished off the Yankees in five games to win their eighth World Series title. Freeman went on to win the World Series MVP with a .250 batting average, four home runs and 13 RBI.

Those three games in the Bronx produced some unforgettable moments too. A Yankees fan ripped a fly ball out of Mookie Betts’ glove in foul ground, and an inexplicable error by Aaron Judge allowed the Dodgers to come back from down 5-0 in what proved to be a series-clinching Game 5.

3. Simone Biles’ comeback ends with all-round gold medal

Three years after bowing out of the Tokyo Olympics due to the “twisties,” Simone Biles completed her comeback in dominant fashion at the 2024 Paris Olympics. After posting the highest scores in the vault, balance beam and floor exercise, Biles stood atop the podium with a gold medal around her neck.

Biles managed to hold off Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade, who had a great Olympic showing in her own right, to become the oldest woman ever to win gold in the all-round at the age of 27. She also broke a tie with Shannon Miller, becoming the most decorated female gymnast in U.S. Olympic history with 11.

The all-round gold wasn’t the only hardware Biles won in Paris. She also helped the Americans win gold in the team event, and she added another gold medal in the vault event. Biles fell just short of a fourth gold medal when Adrade edged her out for gold in the floor exercise, but Biles still won silver in that event.

Biles’ comeback story was incredible, but it wasn’t the only one on Team USA. In 2023, Suni Lee was diagnosed with a rare kidney disease that abruptly ended her sophomore season at Auburn and forced her to miss the World Championships. Lee was able to regain her health, and in Paris she added a gold medal and two bronze medals to her trophy case.

2. Caitlin Clark takes WNBA by storm in rookie season

Few athletes have entered professional sports with more expectations on their shoulders than Caitlin Clark in her rookie season with the Indiana Fever. Clark not only delivered on those expectations, but she might have exceeded them.

Clark was considered a generational prospect after a dominant college career at Iowa, and she was at the forefront of an exciting rookie class in the 2024 WNBA Draft. With all eyes on her, Clark began her assault on the WNBA record books almost immediately.

Not only did Clark rewrite multiple rookie records, but she also reset the bar for all players in a couple of categories.

• Points (rookie): 769
• 3-pointers (rookie): 122
• Assists (single-season): 337
• Assists (single-game): 19

In the process of smashing those records, Clark took a Fever team that went 13-27 the previous year and turned it into a playoff team at 20-20. The Fever bowed out against the Connecticut Sun in the first round, but it was the franchise’s first playoff appearance since 2017. (And, yeah, spoiler alert, she was the league’s Rookie of the Year.)

Perhaps the most impressive part of Clark’s rookie season was the amount of eyeballs she drew to women’s basketball.

The Fever’s road game against the Washington Mystics at Capital One Arena on Sept. 19 set a WNBA attendance record at 20,711. That was one of three Fever games with an attendance over 20,000. The Fever’s attendance numbers were up 318% from the previous season, and they averaged 17,036 fans per game.

Clark made her mark in more ways than one, and now we’ll have to see what kind of encore she has in store for 2025.

1. Kansas City Chiefs repeat as Super Bowl champions

When Patrick Mahomes found a wide-open Mecole Hardman in the end zone to win Super Bowl LVIII in overtime, it capped off a thoroughly impressive postseason run for the Kansas City Chiefs. It also made the Chiefs the first back-to-back Super Bowl winners in 20 years.

It’s easy to look back now and say the Chiefs are simply inevitable, but that wasn’t necessarily the case at the start of the postseason. Kansas City went 5-5 in its last 10 regular-season games, and it missed out on a top-two seed in the AFC. That meant the road to the Super Bowl didn’t run through Arrowhead Stadium for the first time in Mahomes’ career. 

Before the Chiefs could even think about celebrating in Las Vegas, they had to make trips to Buffalo and Baltimore for games against two teams hungry to knock them off their AFC throne. In both matchups, Kansas City turned in gutsy defensive performances to pull out narrow wins in hostile environments. That ended any and all questions about whether the Chiefs could win a true road game in the postseason.

As great as the Chiefs’ defense was throughout the playoffs, Super Bowl LVIII was the Mahomes show. He threw for 333 yards and two touchdowns while also leading the team in rushing with 66 yards. Facing do-or-die drives at the end of regulation and in overtime, Mahomes led the offense on scoring drives with one clutch plat after another. For his efforts, Mahomes was rewarded with his the third Super Bowl MVP award of his career.

The game also provided a Hollywood ending for the Taylor Swift saga. As the confetti was falling at Allegiant Stadium, Swift went down on the field to celebrate with Travis Kelce and the rest of the Chiefs.

Now, the Chiefs have eyes on becoming the first team in history to win three straight Super Bowls, and from the looks of their 13-1 start, they’re well on their way.