Sports Conversation Starters for Your Workweek

It’s the perfect week to take a risk and make a prediction and see what happens.

By nature, I’m conservative with my guesses. By profession, I stay away from making predictions. If you happen to fall in the same camp, I get it but trust me when I say – this is your week.

Whether you’ve watched football all throughout the NFL season or you haven’t watched a single snap, this is your week to make a prediction.

Here’s why – there are only four teams left. They’re the best in the league. Anything can happen at this point in the season.

But here’s the biggest reason  - no one knows what will happen. It’s anyone’s guess. People have different reasons for their guesses but predictions are guesses and there are no wrong answers at this point in the NFL season. So give it a shot. Join the conversation, make a connection and find ways to talk sporty this week.

Football will be my go-to but here are a number of other topics that could work in small talk.

NFL

The two top-seeded teams advanced to the conference championships. The Seattle Seahawks will host the LA Rams. The Denver Broncos host the New England Patriots but the Broncos will rely on a backup quarterback to get them to the Super Bowl. Starter Bo Nix broke his ankle near the end of their overtime win and will miss the remainder of the post-season. Jarrett Stidham will take over at QB for Denver.

NCAA

Top-ranked Indiana and No. 10 Miami will play for the national title tomorrow. Indiana is the heavy favorite and is seeking its first national title and trying to become just the third team in college football history to finish the season 16-0. Miami is vying for its sixth national title. 

There's just as much interest in whether or not the playoff field will expand next season. Currently it's a 12-team playoff. There is discussion on expanding to either 16 or 24 teams. The deadline for that decision is Friday.  

MLB

The 2026 baseball Hall of Fame class will be announced Tuesday. Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones are the top returning candidates on the ballot. The Hall of Fame induction ceremony takes place July 26.

Australian Open

The first Grand Slam tournament of the year is underway. No. 1 seed Carlos Alcaraz and No. 2 seed Jannik Sinner have dominated men's tennis over the last two years. In fact, they have split all eight Grand Slam titles over that time frame. On the women's side Iga Swiatek would complete a career Grand Slam by winning the tournament.  

PGA

Chris Gotterup won the Sony Open, the first tournament of the PGA season. It's his third win on the PGA tour in as many seasons.