Amid a year full of great and impressive sporting accomplishments, 2023 was equally a year of dramatic storylines and scandals.

Yes, there were plenty of titles won – some from those claiming them for the first time, like Coco Gauff at the US Open.

But there was also plenty of chaos ranging from the boardrooms of the college football world to an NFL field in Cincinnati, Ohio.

2023 was nothing if not constantly enthralling, with enough storylines to keep our sports writers busy across the entire calendar year.
Here, DailyMail.com recaps the ten biggest sports stories and scandals for 2023.

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The Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl triumph was one of the biggest stories in 2023

10) Ja Morant’s multiple gun scandals

Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant has only recently touched the court of an NBA game in the 2023-24 season. His actions from the season prior have led to that.

Morant’s blood ran red hot off the court for much of 2023 – continuing a pattern of trouble that had been there before the 2022-23 season even began.

His reported confrontations with members of the Indiana Pacers were threatening and reckless as he allegedly pointed a red laser at the opposing team’s bus – with one security guard believing he was pointing a gun at them.

Gun trouble resurfaced again with Morant when he filmed himself at a Colorado nightclub displaying a pistol. After speaking with the team and the league, he was retroactively suspended for six games and missed no time.

That same leniency wasn’t shown when Morant flashed a gun again on another Instagram Live session in May. Despite not committing any crimes, NBA commissioner Adam Silver threw the book at him, suspending the guard for 25 games. His suspension ended on December 19.

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Ja Morant showed reckless behavior with a gun in Colorado that led to a suspension

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He showed similar poor judgement months later – resulting in a much longer suspension

9) Tragedy in Georgia as street races kill player Devin Willock and staffer Chandler LeCroy

The University of Georgia Bulldogs dominated TCU to win a second consecutive national championship this year. But their celebration turned somber the day after the victory parade.
In the early hours of January 15, players and staff members on the Bulldogs football team were racing along backroads through the city of Athens after going out celebrating when one car crashed into two utility poles.

While some were lucky enough to survive with injuries, the crash also led to the deaths of the driver – Georgia recruiting analyst Chandler LeCroy – and Devin Willock, an offensive lineman who wasn’t wearing his seatbelt.

Beyond the immediate and obvious human tragedy in all of this, there was backlash in the NFL Draft for Jalen Carter – who turned himself in to police and later pled no contest to reckless driving and street racing charges. He fell from being a projected top-five pick down to No. 9 in the draft.

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Devin Willock (L) and Chandler LeCroy (R) were killed in a road racing incident in Georgia

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Jalen Carter’s role in the road racing saw him arrested and his draft stock dropped

8) Super Bowl LVII was one to remember

A back-and-forth contest, a memorable halftime show, and the first pair of brothers to face off in a Super Bowl: this year’s NFL championship game had everything.

On the field, brothers fought each other for a title for the first time in the sport’s history as Jason Kelce and the Philadelphia Eagles played Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs.

The buildup to the game centered around the brothers and made Donna Kelce possibly the most famous mother in the world for about two weeks.
At halftime, Rihanna put on a performance to remember – while also becoming the first woman to play the Super Bowl Halftime Show while pregnant.

As for the game itself, a close contest ended with the Chiefs surviving 38-35 to clinch their third Super Bowl title.

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The Kelce brothers’ battle in the Super Bowl resulted in Travis (L) and the Chiefs winning

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For a brief moment, Donna Kelce was the most famous mom in the world of sports

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The halftime show saw another mother perform, as Rhianna revealed her pregnancy

7) USWNT crashes out of the Women’s World Cup

Warning signs of imminent danger had been popping up – some for years, others right before the tournament began.

Either way, fans of the United States women’s national team were hopeful – yet skeptical – about their chances.

The opening match against Vietnam was a dominant performance, but a scoreline of just 3-0 revealed a major underlying problem: the team couldn’t finish in front of the net.

Back-to-back draws at the hands of Holland, then again against Portugal almost doomed the Americans, but they advanced to take on Sweden in the Round of 16.

