New Year's resolutions that can create meaningful change for fans, franchises, and sports
CBC
Thoughts and prayers to anyone hitting the gym this month, as New Year's resolutioners, hopped up on pre-workout, optimism and post-holiday diet guilt, overrun your local health club. If we're discussing substances that help whip civilians into shape, January motivation is a top-tier performance-enhancing drug.
But if you, like me, have been around a while, you also know motivation has a short half-life. That's why three quarters of the people you see pumping iron on Jan.1 are back on the couch by Valentine's Day. If you want to make meaningful progress, you need to make that new behaviour a habit.
It works in fitness, where habit sustains your workout routine once that initial surge of motivation wanes. It also works in sports opinion writing, where most of us are in the habit of using late December and early January to write wish lists for all kinds of sports world stakeholders.
The idea of forming new habits can also help the people and organizations we write about. So when I run down this list of New Year's sports resolutions, I'm not just hoping the folks I'm discussing are motivated to make these moves. I'd love to see them adjust their habits, so that meaningful change is also long-lasting.
Is it a lot to ask?
Of course it is, as you'll see.
But is it too much?
Let's reconvene in 12 months, and we'll see. For now, here are three resolutions we think will improve the sports landscape.
WATCH: What 2024 gave us:
1. For the Blue Jays to give Vlad Jr. what he wants, when he wants it.
Assuming Guerrero sees a long-term future with the club that first signed him as a 17-year-old, "what he wants" is a contract extension, sometime between now and spring training. If there's no deal by mid-February, don't just pencil him in as next winter's most expensive free agent. Write it in pen.
Has he become the singular superstar many of us envisioned when we first saw him play as a teenager? Not quite. Statistically, he peaked in 2021, when he led the league in nine offensive categories, including home runs (48), OPS (1.002) and runs scored (123). He has struggled with consistency, but when he's at his best he's one of MLB's very best.
As he enters the final year of a rookie deal that paid him $19.9 million US last year, he's after a contract befitting his elite status. His .323 batting average last year was a career-high, and his 96 strikeouts were a career-low for a full season. He's been an all-star in each of his four full MLB seasons.
Post-2023 the Dodgers signed Shohei Ohtani for 10 years and $700 million US. The Jays either whiffed on the two-way star, or were simply outbid. This season's premium free agent, Juan Soto, signed a 15-year deal with the Mets worth $765 million. We're not sure if Toronto ever even bothered to enter that competition.
