The Sports Calendar

Presents:
A Year of Sports

All of our lives, we’re told that a new year starts on the first day of January and ends on the last day of December.  I’m here to rid you of that notion, and introduce you to a new calendar of sorts.  Gone are the days of the 12-month year.  Who can remember the names of all 12 months, anyway?   I’ve made it easier for you, the sports fan.  I've broken the year into three parts: The Beginning, The Middle and The End.  I've gone over what I believe to be some of the best moments, games, tournaments and events that occur throughout the year.  I grouped some events together where I thought it made sense (Conference Tournaments + Selection Sunday + the NCAA Tournament = March Madness), while others I left others separate (NBA Draft Lottery, NBA Draft).  As you'll see, I have a strong bias towards MLB, NFL, NBA and NCAA Basketball, but I touched on various sports.  Feel free to hit me up with any suggestions.  I'll definitely add anything I deem worthy.  

The Beginning

A good stretch to
start off the sports year...

Spring Training - mid-February: Is there a better way to kick off the sports year?  It's February and ugly piles of black snow are still lining your street, but when you first get word that pitchers and catchers have reported to spring training, your miserable life becomes just that much more bearable.

I'll admit, the year doesn't start off with a big bang.  Instead, it starts with a bunch of borderline-athletes stretching and working on bunting techniques...and I love it!  A spring training game is just a watered down version of the game you know and love, but just seeing it puts a smile on your face.  If you tune into a spring training game after the third inning, there's a good chance your favorite team will look like it was hijacked by players who you swore had retired three years ago, and no-name minor leaguers wearing numbers like 93 and 78.

Dick Vitale 2.0

March Madness – March:  March Madness starts with the conference tournaments, which often produce better games than the tournament itself.  Then comes Selection Sunday.  Selection Sunday is a long and drawn out television event that could be done away with if degenerates like myself didn't eat it up.  March Madness is right up there with the NFL playoffs as my favorite post-season event.  With the tournament comes filling out brackets, Cinderella, Gus Johnson, cheering for schools that you hadn’t heard of prior to the start of the tournament and most importantly:  watching games until your eyes bleed. I will surely devote an entire posting to the wonders of March Madness once the time is upon us.  

Start of the MLB Season - end of March, early April:  Overlap is always a good thing when it comes to sports. The Final Four and the start of the MLB season usually coincide, and this year is no different.  With March behind us, April brings us the first real signs of spring.  Birds are chipping, the black snow that lined your street is a thing of the past, and your favorite team is about to embark on a 162-game, six month marathon.  Best of all, there is a game on every night.  My love for football and baseball are polar opposites. I love football because of the build-up to the once-a-week games, and I love baseball because it's on every night.    

The Masters - early April:  All four majors are must-see for me, but the Masters is easily my favorite.  It goes hand-in-hand with the start of baseball and brings a similar feel.  Watching the final round of the Masters on the sofa with my dad on a lazy Sunday has become one of my favorite non-Philly-related sporting events to take in.       

The NHL and NBA Playoffs (includes Finals) - starts in April:  The NHL and NBA playoffs seemingly last forever.  Unlike MLB (only three rounds, one of which is best-of-five) and the NFL (single elimination), all of four rounds of the NHL and NBA playoffs are best-of-seven series.  Despite their lengthy nature, both are great tournaments.

NBA-haters either haven't watched the NBA in forever, don't like basketball or they're just racist (yeah, I said it...). I would tell them to watch the playoffs, which features the most talented players in the world on the best teams in the league on a nightly basis.  The immediate post-Jordan era was pretty bad, but the dust has since settled and the talent-level in the league has skyrocketed.

As far as hockey goes,  I've never been a huge fan, but I'm all-in once I see that first playoff beard.  Playoff hockey is undeniably better than its regular season counterpart.  If the NHL could figure out how to bottle the intensity of playoff hockey and inject it into the regular season, hockey probably wouldn't be on a network called Versus.    

One of him is enough 

NFL Draft (end of April):  I love the NFL draft, but I hate how everyone becomes a draft expert in the month or so leading up to it.  Suddenly, sports talk radio shows are flooded with calls from Mel Kiper Jr. wanna-be's who claim they know which Division II fullback would best fit their favorite team's zone blocking scheme.  

The first two rounds of the draft are exciting.  The third and fourth rounds are intriguing.  The fifth, sixth and seventh rounds make me realize that I have nothing better to do with my time than watch one of Roger Goodell's minions call out the names of players I've never heard of. 

The Middle

En route to the Elmer's Factory

The Kentucky Derby/Triple Crown –starts in May:  I’m not a horseracing fan.  I don’t follow the sport, not even a little bit.  In fact, I think it’s silly as all hell.  Despite that, the Kentucky Derby has always been a must-watch event for me.  I’ve always been a big proponent of sports history, and the Kentucky Derby oozes history (the first race was run 1875).  The Preakness and the Belmont Stakes (the other two-thirds of the the Triple Crown) also appeal to me, and I almost always watch them, especially if there is a Triple Crown contender.

NBA Draft Lottery - mid-May:  This one is for the hardcore NBA fan, but it's highly entertaining. Team representatives (owners, GMs, presidents, players, etc) from the 14 non-playoff teams get together as ping-pong balls are drawn to determine who gets the first pick in the draft.  The team with the worst record only has a 25% chance of winning the lottery, which usually makes for a night of awkward interviews and tense exchanges.

