The curtain is closing on another year of sports and the time has to come to look back on all we have seen – and all that lies in store over the next 12 months.
DailyMail.com columnist TIM HOWARD has picked out some of his highs and lows from 2024.
The former Manchester United, Everton and USA goalkeeper has also peered into his crystal ball to make some predictions for 2025…
MOMENT OF THE YEAR
Freddie Freeman winning World Series MVP
Just look at the Dodgers and the Yankees: two big-spending teams, so many huge names including Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge and Juan Soto.
Freeman would have been the last name on the betting sheet to win MVP. For him to hit a walk-off in Game 1 and then to homer in four straight games? Incredible.
That moment to win Game 1 was stunning enough but then he sustained it. All at the end of a year when his son was left temporarily paralyzed by a rare neurological disorder before Freeman battled an ankle injury ahead of the World Series. Awesome.
DailyMail.com columnist TIM HOWARD has picked out some of his highs and lows from 2024
Freddie Freeman inspired the Los Angeles Dodgers to victory over the New York Yankees
ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
What she has done for women’s sports and for the WNBA is remarkable. She has changed the trajectory of the league. Not single handedly, obviously. That is patronizing to the women who have come before her and built that league.
Clark stands on the shoulders of giants. But sometimes in sport, a seismic shift occurs from a single moment.
Look at how Michael Jordan transformed the NBA – the league was floundering, there was no one in the stands, Nike was ready to give up on basketball. MJ took NBA into another realm and Clark is doing the same for women’s basketball.
Women’s basketball star Caitlin Clark has become one of the biggest names in sports
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT
New York Jets
I know what you’re thinking: what about my old team Manchester United? They are certainly among the nominations. But it has to be the Jets.
So many things have gone wrong. It’s like Murphy’s Law at MetLife. First they bring in Aaron Rodgers, then he tears his Achilles in his first game and suddenly that season is a wash.
You really only have two years with an aging quarterback. So this season was the one. And it’s been an unmitigated disaster. Nobody is on the same page. The head coach Robert Saleh was fired. The GM Joe Douglas was fired. They stink. It’s the same old Jets. And that’s coming from a Giants fan who knows: we also stink.
Even with Aaron Rodgers under center, the New York Jets have endured a dreadful season
MOMENT I WISHED I’D SEEN IN PERSON
Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul
An odd choice, perhaps. But you have to be in awe of the spectacle. Jake Paul is an easy guy to hate. He’s a YouTuber, he’s a boxing novice. But the sheer numbers and eyeballs and interest he generates? It’s staggering.
There is another, selfish reason I would have loved to have been in Texas: I grew up watching Mike Tyson in all of his glory and all of his downfall and all of his resurrection.
To see him get in the ring one more time – even as an older man – would have been a surreal moment. Instead I tuned in on Netflix – and watched in between glitches!
Mike Tyson, 58, returned to the ring to face YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in Texas
BIGGEST SHOCK
Manchester City
If you are not completely, utterly shocked by this recent collapse, then you are lying. There are people claiming they saw it coming. Not a chance.
It is one thing to have a down season or to be slightly off the boil. But, for this City team, that might mean getting pipped at the finish line by Arsenal or Liverpool.
That would represent a bad season. But this? It’s catastrophic.
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City have suffered a dramatic collapse over recent months
UNSUNG HERO
Travis Kelce
I am gobsmacked whenever I hear about how the Chiefs star is in decline. It’s mind blowing. Maybe his numbers aren’t what they once were – that’s natural as you get older.
But on all the big plays and in all the big moments – in a Chiefs team that’s going for a historic three-peat – Kelce is there. He is innovative at the position. He constantly has tricks up his sleeve.
And yet people want to rip him apart. Just because he’s dating Taylor Swift. It’s laughable. Watch the NFL. Watch how important he is to that Chiefs team. Look at his body of work. Among tight ends, he is on Mount Rushmore alongside Rob Gronkowski and Tony Gonzalez.
Travis Kelce’s relationship with Taylor Swift has brought his performances under the spotlight
TWO SPORTING PREDICTIONS FOR 2025:
Cole Palmer could the best player in the Premier League by next Christmas. No matter whether Mohamed Salah stays at Liverpool or Erling Haaland rediscovers his best form.
Chelsea will head into next season with real title ambitions and, over the last 18 months, Palmer has grown as a player. That much is clear through his consistency.
In some ways, it’s easy to have a breakout year – no one is expecting anything. Palmer has come back with a hangover from the Euros and he’s hit the ground running.
Chelsea’s Cole Palmer has become one of the most influential players in the Premier League
He is just as important as last season and his output has remained the same. That’s the hard bit.
Manchester United, meanwhile, will undergo a complete overhaul of their squad.
At this point, I’m almost certain that Ruben Amorim – if given the choice – would replace at least eight of his best starting 11.
As he looks to take United back to the summit – or at least back to the Champions League – there may only be a few survivors.
Bruno Fernandes, even though he is letting the manager down with all these red cards.
The other two? Kobbie Mainoo and Amad Diallo. I don’t think anyone else gets a pass.
