It's Getting To Be That Time

The title to this blog post would've been "Spring is in the air", but if you walked outside today and felt the 30mph wind gusts which made the temperature feel in the mid-20's, you'd know that I was lying to you. There are a lot of things I am (cheap, sarcastic, stubborn) but a liar is not one. (Alright mom, I know you're going to bring up the time that I wrote on the wall and blamed it on the dog. I was 10, get over it.)

Using the term "spring is in the air" is obviously not going to be the correct course of action just yet, until the temperatures rise and the mound of ice on our front lawn melts sometime around Memorial Day. But, I'll give you a few sure fire signs that the dead of Winter is behind us and the warming iridescence of Spring is bursting onto the scene.

We are just getting past the toughest part of the Winter, where ever day seems like it's the Billy Murray movie Groundhog's Day. This time period began the Day after the NFL Conference Championship games ended on January 19th. (go figure my birthday is the day after the most boring time of the year begins. Thanks Mom and Dad) and it did not end until last Thursday on March 19th.

Why is this you're probably thinking? It's for the simple fact that nothing happens in those 7 and a half weeks outside of a few events. I'll give you a brief synopsis of what major yearly events happened in sports during this time:

January 25th - NHL All Star Game sees the Eastern Conference defeat the Western Conference 12 - 11 in a shootout. (you forgot they still played hockey didn't you?)

February 1st - Super Bowl XLIII: Pittsburgh Steelers defeat Arizona Cardinals 27 - 23 (Thanks a lot for losing that game and costing me a ton of money Arizona. I should've taken the points. I'm not bitter I swear to god)

February 8th - NFL Pro Bowl: NFC 30 - AFC 21 (I didn't watch and neither did you, don't even kid yourself)

February 14th - NBA Slam Dunk Contest: "KryptoNate" Nate Robinson defeats Dwight Howard in the finals (It's the ghetto Mugsey Bogues ladies and gentleman!)

February 15th - NBA All Star Game: Western Conference 146 - Eastern Conference 119 (Shaquille O'neal and Kobe Bryant win Co-MVP and the rest of America joins hands and sings "We are the World"....Alright, that last part didn't happen, but the first part shouldn't have either)

That's it. That's ALL that happened. I'm not kidding. Outside of those events (if you can even call the All Star Games events worth watching) nothing else went on, which is why the lead story on Sportscenter dealt with Alex Rodriguez 98% of the time. (he likes hookers, we get it. I for one, am happy to hear that news. I still thought he was gay)

But, this is how you know on March 19th we officially got out of our sporting funk and are moving onto bigger and brighter days. For the next three weeks, we get to be excited, on the edge of our seats for College Basketball's March Madness. Once that ends on April 6th, guess what? That's when opening day for Major League Baseball is!

Four days later on April 9th, bust out your green jackets, because it's time for the Masters on the PGA Tour. (Tiger Woods is back, there's reason to watch) And guess what else? The day that the Final Round of the Masters is, coincides with the last day of the NHL regular season (some people actually care about this, I'm not kidding).

On April 15th, when the NHL playoffs have just begun (don't forget to file your taxes), that's the final day of the NBA's regular season. And a week into the playoffs for both the NBA and NHL you get the excitement of the NFL Draft on April 25th and 26th.

This is every sports fans favorite time of the Year. If the day after Thanksgiving is considered to be "Black Friday", then consider the day after the NFL Conference Championships to be "Melancholy Monday" because it puts every sports fan (alright probably just me, but you're reading this, so you're mixed into this somehow by proxy) into a daily tailspin of craving something more.

Well, crave no more. The time is finally here. Suddenly you can hear the birds chirping and the taste of a spring dew on your lips when you walk outside in the morning. Your life just begins to brighten up a little. That's how I feel right now.

Crack open a cold one and kick back and relax in front of the television, because we're about to embark on a great ride. Let's call it the "Ride to Summer". This is a sports enthusiasts version of the Christmas Season.

Well, let me be the first to say Season's Greetings...