This blog is chronocalling my observation of sport throughout my 30′s. Now I know I’m not even a month into my 30′s so it you’d think it would be a little premature to be thinking about turning 40, but I figured it might be fun to speculate what the sporting world might be like come that time. The following is a selection of sports I’ve choosen to give my analysis on, looking at what will have changed, what achievemnts may have occurred and how different the sport may appear in the media. All for fun, though sometimes I do wonder…

FOOTBALL

Slide tackling abolished ~ Player become the first ‘officially’ sent off for going to ground in a tackle.
Promotion and relegation scrapped ~ The twenty biggest teams handpicked to form semi-super league.
Euro Super League formed ~ I say semi-super above because the top five English sides breakaway to join Euro League.
Diving an accepted norm ~ By 2015 there was so much of it, the game just accepted it.
Every stadium named after a sponsor ~ Anfield, the last original stadium name, vanishes as it is renamed ‘The Disney Land Arena’.
£100m transfer fees common place ~ Premier League side Gillingham sign right-back for £100m to add depth to squad.
10 subs per team ~ Remember when it was one? Then two? And three? Even five?
First female referee ~ Andy Grey is fired by Sky just six months after being rehired when he cracks a joke about the leagues first female ref.

NHL

Fighting abolished ~ Fifty game suspensions for anyone caught dropping their gloves.
Physical contact at a minimum ~ The softening up of hockey continues to run a mock.
Bigger goals ~ Scoring up by three goals per game after goal nets expanded by ten inches in each direction.
Still no cup for Toronto ~ Forget the Cup, the Leafs still have yet to make the playoffs since the 2004/05 lockout.
20 team league – 10 in Canada ~ Following the two year lockout from 2013, many fans refused to come back.

CYCLING

Drug free ~ Cycling goes thee years without a doping scandal after mandatory death penalties for positives doping cases is brought into effect.
Lance Armstrong into his fourth year in the slammer ~ The Feds finally got their man.
Andy Schleck retires ~ The greatest never to win the Tour retires after ten straight second place finishes.
Race radios banned ~ Exciting racing becomes even more predictable as cyclists with good instincts come to the fore.
Two week Tour de France  ~ Drug free sport means nobody can realistically complete the three week course with any respectability.

FORMULA ONE

F1 moves to three wheel cars ~ Designers reveal the Reliant Robin were 50 years ahead of their time.
F1 cars install cockpit screens ~ Ejector seats expected next.
Adrian Newey designs first flying F1 car ~ Task force set up to oversee complete overhaul of circuits.
30 race schedules ~ The Grand Prix of Alaska becomes the 30th race of the 2022 schedule.
Bernie Eccelsone confirmed to be a robot ~ Still alive and still in charge, the robotic discovery allows Bernie to confirm he’ll remain at the helm for another 100 years.

BASEBALL

First player to hit 100 home runs in a season ~ With not a single steroid scandal in sight, despite Alex Rodriguez’s tell all book.
Toronto Blue Jays win the World Series ~ Yes, really.
League rules allow Titanium bats only ~ Due to a demise in tree populations, wooden bats are banned.
MLB expands to 40 teams ~ The World Series is now played in early December.
20 teams make the post season ~ The 2012 playoff expansion opens the door of change as tradition elects to go out the window.

NFL

A team in Toronto, Canada and London, England ~ The Toronto and the London Pigeons being their inaugural seasons in 2016.

OLYMPICS

Sub 9 second 100m run ~ Usain Bolt’s records smashed by Insain Flash at the 2020 Olympic Games.
Sub 2 hour marathon ~ The latest Kenyan distance running legend crushes the all-time fastest Marathon in London.
Sub 3 minute mile ~ Experts claim this record will never be broken.
Golf, Darts and Chess added to the games ~ Poker expected to be in for the 2024 games in Greenland.

SPORT IN THE MEDIA

All events in 3D, but no need for glasses ~ Remarkable technological breakthrough makes 2D viewing a thing of the past.
Sports teams websites stream all games live ~ Stadiums empty everywhere as people elect to stay plugged into their computers.
iPad 8 puts print newspaper out of business ~ The last print paper in the world stops the presses and releases tablet edition only.
Smart phones smarter than most humans ~ Intelligent new designs tell people which team to bet on.
No more sports broadcast by radio ~ Satellite radio — the only form of radio — ends live sports coverage as fans cannot get the 3D feel through the speakers.

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