What
essential changes have been made in ten years?
By Mo Hussain, Sports Reporter
A common theme here is that some winners stay winning.
This article may be a little late to the “10-year challenge,” but considering what has transpired over the last year, it is quite fascinating to compare the sports landscape from 10 years ago to today.
NBA
Players have come and gone in the NBA, but the one constant this past decade is LeBron James being atop the basketball world. During January of 2011, the then 26-year-old was playing his first season as part of the Miami Heat. On the team he was alongside Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh; LeBron was looking to capture his first NBA championship.
In the meantime, 18-year-old basketball player Anthony Davis was finishing up his last year of high school and preparing to play for the University of Kentucky after he graduated.
Ten years and four championships later, the now 36-year-old James is still competing for basketball’s biggest prize as he looks to win his second straight championship alongside the now 27-year-old Davis, and the rest of the Los Angeles Lakers.
NHL
Vancouverites may find it hard to look back at the Canucks ten years ago, but let us not forget that the team was at the top of the hockey world at the start of January 2011 and were the favourite to win a Stanley Cup that year. The Tampa Bay Lightning were also a relatively competitive team that year, but they were not necessarily as good as the Canucks.
A decade later, and the tables have turned as it is the Lightning that is heading into the 2021 season with a Stanley Cup under their belt—and they are the favourites to win again this year. Meanwhile, the Canucks unfortunately still don’t have a Stanley Cup on their resume.
However, the Canucks have revamped themselves and built a solid core group of young players heading into the 2021 season and will hope to reach the mountain top of the hockey world once again in the near future.
NFL
A common theme here is that some winners stay winning. Ten years ago, this time around, 27-year-old Aaron Rodgers and the sixth seed Green Bay Packers had just won their wildcard matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles, and then went on to be the only wild card team since then to win a super bowl.
Meanwhile, a 16-year-old athlete out of Whitehouse High School in Texas named Patrick Mahomes was still juggling between playing both football and baseball.
A decade later, the Packers and a 37-year-old Rodgers are now heading into the playoffs with the best record in the NFC and are looking to win a super bowl on the 10-year anniversary of their last super bowl victory. But doing so will be quite the task as a now 25-year-old Patrick Mahomes looks to win back-to-back super bowls with the Kansas City Chiefs.
