As the outside gets more uninviting and the days shorter, many people are turning to new entertainment that they can enjoy in the warmth of their living room. If you can’t seem to find a TV show that does it for you anymore, consider tuning into some of the many sports seasons starting this winter.
Many families have traditions around watching sports around this time of year, from NFL Sundays, to NHL matches, or NBA games. A few newer leagues have been breaking tradition and entered the sports world these past couple of winters. Check out the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL), with its 3rd season this winter. It includes eight teams from the U.S. and Canada, and will compete in the regular season until April. Then, the top four teams battle it out for the championship in semi-final and final rounds. The PWHL is ushering in its second-ever takeover tour, where games are held across the U.S. and Canada in neutral locations to bring a wider audience to women’s hockey. U.S.-based viewers can watch all PWHL games live on YouTube, making it great for those not looking to sign up for another streaming service.
If hockey isn’t your thing, consider tuning into the second ever season of the newest 3v3 women’s basketball league, Unrivaled. This January, 54 players from the Women’s National Basketball Association—the largest women’s basketball league in the U.S. founded in 1996—will fill up their offseason by playing in a new and innovative 3v3 structure, where games are played almost exclusively in the same venue near Miami. Instead of the typical quarter structure, games consist of three seven-minute periods, followed by an untimed, winning quarter. This quarter, teams compete to be the first to reach 11 points more than the highest score at the end of the 3rd seven-minute period. This fresh structure has interested fans looking for more competitive game-play and the excitement of each game having a winning shot. Unrivaled can be found on TNT or HBO Max.
Opposing these tradition-breaking leagues, one sporting event is airing this winter for the 25th time, with its roots reaching all the way back to Ancient Greece: The Winter Olympics. Hosted this year in Cortina, Italy, near Milan, this year’s games will feature all the usual events; skiing, snowboarding, ice skating and more. However, there will be one new addition: ski mountaineering. The sport has been growing in popularity in past years, and consists of a timed ascent and descent race with different stages of skiing, skinning (where competitors ascend slopes with special ski attachments which allow them to climb uphill), and even walking while carrying their equipment. This year’s Winter Olympics can be found on NBC or Peacock.
Whatever you choose to watch this winter, it’s interesting to see how old traditions reemerge around the holiday season, and witness how new arrivals in the sports-world might form new traditions.
