Hello everyone! As you all know, this is the final blog of 2013 since in a few short hours it will be the year of 2014. However, it's already 2014 in other parts of the world, so Happy New Year to those who are reading this on the time zones ahead of GMT. Let's get right to it, shall we? Here we go!
2013 in a nutshell was a year of bad luck. To further explain, no team in New York has made the postseason. For those who ask, what about the Knicks, Rangers, Islanders, and the Nets? Didn't they make the postseason in 2013? Yes they did, but it was part of the 2012-13 season thus their seasons started in 2012. This year, the Yankees were average (which was expected), Mets were still rebuilding, Giants disappointed a lot, and the Jets had a rebuilding year where most people were surprised that they finished 8-8.
Near the end of 2013, expectations were high for the hockey and basketball teams in the area, and it has fallen flat. The Knicks are a really bad team to the point where coach Mike Woodson is losing credibility with the fans and the media, after leading the team to a division title last season. The Brooklyn Nets aren't that much better, despite all of the hype of Garnett, Pierce, and Kidd making his debut as rookie head coach. The Islanders have been falling flat after a surprising run to the postseason last season, Devils are rebuilding due to financial issues, and the Rangers are an "up and down" team.
However, not everything was bad in 2013. There were some good moments. In this year, we got to see the Knicks win a division title for the first time since the early 90s, and the Yankees pay tribute to Mariano Rivera as a thank you for all he has done in his career. Also, we got to see WrestleMania in the Meadowlands, but the very first at MetLife Stadium.
Speaking of WWE, 2013 started off with the rivalry of The Rock vs. CM Punk, and it ended with Daniel Bryan shocking the world by joining the Wyatts. Throughout 2013 in WWE, we got to see AJ Lee become Divas Champion, the return of RVD, the rivalry between Daniel Bryan and the Authority, and of course the changes in the WWE Championship. The best thing that happened this year was that the Spinner Belt was completely dropped in favor of a proper looking belt. Another change was that the WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship became unified and rechristened as the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. 2013 was a decent year for WWE, but I believe that there should be more improvements heading into 2014.
In the world of MMA, Bellator moved to Spike full time and started getting brand recognition to the point where Quinton Jackson signed a contract as well as Tito Ortiz coming out of retirement. Originally, Bellator had plans to make their PPV debut with Jackson vs. Ortiz as the main event. However, that idea was scrapped entirely due to injuries. Also, Jackson and Ortiz promoted the proposed PPV on TNA programming, which was a disgusting promotional tactic by Spike and TNA Wrestling. However, that is a discussion for another time. In the mainstream, UFC did over saturate by having too many fight cards, but still managed to gain a profit when they started airing fights on FOX Sports 1 (which is a cable network still in the stages of infancy). Also, it marked an end of an era in the Middleweight Division when Anderson Silva lost the title to Chris Weidman after 6 years of holding the UFC Middleweight Championship.
Outside of sports, I have to say 2013 was a decent year. It started off slow since I was still depressed from the 2012 Jets season and my academics suffered because of it. However, I learned to pick up the slack since depression and burnouts are not an excuse for poor performance. After that, I finished the year strong and my academic performance has gotten better because of it. I hope to improve on that at the start of 2014 since this semester may be my final semester.
Now that 2013 has come to a close, what were your thoughts about this year? Here's wishing for a better 2014 and years ahead. I leave you all with this song.
Have a Happy New Year!
-NYCKNP
2013 in a nutshell was a year of bad luck. To further explain, no team in New York has made the postseason. For those who ask, what about the Knicks, Rangers, Islanders, and the Nets? Didn't they make the postseason in 2013? Yes they did, but it was part of the 2012-13 season thus their seasons started in 2012. This year, the Yankees were average (which was expected), Mets were still rebuilding, Giants disappointed a lot, and the Jets had a rebuilding year where most people were surprised that they finished 8-8.
Near the end of 2013, expectations were high for the hockey and basketball teams in the area, and it has fallen flat. The Knicks are a really bad team to the point where coach Mike Woodson is losing credibility with the fans and the media, after leading the team to a division title last season. The Brooklyn Nets aren't that much better, despite all of the hype of Garnett, Pierce, and Kidd making his debut as rookie head coach. The Islanders have been falling flat after a surprising run to the postseason last season, Devils are rebuilding due to financial issues, and the Rangers are an "up and down" team.
However, not everything was bad in 2013. There were some good moments. In this year, we got to see the Knicks win a division title for the first time since the early 90s, and the Yankees pay tribute to Mariano Rivera as a thank you for all he has done in his career. Also, we got to see WrestleMania in the Meadowlands, but the very first at MetLife Stadium.
Speaking of WWE, 2013 started off with the rivalry of The Rock vs. CM Punk, and it ended with Daniel Bryan shocking the world by joining the Wyatts. Throughout 2013 in WWE, we got to see AJ Lee become Divas Champion, the return of RVD, the rivalry between Daniel Bryan and the Authority, and of course the changes in the WWE Championship. The best thing that happened this year was that the Spinner Belt was completely dropped in favor of a proper looking belt. Another change was that the WWE Championship and the World Heavyweight Championship became unified and rechristened as the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. 2013 was a decent year for WWE, but I believe that there should be more improvements heading into 2014.
In the world of MMA, Bellator moved to Spike full time and started getting brand recognition to the point where Quinton Jackson signed a contract as well as Tito Ortiz coming out of retirement. Originally, Bellator had plans to make their PPV debut with Jackson vs. Ortiz as the main event. However, that idea was scrapped entirely due to injuries. Also, Jackson and Ortiz promoted the proposed PPV on TNA programming, which was a disgusting promotional tactic by Spike and TNA Wrestling. However, that is a discussion for another time. In the mainstream, UFC did over saturate by having too many fight cards, but still managed to gain a profit when they started airing fights on FOX Sports 1 (which is a cable network still in the stages of infancy). Also, it marked an end of an era in the Middleweight Division when Anderson Silva lost the title to Chris Weidman after 6 years of holding the UFC Middleweight Championship.
Outside of sports, I have to say 2013 was a decent year. It started off slow since I was still depressed from the 2012 Jets season and my academics suffered because of it. However, I learned to pick up the slack since depression and burnouts are not an excuse for poor performance. After that, I finished the year strong and my academic performance has gotten better because of it. I hope to improve on that at the start of 2014 since this semester may be my final semester.
Now that 2013 has come to a close, what were your thoughts about this year? Here's wishing for a better 2014 and years ahead. I leave you all with this song.
Have a Happy New Year!
-NYCKNP
