Hello to the minuscule amount of fellow professional sports fanatics on this campus. I apologize for the lack of professional sports articles recently. To be quite frank, I have felt rather sad about the New England Patriots’ performance thus far this season and have not felt up for thinking about the utter disappointment that I, as well as many others, am experiencing. 

With this being said I am going to provide what I believe are the five top stories from professional sports as we speak … but I am writing, that’s awkward. 

First off is Taylor Swift dating Kansas City Chiefs’ tight end, Travis Kelce. In my opinion this is a symbiotic relationship. Taylor is getting positive publicity while demonstrating that she has the potential to understand football. On the other hand, I believe the National Football League (NFL) is benefitting from the excess views as well as the increase in ticket and jersey sales for the Chiefs in particular. In my opinion, Taylor is a powerful woman that deserves a powerful partner that will humbly support her. I am not sure that Travis is a humble individual, but I am intrigued to observe their relationship evolve as it is rather public. 

Second, the Major League Baseball (MLB) regular season has concluded and we are now onto the postseason. Though I may be mistaken, there have not been too many notable moments from the conclusion of the regular season. However, I was quite impressed with how the Milwaukee Brewers made it to the postseason. As a fan of a losing team, the Boston Red Sox, I am already looking forward to the trading that may occur this postseason. My hope, though it would be a miracle, would be if Shohei Ohtani came to Boston to play for the Sox due to his partnership with New Balance, which is based in Boston.

Moving on, this is another baseball story, yet this one is heartbreaking. This past Sunday, the Red Sox organization announced that Tim Wakefield had passed away from brain cancer. Only three days earlier was it announced that he was diagnosed with brain cancer. Based on reports, a Boston sports analyst and podcaster wrongfully disclosed this information when it was supposed to be kept private. Tim Wakefield was a remarkable baseball player and human. Based on the stories that his teammates and colleagues have shared, Wake had a huge heart and always went out of his way to be kind to others. Not to mention his infamous knuckleball or his excellent sports commentary skills. Wake will be deeply missed as the baseball community has already been experiencing. With his passing we have lost one of the greats.

Next is a story on Simone Biles and her fellow Team USA gymnasts who just competed at the World Gymnastic Championships. There, they won a record number of World Championships titles and their seventh straight team title. This competition was especially exciting for Biles as it was her first back from the Olympics where she underperformed. Now, she is back and proving all of the haters wrong with her outstanding gymnastics performances.

Finally is a story for all of you runners out there. A few weeks ago while we were all asleep here in the US, Ethiopian marathoner, Tigst Assefa, shattered the women’s world record for the marathon. She ran the Berlin Marathon in two hours, 11 minutes and 53 seconds. This was nearly two minutes faster than the previous marathon world record, and in running terms, that is beyond incredible. With the development of shoe technology only improving, I am excited to see how far the limits of the human body can be pushed with regard to running. 

And there you have it, the five most interesting sports stories as of right now. How did Taylor Swift make her way into one of my sports articles? The world may never know. However, if you are someone who does not consider yourself a sports fan or a football fan, maybe this is your sign to try something new and watch a game this Sunday. Before you know it you will be in a fantasy league stressed out of your mind about your players’ yardage. Yay sports!