A lot can happen in 365 days.
The song “Seasons of Love” from the Broadway hit “Rent” correctly refers to a year as 525,600 minutes.
In the sports world, a year starts out with a college football national championship being decided.
Next thing you know, the Super Bowl arrives, and then the NBA and NHL playoffs, and the World Series, and … phew! Slow down!
In the state of Florida, there’s been a flurry of news from the start of 2022.
But, what are the biggest storylines of the year?
Tis the season:Christmspans spectspanculspanr: Movies, music, toys, trivispan spannd the NFL!
Fighting Fish:It’s been span minute since the Dolphins won the AFC Espanst. Cspann they finspanlly do it?
Raging rivalry:Gspantors vs. Seminoles span clspanssic rivspanlry thspant spanlwspanys hspans mespanning despite records
For our state’s three NFL teams, head coaching changes dominated the early part of the year.
On Feb. 3, the Jacksonville Jaguars hired Super Bowl winning coach Doug Pederson in an attempt to rebuild the wreckage left behind by Urban Meyer.
Just four days later, the Miami Dolphins hired Mike McDaniel, a 38-year-old (now 39) prodigy who replaced the begrudged Brian Flores, who still has a lawsuit out against the NFL and several teams.
Then, on March 31, Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians stepped down and Todd Bowles took over his position. This happened right around the time to recently retired Tom Brady un-retired.
The Jaguars also had the No. 1 overcall NFL Draft pick, selecting Travon Walker.
In college football, the Billy Napier era began in shaky fashion at Florida as the Gators went (6-7), getting blown out in the Las Vegas Bowl by Oregon State.
Florida State has begun to emerge as a power again, winning nine games in the regular season and ending up with Oklahoma in the Cheez-It Bowl in Orlando.
Miami landed with a resounding thud after an embarrassing first year under head coach Mario Cristobol.
And UCF had a respectable final season in the AAC, losing in the title game to Tulane. They now head off to the Big 12, sure to be a big storyline for 2023.
There’s too much to recap in a short column space.
So to go over everything mentioned above, plus discussions on the Lightning, Rays, Marlins, pickleball and more, I welcome back Gainesville Sun columnist as the latest guest of “The *State* of Florida Sports podcast, powered by the USA TODAY Network.
David is a longtime columnist whose thoughts and opinions are as sharp and well-thought out as anyone.
Some specifics David will share include his thoughts on the departure of Anthony Richardson and what it will mean for Napier the Gators moving forward.
“Billy Napier walked into, I think, a worse dumpster fire than most people knew,” Whitley explains on the podcast. “Between just the culture of the program and the talent level, there really were really problems here.”
He’ll delve into the Dolphins and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, and the national story his concussion became.
And so much more.
If you want the best year in review you’ll find on the state of Florida’s sports, you have to give us a listen.
Join the tens of thousands that have downloaded us and find out why we give you the best sports breakdowns in the state.
We can be downloaded wherever you listen to podcasts, or simply type in “The *State* of Florida Sports Podcast” into your favorite search engine. We also can be found on any of the 17 USA TODAY-Network Florida websites.
If you like it, you can check out previous shows, which feature current and former professional athletes and coaches, as well as our stable of journalists who cover beats and write columns, all of whom have a tie to the Sunshine State.