In the sports world, there isn’t a worse month than February.
It’s what I call the post-Superbowl hangover, and I loathe the sports world at this point in time.
The football season is over and won’t be seen again until August (and yes, I’m taking the Arena League into account because no one watches it), college basketball is on its last legs before the NCAA Tournament, and the start of the baseball season is still over a month away.
What do sports fans have to keep themselves occupied? The NBA All-Star Game and the beginning of another ozone-depleting NASCAR season.
Maybe I should go into a coma for a month.
Of course, most Oregonians could be spared from the perpetual post-Superbowl February depression if the Oregon men’s basketball team wasn’t in the midst of a season-ending collapse. If the Ducks were winning, most of us would be waiting in anticipation to see where they were seeded in the tournament.
Instead, we can’t wait for the season to be over so the team can’t lose any more games and be spurned by the selection committee.
But even if Oregon isn’t in the postseason, the anticipation of the tournament is still hard to bear. Many of the games we’ll watch between now and the Big Dance will be meaningless. The teams that have secured a spot in the tournament are only fighting for a better seed, and for the teams that are still battling to secure a bid, well, we don’t watch their games anyway. We only care about them if they’re the key to whether or not they make or break our tournament bracket.
Away from basketball, sports fans are treated to “breaking stories” from baseball’s spring training camps.
Oh, Barry Bonds showed up to the Giants practice? Fascinating. Bernie Williams feels spurned by the Yankees? What could be more interesting?
Sarcasm aside, I do enjoy reading through the 10 million NFL Draft projections from every single sports publication only because it’s always considered pure speculation and people need something to get them through the month.
People want to hear that no matter how successful a player was in college, analysts doubt his success at the next level. Case in point: Ohio State quarterback and Heisman winner Troy Smith. Although Smith dominated the Heisman balloting with a nearly impeccable college career (the BCS Championship was a good indicator of his potential to flop in the NFL), he is considered by some to be inadequate to play quarterback based solely on his 6-foot frame.
“His marginal height, long-delivery and past character issues still serve as red flags,” according to Scout.com.
Still, the draft is two months away, and I can’t be reading pure speculation for that long. I need sports that can count for something at this point in time.
Hockey? No thanks. Even if all the games weren’t on the Outdoor Life Network, I still wouldn’t be tempted to watch the NHL unless it’s the playoffs.
I guess the month of February just doesn’t work for me. No wonder Valentine’s Day is stuck in this rotten month. Unless you’re obsessed with mid-season NBA games, you don’t have much time to devote to sports.
Unless you’re still trying to plan out the perfect bracket for next month.
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The horror of the sports season’s driest month
Daily Emerald
February 21, 2007
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