NBA Draft – June:  Once upon a time, the NBA Draft was one of my favorite events of the year.  The lottery used to be filled with well-known and well-established college stars.  Today the lottery features little-known foreigners, and talented-but-raw college freshman who have yet to learn the fundamentals of a game that they're about to get paid $60 million to play.  

NFL Training Camp – July: This one has a similar feel as Baseball Spring Training.  When your favorite NFL team hits the practice field in the dog days of summer, you know fall and winter aren't too far behind.  Training camp leads into preseason football.  Preseason football games are a lot like spring training exhibition games, you're excited to see it, if only because you know the real thing is right around the corner.  

MLB All-Star Game - mid-July: This is the only all-star game I have on this list because the other three are painful to watch (although I do still enjoy the NBA all-star game for some reason).  Baseball, by nature, isn't as violent as hockey, football or basketball.  Therefore, when the other three sports get together for their all-star games there is an unwritten rule that defense is frowned upon (defense might lead to contact, and contact might lead to injuries).  The nature of baseball allows its all-star game to be played at 100% by its participants.  Of course, the MLB All-Star game isn't perfect.  I think most baseball fans would agree that it's asinine that the winner of the All-Star game determines which league gets home field advantage in the World Series.   

I'm rich...  BOOM!

Madden Debut – mid-August:  I'm confident that I'll be playing Madden for the rest of my life.  If I were to dig deep enough though my  mess of a room, I'm certain I would find copies of Madden dating back to 1994.  From Sega, to the N64, to Xbox, to Xbox 360, the fine folks at EA Sports continue to put out a top-notch football game.  To top it off, Gus Johnson is the play-by-play guy in Madden 2011.

The Little League World Series – August:  The Little League World Series is awesome.  The teams are made of 11-12 year old kids who play the game because they love to (or because their parents insisted) and it really shows.  On top of that, it's a truer "World Series" than MLB's because it actually features teams from nations throughout the world.        

These exist, I swear...

Fantasy Football Drafts - August:   A fantasy football draft is something a non-sports fan will never be able to comprehend, and I'm sure we've all tried explaining.  If possible, the fantasy football draft should be done in person, and amongst friends.  One of the highlights of doing a draft in person is being able to look into a friend's eyes while you belittle him for taking Todd Heap in the 3rd round.

The End

NFL (and NCAAFB) kickoff – August/September:  After weeks of listening to reports about insignificant calf strains to fourth string defensive tackles, and about which undrafted rookie free agent looked like the next Jerry Rice in morning workouts, it’s finally time to hit the gridiron.  Cold weather is now at the doorstep, but it's much easier to deal with since football is there to ease your pain.  Every Sunday becomes its own mini-Super Bowl, as football fans throughout the nation huddle up in their living rooms to watch 12 hour of games and highlights.

College football has always been an appetizer for me, with the NFL being the main course.  I never really rooted for a team when I was younger.  Philadelphia, in general, isn't a big college football town.  My alma mater, Temple University, has become respectable in recent years and they have peaked my interest in the sport.  I've always watched college football, and I'll continue to do so, but it will always be second fiddle to the NFL.

The start of the NHL and NBA seasons – October:  The start of the NHL and NBA season are fairly lackluster, especially since we’re in the heart of the NFL season and the MLB playoffs are in full force.  However, it is really awesome when three or four of your favorite teams are all playing at the same time.  

Don't you wanna watch the World Series?!

MLB playoffs/The World Series – October:  Up until 2007, I had only experienced one season of playoff baseball (which ended as ugly as any playoff exit in the history of sports).  Then something funny happened:  the Phillies got good.  No longer were seasons ending in mid-August, and I instead found myself watching meaningful games in October.

Simply put:  Playoff baseball is as good as it gets.  Gone are the lazy afternoons of watching a game while you fall in-and-out of sleep, and in its place comes intense evenings of heart-pounding, nail-biting baseball.  

College Football Bowl Season - December- January: The system is blatantly flawed, a quick-fix makes way too much sense, but College Football Bowl Season is still a great time of year.  As of 2010, half of all of the 120 FBS schools played in a Bowl.  Despite the diluted nature of Bowl Season, I still find joy in watching a coach from Northern Michigan A&M get the Gatorade treatment after his team wins the Preparation-H Bowl on a Tuesday night in Little Rock, Arkansas.  

The top of the mountain

NFL Playoffs/Super Bowl - January/February:  Is there a better way to finish the Sports Calendar?  The only other yearly tournament that could rival the NFL playoffs in terms of intensity, is March Madness.  The NFL playoffs are seemingly perfect.

For the first two rounds we are treated with two games on Saturday and two on Sunday, followed by Conference Championship Sunday and The Super Bowl. The Super Bowl has become an American holiday.  So much so, that I believe Super Bowl Sunday should become Super Bowl Saturday to allow the American public the chance to fully enjoy the day (read: get very drunk).


Notable events I purposely left off, and why:
The Daytona 500 and NASCAR in general:  I don't care.
NHL/NBA All-Star Games and the Pro Bowl:  Boring.  The NBA dunk contest used to be cool, but it's unbearable now.  I'll watch parts of these games but I don't go out of my way to.
Tour de France:  Tour de I don't give a shit.
Wimbledon and Tennis in general:  see The Daytona 500.
World Series of Poker: Madden is more of a sport than this.
FIFA World Cup and the Olympics:  The only reason they're not on the list is because they're held every four years.  I've always enjoyed the Olympics, especially the Summer Games.  Soccer on the other hand, I didn't appreciate until the 2010 World Cup.  I'm not about to go buy Philadelphia Union season tickets, but I feel confident saying soccer doesn't suck nearly as much as I thought it did.