A second consecutive scoreless draw for the USWNT meant penalties. Misses from the likes of Megan Rapinoe, Sophia Smith, and Kelley O’Hara led to the Swedes winning 5-4 and advancing.

The USWNT was out the earliest they ever have at this tournament. It led to Vlatko Andonovski resigning in shame as head coach. Later in 2023, it was announced that Emma Hayes would be taking over in the hopes of righting the ship and getting back on top of the world.

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The 2023 World Cup started off with such promise for the US women’s national team

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But after barely surviving the group, a poor penalty performance vs. Sweden doomed the team

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Vlatko Andonovski (red jacket) was fired and the US was knocked out earlier than ever before

6) Coco Gauff’s US Open dream comes true

A year ago, Coco Gauff watched on as her tennis idol – Serena Williams – bid goodbye to the world of tennis on Arthur Ashe in front of applauding and cheering fans and admirers.

The following year, those same fans were roaring as Coco finally reached the summit she had been looking toward all these years.
After falling to Iga Swiatek in Paris in 2022, Gauff set her sights on a Grand Slam title of her own in 2023. In her final attempt in doing so, she finally tasted that success.

She breezed through to the quarterfinals where instead of meeting Swiatek, she found the woman who pulled off an upset: Jelena Ostapenko. Gauff bageled her in the first set and won the second to advance. The semifinals saw her win in straight sets again – this time over Karolina Muchova – to set up a final against Aryna Sabalenka.

After losing the first set 2-6, Gauff fought back to win 6-3 and 6-2 to win her nation’s Grand Slam in what could be the first of many such successes.

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Coco Gauff tasted Grand Slam victory on home soil – winning her first singles title

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She came back after losing in the first set against Aryna Sabalenka to win the US Open

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A beaming Gauff finally etched herself into US Open lore with the victory at Arthur Ashe

5) Aaron Rodgers completes a shocking move to the New York Jets, gets injured immediately

It’s a sudden and anticlimactic fate that feels more at home in the script of a dark comedy than in real life.
Aaron Rodgers, the now 40-year-old quarterback, four time MVP and Super Bowl winner, had finally had enough in Green Bay.

After voluntarily entering something similar to solitary confinement, Rodgers emerged from darkness and into the light: he was going to leave Wisconsin for new pastures and a new team, the New York Jets.

Weeks of speculation, haggling, the eventual trade, and practice followed as Rodgers got ready for a new chapter – a new life, with visions of grandeur and titles won in the Meadowlands. The Jets were listed among the favorites to win a Super Bowl as the season began – and with everything shiny and new, and the hopes of long suffering Jets fans in the balance, Rodgers was more prepared than ever to take that great leap forward and lead New York to its true destiny.

Those hopes for Gang Green became akin to gangrene in a matter of four plays.

Rodgers threw an incomplete pass and tore his Achilles tendon in the process of getting tackled. While his recovery from a revolutionary surgery pushed him to try and come back from this injury quicker than anyone before, he will not take the field again this season.

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Aaron Rodgers announced his shocking move to the New York Jets back in March

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But just four plays into his Jets career, Rodgers tore his Achilles and faced a long recovery

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After trying to get back this season, Rodgers was ruled out for the remainder of 2023

4) Lionel Messi moves to Inter Miami and sets off a firestorm for MLS

The signs that Lionel Messi would be departing PSG were obvious since before 2023 even began – the only question left to answer was where he would go.

After a prolonged recruitment that saw him consider offers from Saudi Arabia and a dream reunion with Barcelona, Messi decided to be a trendsetter and joined Inter Miami.

The decision sent shockwaves throughout the American soccer landscape – instantly making money for the league and turning Inter Miami into a must-watch team with the potential to win titles.

They did just that – with Messi putting on stunning performances to win the newly-minted Leagues Cup over Nashville SC to claim Miami’s first title.

With the arrival of Luis Suarez – who completes a Barcelona reunion alongside Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, and Messi – 2024 could be a banner year for not only Miami, but soccer in America as a whole.

