Great Time Of The Year For Sports

There is no sadness as the NCAA tournament fades away into memory. Instead there is joy and excitement as the bland post-Super Bowl period is over, and sports begin taking over once again!

Baseball is underway, and that alone is cause for excitement...6 months of sun-splashed fields, timeless games that are interrupted on TV by commercials only as the game dictates it, not the other way around. The security of almost always having a baseball game to turn on every day until fall. Hearing the announcers piped into your home like an old family friend. April is fantastic as winter gradually recedes, and the warm weather begins...and even fans of the KC Royals can, if only for a brief time , cheer for their team without them being in the cellar.

In addition to the beauty that is baseball, this time of year will bring us the most exciting playoffs in all of sports...the Stanley Cup Playoffs. I love all sports, but nothing can top the heart-pounding action of an overtime playoff game...sudden death, next goal ends the game (and sometimes, a teams season). ANYTHING can happen in the NHL, last year a #8 seed (Edmonton) made the finals. This year, it is possible that BOTH of last years' finalists will miss the playoffs altogether (Carolina is hanging by a thread, Edmonton is out). Every game a great one, every round a 7 game series....there is nothing more exciting.

As if that wasn't enough, the NFL draft will take place at the end of April. The time when all football fans pretend to be GMs and will invariably criticize their teams selections, no matter who they might be. It is actually a day when NFL fans will watch old men talk on the phone and the commissioner read names into a microphone, and the top picks put on baseball caps. To non-football fans, that may sound boring and trite, but it is a great day for football in the middle of the off season.

Speaking of football, another way to get that football fix in the spring is Arena Football. People snicker and sneer at it, but it is what it is, a nice entertaining product that keeps football fans amused while the season is months away.

In addition, Nascar's season is in full bloom, even though they take Easter Weekend off...the kings of the asphalt will be back at it, turning left with the best of them for 31 more weeks (30 points races and the all star event) in a row without a week off.

And even golf gets into the forefront this weekend with the Masters at Augusta. Even the most casual fan seems to have at least a small interest in the most storied tournament in America.

And all of this will keep us sports fans happy and content until fall, when both college and pro football start up again! It is indeed a wonderful cycle.