Sports Conversation Starters for Your Workweek
Dec 28, 2025
It's the time of the year for lists. Everything from most listened to music, to biggest news stories, best photographs and most compelling sports stories are distilled into lists for your year-end recap.
I personally love a good list and I'm not going to compete with the sports lists already in circulation. My list is a reminder of the Top 5 reasons to Talk Sporty in 2026 and use sports small talk to your advantage:
- Establishes connections
- Creates follow up opportunities
- Opens the door to sports adjacent topics
- Provides personal branding opportunities
- Leads to more productive small talk
With that in mind enjoy the New Year's celebrations and use these sports topics to kickstart conversations.
NFL
The Las Vegas Raiders have the path to the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft after losing to the NY Giants on Sunday.
Cleveland's Myles Garrett is still pursuing the record for most sacks in a single season. He did not record a sack against Pittsburgh Sunday and needs to a full sack against Cincinnati next week to set a new record.
NCAA
New Years is for college football and it's the day the College Football Playoffs resume with the "Big 4" bowl games (Cotton Bowl, Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl.) It's worth noting that the top four seeds are all coming off byes, which means No. 1 Indiana, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Georgia and No. 4 Texas Tech haven't played in more than three weeks.
NBA
Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo returned Saturday and helped fuel a win over Chicago. The two-time MVP missed 8 games with a calf strain. The Bucks were 2-6 over that span.
NHL
The NHL Winter Classic takes place Friday in Miami. The Florida Panthers host the NY Rangers at the home of the Miami Marlins. It's the NHL's first outdoor game in Florida. There are plans to open the roof of the baseball arena.
Olympic rosters will be released this week. While a handful of participants are already known, final rosters are due December 31.