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A stunning move to the United States saw Lionel Messi break into America – joining Inter Miami

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In his first game with the club, Messi came off the bench and scored a miraculous free kick

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He led the club to its first ever trophy with a win over Nashville SC in the Leagues Cup

3) Tom Brady announces his second (and final) retirement from football

The old saying goes ‘fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me’. But this time, there was no fooling. Tom Brady was retiring. For good.

The greatest quarterback – and possibly greatest ever player – in the game of football hung up his cleats for seemingly the final time after crashing out of the playoffs in the Wild Card round.

Brady recorded an emotional goodbye video to the game he loved after a taxing year that put strain on his relationships and marriage as much as it did his body.

He’s spent the year largely away from the public eye (at least, less so than in his playing days) – focusing on his businesses and preparing for his job as a broadcaster next year.

But the lack of the Greatest of All Time in the sport has left a void that won’t easily be filled.

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Tom Brady walked off an NFL field for the final time as a player after losing to the Cowboys

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A few weeks later, Brady officially announced his retirement in an emotional video

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Brady won seven Super Bowl titles in his career, most notably winning six with New England

2) Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift’s whirlwind romance

It’s an ongoing Love Story that may be defined by what it did for the sport of football as much as it was defined by the two New Romantics at the center of it.

The whirlwind romance between Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce has captured media attention from the moment it was rumored up to the point where Taylor showed up for that first Chiefs game. It’s been going strong ever since.

Some of the more ornery fans may have asked themselves “Is It Over Now?” after that first game and over time, as the story continued, many more kept telling the TV networks “You’re Losing Me”. Nowadays, to many of the more game-focused, red blooded football fans, the sight of Swift must feel like Death By A Thousand Cuts.

But Swift’s romantic life has turned many more people into football fans themselves. Multiple studies have shown an increase in female viewership – especially when it comes to younger demographics – that could lead to a greater acceptance of the sport by women and girls nationally.

As much as many would wish otherwise, thanks to Swift’s arrival, Everything Has Changed. Best believe, if you’re hoping that this would come to a sudden end just know: we’re not Out Of the Woods yet.

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Taylor Swift falling in love with Travis Kelce has been one of the NFL’s biggest storylines

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Images of Swift cheering Kelce on at games has seen an increase in women watching games

1) Bills star Damar Hamlin goes into cardiac arrest and his recovery inspires Americans nationwide

Ask an American football fan if they’d ever heard of ‘commotio cordis’ before this year and you probably would have received weird, puzzled looks back at you. We were not even 72 hours into the new year when the biggest American sports story of 2023 happened.
On January 2, the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals were playing Monday Night Football in a crucial game that could have played a role in who won the AFC.

But none of that mattered after Bills safety Damar Hamlin lay motionless on the field as a result of a tackle that disrupted his heart beat and sent him into cardiac arrest. Blunt trauma to the chest led to commotio cordis and the player was rushed to the hospital and put in the intensive care unit.

After reports that the NFL wanted the game to go on, it was called off. In the following week, multiple playoff scenarios were devised and contingency plans for who would potentially host a championship game were made.

But all that truly mattered was Hamlin’s health. He woke up days after the incident and within a week, he was transported from the hospital in Cincinnati to Buffalo.

After eventually being discharged, Hamlin made an appearance in the stands at Buffalo’s Wild Card game two weeks after the incident and eventually worked himself back to full health.

Hamlin returned to the Bills just before the summer and participated in training camp as well as preseason games before eventually getting some snaps in the regular season.

It may have been a terrible way to start the year, but Hamlin’s story of hope and perseverance was an example of strength in the face of danger that continued to inspire throughout 2023.

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On this tackle, Damar Hamlin (3) disrupted his heart rhythm and went into cardiac arrest

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After a long recovery in the ICU, Hamlin woke up and was eventually released from hospital

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Hamlin returned to the Bills over the summer and has made a miraculous full recovery