Year-in-review: The top 10 moments in DFW Sports in 2024

DALLAS — The 2024 calendar year in the Dallas sports world features a series of almosts. 

The Mavs almost won an NBA Championship after a remarkable playoff run. 

The Stars almost made the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2020.

Arlington almost was named the host site for the 2026 World Cup Final.

The Cowboys owner almost drove the entire fan base to extinction.

But when tasked with paring down the year we’ve all just lived to the top 10 sports moments in North Texas, things are bound to be left out. Lionel Messi’s iconic visit to the metroplex, drawing huge crowds and giving soccer in this town a jolt of energy. The Dallas Wings getting the No. 1 pick in the coming WNBA Draft, and the chance to select franchise-changer Paige Bueckers. Invariably, your favorite team did something that I’ll leave off this list and you’ll shout at me on Facebook for it. Heck, chances are good I flat out forgot something. I’ve got a 3-month-old at home … my brain ain’t operating at 100% capacity right now.

But here’s my top 10 moments of 2024 in the North Texas sports world:

Speaking of “almosts,” this is one that easily could have been much higher on the list if Richardson brought home gold medals in both her events.  But the reality of the matter is still remarkable – the Dallas ISD product went to Paris, ran a pair of blazing fast 100 meter sprints, and brought home a gold and silver medal as a result. 

The rest of the season left a lot to be desired, but allow us to wring one final drop of good vibes out of that marvelous playoff run the Rangers put together in the fall of 2023, because it was a thing to behold. Texas hung their banner – albeit a bit askew at first – at Globe Life Field on Opening Day, and permanently entrenched themselves as a championship organization. The haters can lob whatever nonsense they want at you, Rangers fans – low ratings, flukey pitching, whatever. It doesn’t matter. That ring still shines.

One of the biggest “almosts” of the entire year.

AT&T Stadium was supposed to be the host site for the World Cup Final in 2026. It was reported time and time again in the weeks and months and years leading up to FIFA’s official announcement. It was even reported again in the days immediately prior to the announcement. And then the announcement itself was made … and my jaw hit the floor when they gave the final to New York/New Jersey. 

They’ll still host nine matches in Arlington, including multiple knockout round matches. So it’s not like AT&T Stadium – or Dallas Stadium, or Arlington Stadium, or whatever they’re going to call it – got shafted here. But if getting nine matches could be a letdown, this was.

One of the most dominant, remarkable season of high school football I’ve seen in a decade covering sports in this town.

The North Crowley Panthers announced themselves on the statewide scene in Week 2, with a 57-51 win over defending state champion Desoto. They ran roughshod over basically everyone else on their schedule, as we all looked ahead to a state semifinal matchup with Duncanville. Then they came out and landed a pair of early haymakers to jump out to a 14-0 lead on Duncanville, on their way to a 36-34 win to advance to the state championship game. And if all that wasn’t enough, Ray Gates’ club made sure they finished the job with a dominant showing against Austin Westlake, displaying their speed in every way imaginable in a 50-21 rout.

No one had the speed to stay with North Crowley all year, and few teams in Texas high school football history would.

We’ll get to the Mavs run to the NBA Finals later on this list. But this one shot was iconic enough all by itself to deserve a mention on this list. Luka Doncic’s game-winning three pointer of Rudy Gobert in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals, followed by Doncic’s foul-mouthed flamethrower pointed in Gobert’s direction, was the singular moment of the Mavs postseason. And it will live on Luka’s career highlight reel, no matter how long he plays.

It’s become commonplace to see the Dallas Stars make deep runs in the postseason. They just need to finish one, somewhere along the way. Dallas again pushed deep in the playoffs in 2024, advancing to the Western Conference Finals, and taking Edmonton to six games before bowing out on the road. The Stars and Mavs also combined to give us one of the great calendar days in Dallas sports history, when they both clinched Western Conference Finals appearances on the same day – the Stars in the early morning hours of May 18, and the Mavs about 20 hours later.

Scottie Scheffler had an utterly ridiculous 2024, both from a golf perspective and from a monetary perspective. Scheffler won seven tournaments, including his second Masters. He made $63 million in on-course earnings. He made a ton more in endorsements. And he busted a cops $80 pair of pants.

SMU would have already had a good year in 2024 just for having finally made it back to a power conference, as they joined the ACC. But then the Mustangs rattled off a perfect 8-0 record in their ACC regular season slate, punched a ticket to the ACC Championship game, and earned a spot in the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff field. 

Sure, the game in Happy Valley didn’t go particularly well. But they got in. And with the way the Mustangs and their deep-pocketed boosters are showing their willingness to spend big money to make this program all that it can be, this figures to be just the beginning for the Ponies.

It may be hard to remember, given all that’s gone wrong for the Dallas Cowboys during the actual 2024 season. But the calendar year started off with the ’23 season coming to a complete thud. That ugly, non-competitive, rather heartless display against the Packers in the Wildcard Round of the 2023 NFL Playoffs set the tone for a terrible season for America’s Team. The offseason was an ineffectual mess. Training Camp was sullied by CeeDee Lamb’s contract dispute. The regular season began with a defense that couldn’t stop anyone, then got fully derailed by Dak Prescott’s hamstring injury. 

By the time the team finally started putting some solid play together, it was too late to actually contend for a playoff spot. But there’s always next year.

The Dallas Mavericks shocked everyone by making it to the NBA Finals this year.

Everyone figured this type of run could’ve been possible at some point in Luka Doncic’s career. But a late-season lineup change unlocked brilliant play from the Mavs roster, and touched off a sensational finish to the regular season.

And then the Mavs kept it rolling, knocking off the Clippers in six games in the first round, knocking off the top-seeded Thunder in the Conference Semifinals, and then steam-rolling the Timberwolves in a gentleman’s sweep in the West Finals.

They met up against a buzzsaw in the Celtics in the NBA Finals, and that buzzsaw doesn’t appear to be going anywhere, anytime soon. But the Mavs have shown early in the 2024-25 season that they have staying power too. And you can bet they’ll make the playoffs in 2025 interesting, in some form, once again.

So what did we miss?  Make sure to use your caps lock button to yell at me properly.