February is the worst month of the year for sports.
When I was younger I always thought the summer was the worst time because the only thing on TV was baseball, but with age comes more appreciation for the national pastime. These days I can’t wait for the Twins to get started and see if signing ANOTHER player who is late into his career will pay off. Is there any way we can get Jim Thome to be 35 again?
Now that my beloved Vikings have gracefully bowed out of the playoffs all I have left to watch as a sports fan are NBA highlights, college basketball (which is only good if Kansas is playing), NFL draft coverage, and tennis. Golf is starting soon, but I usually only watch that on Sunday afternoons when I need to take a nap.
Just recently I was up to the wee hours of the morning watching the Nadal – Murray Quarterfinal match at the Australian Open. As this is being typed it is nearing 3 in the am and Andy Murray is on once again, this time in Semifinal action against Marin Cilic.
I have no clue why tennis is so watchable in the early hours of the day. Maybe it is the simplistic nature of watching two people confined in a relatively small area hitting a ball back and forth. I’m glad men’s tennis is on this late by the way because I don’t like hearing the women grunt like hippos every time they hit the ball. I’m really only interested in the strange clothes their wear, and as an added bonus this year, what kind of clothes they aren’t wearing (Hi Venus!).
The NBA is not watchable on TV at this time of the year. It is getting to the middle of the season where players start to go on cruise control, especially right before the All-Star break. Highlights are always the way to go for me because that’s when things actually happen. The rest is boring. College basketball is much better in that area.
The knock that fans of the NBA have on college basketball is that they would rather watch the best athletes perform consistently rather than have a teenager screw up a simple play, like a layup or outlet pass.
Isn’t that what makes college sports so great though? Games have so much more suspense and are so much more unpredictable because of those things. That’s how a South Carolina team can beat undefeated Kentucky, and how George Mason makes the Final Four in 2005. I don’t think I will ever see any team under a four seed in the NBA playoffs win the Finals. The way the playoffs are set up prevent that.
However, I am more of a fan of college basketball, not a follower. I have no interest in watching a game between Notre Dame and Villanova. I don’t know anyone on the teams. If it is within ten points in the last five minutes, you best believe I’m not going anywhere until the game is over, but until then I don’t pay attention.
The All-Star break in the NBA is sort of fun. Dunk contests, skills competition, and the glorified street ball game that goes on during the last night are definitely things I have on my DVR by the end of the weekend, but they usually get skipped over for the good parts. I think the best part of All-Star weekend is the trade rumors. Everyone loves a good trade. Not salary dump trades like Devin Brown for Aaron Gray. I’m looking to see where T-Mac goes or if Washington will get rid of Gilbert.
NFL draft coverage is something that has always been something that I could watch for days on end. I have the Senior Bowl practice specials on my DVR waiting to be watched. I snuck away during Prom supper my junior and senior year of high school to see where Brady Quinn landed, who Sidney Rice is and what a Tarvaris Jackson was. Needless to say my cell phone was banned from entering the gym on both occasions.
Something about finding a player that isn’t high profile but could be a solid choice in the mid to late rounds has been something I am obsessed with doing. I don’t go crazy and memorize all of the players, but if I see a report on a certain player I will follow him the rest of the way. Already I am on the Pat Paschall bandwagon, a running back from North Dakota State. Sure it’s a homer pick since I am from North Dakota, but he impressed scouts at the East-West game and is stock is on its way up.
You read it here first. Pat Paschall ladies and gentlemen. Get your popcorn ready.
Even though I just listed four different sports and reasons for watching them all, there is always something about them that prevents me from enjoying the whole thing. I can’t watch full NBA games, I get distracted from college games if they aren’t Kansas or are in the final five minutes, I only watch men’s tennis and that’s only for background noise while I am writing, and NFL draft coverage really doesn’t involve much football actually being played.
Wake me up in March so I can see T-Mac’s new jersey, Kansas hoist another trophy dressed up in netting, if Pat Neshek has recovered from surgery, and so I can read a new mock draft every other day about the Vikings drafting a cornerback.
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* – Bored sports fan photo credit: European-Open-Betting.com
* – Venus Williams photo credit: Deadspin
* – Pat Paschall photo credit: InForum.com
About Drew Lange
