It is the year 2038. Football players tumble out of your television and scrum for a loose ball three-dimensionally on your living room floor.
The XXVIII Winter Olympics commence over the snow-covered Hollywood hills (man, did we ever get that global warming thing wrong).
Alabama marches toward its 27th consecutive national football title, greatly pleasing Android coach Nick Saban (which ironically has proved more personable than the flesh-and-blood version on which it was modeled).
It is a time of miracles and wonder. But for of all the societal changes that have occurred in the past 25 years we have never grown bored with competition or tired of wearing someone else’s replica jersey — which now comes with the athlete’s actual scent.
The Atlanta fan, still ridiculed by the nation’s sporting bloggers for being blase, nevertheless remains very much engaged.
The Falcons open their fourth new stadium, Ryan Enterprises Field, on the bones of its completely antiquated 21-year-old predecessor. The seats rotate around the field, giving everyone a midfield vantage point for at least a few minutes.
Technology has changed the game-watching experience. Fans both at the stadium and at home can instantly express their opinion on play calling and personnel moves, the data displayed at the site before each play or at-bat. Which explains why the Falcons always throw deep and how the Braves justified firing three managers this season, all between innings.
Charlie Woods, Tiger’s kid, fresh off his Grand Slam, already tying him with his father’s total of 14 majors, wins his sixth Tour Championship at East Lake.
MARTA finally opens a train stop at Turner Field. Only the Braves have moved to Gwinnett County.
After a down year, the Bulldogs win their way back into the 32-team college football playoff.
Hawks coach Josh Smith excitedly unveils his new “umbrella offense,” in which all five players fan out around the 3-point arc and are shocked by electronic collars whenever they step so much as a toe inside the line.
For the first time ever, Georgia Tech plays out an entire football schedule that includes not a single Saturday game. There are eight Thursday night specials, two more on Friday night and a unique Tuesday morning contest shown on Nickelodeon.
But then all this could wrong. As physicist Niels Bohr said long ago, proving that there is a little Yogi Berra in all of us: “Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.”
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