Top 5 Central New York Sports Highlights for 2022
Happy New Year! Hard to believe it, but it is 2022.
The years just rip by, don’t they? There are plenty of great sports things coming up in Central New York for 2022. I have narrowed it down to a Top 5 list. Feel free to email me your feedback to mikelsports1979@gmail.com. I will read them during my podcast show, the ML Sports Platter. Let’s have a look at what to watch for in CNY sports in 2022.
1. Duke-Syracuse, February 26, 2022 (basketball).
I know everyone misses the old Big East, well, the old, old, old Big East, but SU-Duke, Duke-SU, has been unbelievable since the Orange started ACC play. This game should be the last meeting between Jim Boeheim and Coach K unless something crazy happens in the ACC Tournament and beyond (Coach K is retiring after the season). This would be a great game to re-set the Dome attendance record. Duke brings in Paolo Banchero, a Top 5 NBA pick. Duke will be well secured for an NCAA Tournament bid, but we know Syracuse will likely be on the bubble. Will this be a game that could swing things for the Orange into the big bracket? So many fascinating things in this one, but at the top of the list is Coach K and Jimmy B clashing as pals for a likely final time.
2. Sean Tucker.
We are told that Tucker will return to Syracuse. Folks, buy tickets to see this guy play. This dude is legit and the best player on the Orange football team by far. Tucker was flat out incredible in 2021. Here are some of those courtesy of Cuse.com: Ranks third nationally in yards from scrimmage nationally this season (1,751) … Broke Joe Morris’ 42-year-old Syracuse single-season rushing record with 1,496 yards … First player in program history to rush for more than 1,400 yards in a season … First player in program history to rush for over 1,000 yards in eight games or less … Set the program record for most 100-yard games in a season (8) and most consecutive 100 yards games (7). Bring down #44. Let Tucker wear it. He is that special.
3. Former Syracuse Crunch players go for 3-peat with Tampa Bay Lightning.
The hardest hardware in sports to win is the Stanley Cup. The Bolts have done
it two years in a row and eye a third straight title. Many players on TB are from the Crunch, including Brayden Point, Anthony Cerelli, Ondrej Palat, Nikita Kucherov, Andrei Vasilevskiy and others. This team lost a lot in the offseason, most notably that amazing third line, but they still have championship players on the roster and a head coach in John Cooper (yep, once a Crunch head coach), who is building a Hall of Fame career. This team is scary. Don’t sleep on them, NHL. It’s hard to win one title. Three in a row? Nearly impossible in today’s NHL, but if anyone can do it, it’s this group.
4. Notre Dame-Syracuse, October 29, 2022 (football).
The Irish are back in town. One of the biggest brands in all of sports. This is a national holiday for CNY and trust me, Notre Dame fans are all over the place, including Syracuse, NY. If SU can pull off an upset, perhaps Dino Babers’ group will go bowling. All of that probably falls on the shoulders of that Sean Tucker guy. No pressure, #34 (should be #44).
5. 2022 Baseball Hall of Fame Induction. July 24, 2022.
As of this writing, Jim Kaat, Tony Oliva, Gil Hodges, Minnie Minoso, Bud Fowler and Buck O’Neil have been elected to the Hall of Fame from the Golden Days Era Committee and the Early Baseball Era Committee. Will anyone else join them? Is it time for Curt Schilling after all the social media battles and his request to be taken off the ballot entirely? Do any steroid guys get in? Does David Ortiz make it on the first try (Mitchell Report guy)? Above all, Hodges should have been in years ago, as O’Neil should have been when he was alive. Jim Kaat is one of the best guys in the sport’s history. I chatted with him about a month ago. Listen to that interview here: ML Sports Platter: 2022 Baseball Hall of Famer Jim Kaat. on Apple Podcasts.
Mike Lindsley has been in sports media for over 20 years. Download and subscribe to his podcast, the ML Sports Platter, on Google Play-Spotify-Apple Podcasts-anywhere you get podcasts on your smart phone device. Follow him on Twitter @ MikeLSports.
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