Every winter, we hear bowl season is “the most wonderful time of the year.”
But, despite having a few good games here and there, the bowl season isn’t all it is cracked up to be.
Winter, in general, is one of the dreariest seasons in the sporting world. Football ends, and we are stuck with the interminable NBA season and the pre-conference season in college basketball, which is about as exciting as watching paint dry.
Some may argue fall is the best season for sports because of the MLB playoffs and the beginning of football. But, if your baseball team has been out of contention since June and your football team is in a rebuilding year, fall can be as exciting for sports as treading through the snow in October.
In winter, football ends and basketball is about halfway through their season. Sure, the conference races in NCAA basketball can be exciting, but when you balance that out with the snooze that is the NBA, the winter months can be pretty dull.
Summer can be pretty dull as baseball enters the Dog Days, and we figure out who will finally become contenders come fall. Sadly, that is all to cheer for during the summer, unless it happens to be a leap year and election year. Then we get the Summer Olympics, which not only reintroduces us to swimming and track, but also brings out the patriot in all of us.
Sadly, if it isn’t an Olympic year, baseball can get pretty boring, especially if your team has managed to run itself out of the playoff race before the leaves turn.
That brings us to spring when the weather warms up, school winds down and almost all of the best things in sports happen at once. In March, we get “The Big Dance” and the excitement that March Madness brings. For three weeks, we see the joy of the mid-majors upsetting basketball giants and, conversely, the sadness on the faces of those who expected excellence but came up short.
If the emotional roller coaster that is the NCAA tournament is not your style, then watching the pros hit the links might be more enjoyable. April brings the Masters, the best golf tournament of the season. There is nothing better than spending the weekend on the couch, watching Tiger sink puts over the rolling greens of Augusta trying to approach golf immortality by attempting to win his fifth Masters after winning the U.S. Open on a hobbled knee.
Of course, no season would be complete without some kind of football. Spring brings the NFL Draft, which is good for two reasons. First, the future of one NFL franchise can be decided with 13 words from commissioner Roger Goodell: “With the first pick of the NFL Draft the (insert franchise here) selects…”
Not only do teams decide on where to place the money on their future, but we also finally get the end of ESPN’s and Sports Illustrated’s draft coverage. When all is said and done, the ESPN will send Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay back to their homes and we don’t have to hear their endless speculation.
But neither March Madness nor the Masters nor the NFL Draft can top the best event of the spring — Opening Day.
For baseball fans, Opening Day and the beginning of the baseball season is a time of renewal. It is a time of renewed hope that your team will finally make the push to October. It is a time when spirits are renewed because we can finally go outside to watch a sporting event instead of being stuck to the confines of the stadium or our couches.
If spring sports are not enough to renew your hope and spirit, I don’t know what will, unless you are without a baseball team. Then, I guess you must suffer through endless highlights and “Web Gems” until the football preseason starts in the beginning of August.
Ben Solochek is a senior majoring in journalism and history. Feel better now that spring is finally here? Want to discuss who will win this weekend’s Masters tournament? E-mail him at [email protected].
