25 trends we hope go away in 2019

Can they please not be a thing anymore? One wonders if LaVar Ball has been paid to keep his mouth shut, because ever since LeBron went to L.A., he's been oddly quiet. It has been a nice change of pace, but we're long overdue for a Ball blowup. His sons are back from Lithuania, and Lonzo is slowly but surely finding himself in the NBA. Is it too much to ask that all three of them simply be allowed to pursue their careers? Can we all just ignore their father and let them do their thing? Probably not, but here's hoping anyway.

Joe Tessitore seems like a nice, genuinely excitable guy, and Jason Witten certainly seems to want to do well, and Booger McFarland probably is the most interesting of the three, but together, they aren't making beautiful music. The broadcasts never seem to get into a rhythm, McFarland is wasted in his awkward elevated chair role, and Witten at times doesn't have much to say. A two-man team with Tessitore and McFarland would probably be the best possible combination, but it's doubtful that ESPN would make changes after just one season.

Kaepernick has an ongoing collusion lawsuit against the league, and while some of the passion surrounding his initial protest have subsided to a degree, it's becoming tiresome to read the excuses coaches give for not signing him and instead going with far less talented quarterbacks. Worse still are the coaches who claim to be genuinely interested in Kaepernick, only to go in a different, and always mediocre, direction. Nathan Peterman or Colin Kaepernick: Whom would you rather have on your team, really? 

Affirmed won the Triple Crown in 1978. For 37 years after, no horse was able to accomplish the feat, though there were countless near-misses. The chase was thrilling. Finally, American Pharoah broke through in 2015 and won all three jewels of the crown. It was a thrilling, incredible moment. Then in 2018, Justify did it again. It was anticlimactic, to say the least. Horse racing occupies, at most, 15 minutes of the year for most sports fans. Is it too much to ask that the Triple Crown be mostly unattainable? Let's get back to heartbreaking losses in the Belmont Stakes, pronto.

Meyer announced that he would step down after the Buckeyes' Rose Bowl battle with Washington, and his press conference was littered with noncommittal statements. There were an annoying number of earnest pieces written in the wake of his resignation that make the major mistake of actually believing what the coach had to say. Meyer's health issues might keep him out for a year, but he's proved in the past that he can't stay away from football for long. If media and fans would stop giving him the benefit of the doubt and just deal with him honestly, it would be a nice change of pace.

Mike McCarthy was the latest coach to not give his quarterback and offense a chance to win a game on fourth-and-2, when he tried to put trust in a very suspect Green Bay defense, and lost to the Seahawks. While coaches around the league are getting wise to math and probability and are being more aggressive with their decision making, there are still way too many instances where risk-averse behavior leads to a preventable loss. The NFL is an offensive league, almost without exception, so it would be fun to see more coaches embrace that and actually go for points rather than punts.

Remember how great sports Twitter was a few years ago? There were funny jokes made in real time, great observations, and if you followed the right people, an incredible stream of reactions whenever something truly crazy happened. Now? Actual creativity or genuine emotional reaction has been replaced by an ever-increasing number of animated gif reactions, each one becoming annoying in near-record time. Please, let's make 2019 the year we collectively retire "blinking surprised guy," and "guy reacts to savage put-down." 

There is something undeniably fun about the sight of devastated fans, whose team has just suffered a stunning reversal of fortune, all striking the same dismayed pose. But the constant cuts to the stands showing people in various states of shock are starting to get a little bit played out. Memo to television directors: Find some other type of anti-celebration to capture. There are plenty of novel ways in which fans wallow in their misery, so it's time to pick a new one. 

Wilson is currently out with a concussion suffered courtesy of a blindside hit from Ryan Reaves, one of the only NHL players who might be able to intimidate the Capitals winger. That sort of vigilantism shouldn't be surprising, given Wilson's propensity for dishing out dirty hits. He was suspended 20 games for a preseason hit on St. Louis' Oskar Sundqvist, and then the suspension was reduced to 14 games. In his ninth game back, he drilled New Jersey's Brett Seney with another questionable hit. Capitals fans claim he's unfairly demonized, but at this point that same old song is getting tiresome, indeed.

Run-pass option concepts have not just leaked into NFL playbooks: They've revolutionized offense at the professional level. The scheme has become so common, so recognizable, that most fans watching know exactly what they look like and why they work. So with that in mind, can 2019 bring with it an end to commentators saying "RPO" incessantly? It's to the point where it affects the quality of broadcasts because it seems that the analysts are being paid extra every time they use those three letters in sequence. 

Remember when opinions were just that — opinions? Now nothing provocative can be said about sports without being labeled a "hot take." Yours truly is guilty of it on occasion, too. Too many strong, sometimes controversial, but often interesting opinions are dismissed as being "hot takes" thrown out there just for attention. Sports conversation on social media with fewer gifs and dismissive reactions. Is that too much to ask?

You don't usually have to sit around waiting too long before a coach, usually in college football or basketball, laments the state of today's youth as a way of reacting to something that happens to their teams. Mike Gundy was the latest, most high-profile person to do this, and it never sounds good. The irony is thick, too, because the same people claiming that the teenagers under their care aren't tough or determined enough are the ones who can cut and run to a better job whenever the chance arises.

The NBA's analytics revolution has mostly eliminated the mid-range game, emphasized three-pointers and made getting to the free-throw line a big weapon for some of the league's best players. No one has made more use of that last element than Houston's James Harden, who has turned the act of drawing shooting fouls into an infuriating art form. Many times, he earns himself two free throws on plays that are in no way, shape or form actual shooting situations. Is it canny, savvy play? Yes. Is it frustrating to watch, particularly if you aren't a Rockets fan? You bet.

Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray are the last two Heisman Trophy winners. Their average height is about 5-foot-11. Mayfield went No. 1 overall in 2018, and Murray is getting enough love from scouts that he's waffling on his contractual commitment to the Oakland Athletics. That's progress and a sign that NFL talent evaluators are changing long-held beliefs. Still, Oregon's Justin Herbert might well be the first quarterback taken this year, and while he could end up great in the pros, it will mainly be based on his physical gifts and how scouts think he'll project, and not actual production. Memo to GMs: Take the guys who ball out and produce in college. It'll probably work out for you.

In case you missed it, the Arizona Diamondbacks, not too long ago seen "going for it," just traded their best player, first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, to the Cardinals for a minimal return. The Seattle Mariners, who were good last year but had the misfortune of being in the same division as the Astros and Athletics, have begun a massive teardown of their major league club. An attempt to predict the 10 playoff teams for 2019 before Jan. 1 even gets here would probably yield a high success rate. That reality, and the fact that several teams are obviously not trying to win, is a bad combination for the league.

Not every young star athlete had old social media posts come back to bite them once they garnered recognition — it only seemed that way. In every situation, the things these athletes were posting were reprehensible, but you'd think that anyone reaching a certain level of accomplishment would comb through their history and delete anything objectionable. Or better yet, never post those things in the first place. Josh Hader, Kyler Murray and Josh Allen are just three of the high-profile athletes to have to face the music in this regard. Hopefully they'll serve as a cautionary tale to talented youngsters everywhere.

There is something impressive about Tebow's ability to hit minor league pitching after so many years away from the game, but he's not close to a major league player, and one imagines that most people close to the Mets know that. But they'll probably put him on the big league club in 2019 at some point to sell tickets. That would be taking a spot from someone more deserving, at least from a baseball standpoint. What would be a better avenue for Tebow to stay in the mainstream consciousness? How about trying to make it big as an analyst? 

Mike McCarthy is deservedly out of a job, but he won't be for long. Jon Gruden spent years in the broadcast booth, only to be lured out by an enormous contract from the Raiders. There are plenty of bright offensive and defensive minds out there; plenty of bright young coaches who could make a major impact in the same way Sean McVay has in Los Angeles. Hopefully, NFL teams do their diligence for this offseason's round of hires and inject some new blood into a profession that needs it.

Thankfully, this seems like one trend that actually will die out in 2018. Will Grier of West Virginia has already indicated that he will not play in his team's bowl game, and star Houston lineman Ed Oliver will forego his as well. This, of course, makes perfect sense, as it is smarter for players who stand to cash in to get themselves ready for the Combine than to play and risk injury in what, in almost every case, is a meaningless exhibition game. More and more, fans and even coaches are reacting more positively to players acting in their own best interests, so perhaps 2019 is the year when not a single drop of ink is spilled criticizing the Griers and Olivers of the world.

This isn't meant as a diss of the Tide, or anything truly negative. It's actually an acknowledgement of their overwhelming greatness and an admission that their consistent winning, usually in dominant fashion even against high-quality opponents, makes college football, dare I say it, somewhat anticlimactic. Nick Saban's team looks like it is playing a different game than their opponents most weeks, and while that makes the occasional loss that much more incredible to behold, the majority of the time it's just kind of boring. Other teams: Step it up in 2019.

While we're on the topic of Alabama, can people stop hypothesizing whether or not the Tide could beat the worst NFL team every season? It's offensive to them and especially to whichever NFL team is bad enough to earn the dubious distinction of being mentioned in that context. Every time someone suggests that it is possible, they should be shot down instantly. The worst team in the NFL — let's go with the 49ers at the moment — would beat Bama by at least five touchdowns and probably more. Any suggestions otherwise represent the worst "slow news day" conversation that the sports world has to offer. 

You would think that sports leagues would want to make sure that their marquee events started at a time that allowed young fans to watch the games and still go to bed at a reasonable hour. Or at the very least, start early enough that kids could watch most of the game. World Series games ending in the wee hours? Not fun. This one probably won't change because prime time is prime time, and television executives don't seem to mind that kids and people with early wake-up calls for work have to turn off their televisions long before the conclusion of many games.

Analytics have revolutionized MLB, the NBA and to some extent, the NHL. The NFL has seen offenses explode, while defenses struggle to catch up, but the devil is still stubbornly in the details for too many coaches. Mike Tomlin, for example, refuses to employ someone to help with clock and challenge-related decisions, suggesting that it's not worth it. Clock management is an area where some NFL head coaches are laughably deficient, and yet many still seem to not realize there is a problem. If the casual fan is able to figure out the best strategy in a given situation, guys getting paid millions to coach should probably be able to as well.

Tiger Woods is the biggest star in golf history and at worst the second-best player ever to pick up clubs. He is the main reason purse sizes have exploded and the main reason the sport reached a previously unthinkable level of mainstream popularity. He's also more marketable than any other golfer. That said, Tiger's rise ended up producing an exciting, athletic and often charismatic generation of golfers. There are physically overwhelming talents like Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka, ready-made villains like Patrick Reed and fan favorites with serious game like Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas. Golf's top brass needs to find a way to promote those players and stop pinning all its hopes on Tiger winning some more majors.

This one qualifies as a "get off my lawn" type of opinion, but oh well. By and large, the NBA's focus on individual superstars has been a boon for the league, and the fact that many of the best players are good friends is largely a good thing. Certainly it's a far cry from the days that brought us the "Malice at the Palace," perhaps the league's darkest hour in recent memory. Still, it's somewhat jarring to see so much chumminess, even in the playoffs, between players on opposing teams. Call me old-fashioned, but I wish something approaching real bad blood came through more often on-screen.