Sports world desires for the coming year

Scott Pitoniak//December 29, 2025//

Scott Pitoniak//December 29, 2025//

Listen to this article

’Tis the season to make predictions; that time of year when we sports bloviators tell you who is going to win the Super Bowl, World Series, Stanley Cup, Masters, and NCAA basketball tournament. But given my sketchy track record for prognostications I’m going to follow the sage advice of Yogi Berra and Peter Drucker and abstain from forecasting. Yogi, the Hall of Fame catcher and wordsmith, told us: “It’s tough making predictions, especially about the future.” While Drucker, a visionary known as the father of modern management theory, warned that “trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window.”

In lieu of going down that road, I’m offering a wish list rather than a prognostication list. It’s filled with things I’d like to see happen in the world of local sports and beyond in the coming year. So, without further ado, here are some hopes and desires for 2026:

Medal-winning performances by extraordinary aerial skier Chris Lillis, women’s hockey standout Haley Winn, and other Rochester-area athletes competing in February’s Winter Olympics in Northern Italy.
Long overdue Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement for late Rochester Jeffersons owner Leo Lyons, whose innovative contributions to the formation and growth of the NFL were brought to light in a meticulously researched book published in 2025 by football historian Jeffrey Miller and Lyons’ great grandson, John Steffenhagen.
A Super Bowl for the Josh Allen-led Buffalo Bills, with a victory parade and a free rally at old Highmark Stadium that includes appearances by every former player and coach. And at the ceremony, I would love to see 100-year-old Hall-of-Fame coach Marv Levy and “wide right” kicker Scott Norwood invited to podium to simultaneously hoist the Lombardi Trophy and ask the multitude where else they would rather be than right there, right then.
Championships for baseball’s Red Wings, hockey’s Amerks, and lacrosse’s Knighthawks.
A return to health for injured quarterback Steve Angeli and a return to glory for the Syracuse University football team.
A carry-over of the Buffalo Sabres torrid December into next year and an end to the team’s 14-year Stanley Cup playoff drought under new general manager Jarmo Kekalainen.
Another outstanding season for Toronto Blue Jays’ “Swiss Army Knife” player Ernie Clement, who is well on his way to enjoying the best Major League Baseball career by a Rochester-area player since pitcher Johnny Antonelli was earning a World Series ring and six All-Star team selections in the 1950s.
A return to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament and a nice March Madness run by the Syracuse Orange after a five-year hiatus. And ditto for St. Bonaventure University’s hoopsters, who are off to a blazing 12-2 start.
A strong showing by the U.S. men’s soccer team on American soil during the 2026 World Cup.
A national football championship for Ole Miss, and a sub-.500 record for Lane Kiffin, the dis-loyal coach who jilted them at season’s end for the king’s ransom offered by LSU.
More fan bases following the philanthropic (but not table-smashing) lead of Bills Mafia, galvanizing behind their respective teams and good causes.
More spectacular moments for Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge, the two best baseball players on the planet.
Order restored to the wild, wild west of big-time college sports. It’s inevitable that student-athletes (and I use that term lightly) are soon going to be unionized, and that the NCAA – or whomever is calling the shots – will need to negotiate a salary cap and restrictions on Name, Image, Likeness money, transfers, and other matters.
A memorable first season at the new Highmark Stadium, similar to the one Rich Stadium fans experienced in 1973 when O.J. Simpson ran wild on his way to pro football’s first 2,000-yard rushing season.
A Calder Cup championship exclamation point to Don Stevens’ long and distinguished broadcasting career.
Commissioner Roger Goodell’s announcement that the 2028 NFL Draft will be held in Buffalo. And please don’t give me the malarkey that it’s too cold in Western New York in April because the league already has held drafts in Cleveland, Green Bay, and Detroit, and has next April’s event scheduled for Pittsburgh. The 2027 draft already has been awarded to Washington, D.C. With the Bills new stadium and rabid fan base, 2028 in Buffalo makes perfect sense.
A sixteen- or even 24-team, college football playoff.
The permanent renaming of Innovative Field to Red Wing Stadium, which would be a nice, nostalgic nod to the defunct ballpark on 500 Norton Street. I realize this will never happen because Monroe County needs to generate revenue to maintain the park and will seek a corporation willing to pony up six-to-seven figures in exchange for attaching its name to the edifice, the way Frontier Communications and Innovative Solutions had. But I can dream, right?
A quick and complete recovery from a season-ending knee injury by Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Yes, I know, he’s been the bane of Bills fans’ existence, but the game of football is much better when marquee quarterbacks like Mahomes and Joe Burrow are healthy.
Another fun-filled summer of Bruce the Bat Dog at Red Wings games. He and his lumber-fetching predecessor, Milo, have brought countless smiles to fans’ faces, and through the collaboration of their trainer, Joshua Snyder, the Wings, and local charities, they have raised tens of thousands of dollars for worthy causes.
Tiger Woods’ return to competitive golf. Whether you love him or hate him – and there are plenty of people on both sides of that divide – tournaments are much more watchable with Tiger in the hunt.
A successful Olympics for 41-year-old skiing icon Lindsey Vonn. To still be competing at such an elite level is remarkable. As she said, after qualifying for the U.S. team recently, “I feel as if I’ve already won.”
Another riveting finish to the upcoming World Baseball Classic, similar to the exciting ending three years ago when Japan’s Ohtani struck out United States slugger Mike Trout in an epic confrontation. How about a winner-take-all matchup between Ohtani and Judge, with Judge clubbing a walk-off homer?
A reduction in the prices of tickets, souvenirs, concessions, streaming services, parking, etc. Yeah, I know this is a pipe dream – like many of the dreams I’ve listed – but at some point fans deserve a break from having to break the bank.