Growing up in Michigan surrounded by large bodies of water and cool Canadian air just to the north, a popular phrase was: “If you don’t like the weather just wait five minutes.”  Well, I have since learned that that phrase wasn’t exclusive to Michiganders but nonetheless, the same can be said about sports.  If you don’t like the current state of your favorite sports teams, then just wait about a year and everything might be totally different, as sports can sometimes be as volatile as the weather.

For example, a year ago Brett Favre was enjoying a resurgence in his career, leading the Packers to the brink of the Super Bowl only to be snuffed out by, what else—a Favre interception.  Fast-forward to this year and Favre, still throwing the occasional ghastly interception, is now doing it for the …New York Jets?  Who could have predicted this a year ago?

Favre’s foil in last year’s NFC Championship game was Eli Manning, better known back then as ‘The Other’ Manning.  Manning spent the first three years of his career showing everyone that he couldn’t get it done in the biggest games of the year.  Fast-forward to last Sunday and he and his Giants teammates rolled into Pittsburgh and took care of the Steelers in what was the closest thing to a playoff game in October that you’ll see. Combine that victory with their improbable and mystifying Super Bowl run last January (three road wins and then knocking off the unbeaten and heavily favored Patriots in Phoenix) and this team is nothing like it was 52 weeks ago.

Speaking of the Patriots, they were a polarizing team in 2007 with their ‘Spy-gate’ scandal and their quest to go unbeaten, but nobody can deny the fact that they were one of the most entertaining teams to watch in the history of sports.  Now, just a year later and their All-Everything quarterback is sidelined for the season with a torn up knee and their team has little resemblance to the juggernaut that was the ’07 Patriots. 

Just a year ago, the Tampa Bay Rays had never won more than 70 games in their franchise’s 10-year history and were still known as the ‘Devil’ Rays.  This year, they took down their intra-divisional rivals Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees and made it to the World Series.

Less than a year ago, the Atlanta Falcons were a hot mess of a franchise.  Their franchise quarterback was heading to jail and their head coach quit and high-tailed it out of town with three games remaining in a disastrous season.  A year later the Falcons have found their new franchise quarterback in rookie Matt Ryan, and have completely turned around a franchise that looked doomed a year ago.

And finally, who can forget around these parts how the Lakers season started a year ago?  Kobe was whining at training camp in Hawaii which resulted in him being shopped around the league at the start of the season. If Kobe didn’t have the power to block all trades, there’s little doubt he’d be playing for someone else right now.  Fortunately for all involved, he vetoed every trade, changed his attitude and ended up leading the Lakers to the NBA Finals and collecting his first MVP trophy.  So just remember, if your team is struggling right now, fear not, a year from now it may be the complete opposite—unless you’re a Detroit Lions fan.