Log in or Sign up

Things to Look Forward To During the Sports Drought (article)

Discussion in 'The Tiger's Den' started by Carface, Apr 6, 2005.

Page 1 of 3

Carface What the...?

Joined:

Jul 14, 2004

Messages:

3,468

Likes Received:

151

http://www.lsureveille.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/04/06/42538bf2e1399

Drought looms for sports fans

Dry season comes at end of March

Michael McNeil
Sports Contributor

April 06, 2005

This is the worst time of year.

Now that the “March Madness” is over, the long, dull days of minimal sports action begin.

This is the time of year when you catch people eagerly watching The Masters or NASCAR, but as soon as you walk in the room they change the channel real quick, too embarrassed to admit their desperation. The time of year when you actually stop on a tennis match while channel surfing, hoping to see Ray Lewis lay out Andy Roddick on that nice looking turf. Or when you actually start doing mock drafts for your fantasy football season — or your next four fantasy football seasons.

Oh, and for all you early-season baseball fans out there, get a grip. Everyone knows that Major League Baseball sucks until the playoffs. I am not even going to mention the steroids problem.

Baseball statisticians go crazy when the season starts. The Baltimore Orioles are on pace to win 162 games. Dmitri Young is going to clobber 486 home runs. Blah blah blah. Ever heard of someone called Mr. May? How about Mr. June or July? Nope. But there is a Mr. October and a reason for it.

I like to refer to this time of year as the dry season of the sports calendar year. This is an easy reference for me — a geography major concentrating in climatology — because I study climate and weather patterns all the time. In almost every city on the planet there is a wet season and a dry season.

So here we are at the beginning of our dry spell. But there are a few things each month to look forward to in sports.

April — The NFL draft, just a small shower in our arid journey back to the football monsoons. But watch with interest and especially pay attention to the unfolding Maurice Clarett saga as he continues to slip down the draft board. This guy ran a 4.67 second 40-yard dash — at best — and he wanted to come out of college and challenge the NFL eligibility requirements after his freshman year? By those standards, former Redskins’ cornerback and speedster Darrell Green would have been eligible for the draft at age three.

May — the NBA playoffs. Thank you, New Orleans, for not qualifying this season. I think the Hornets were eliminated back in November. Now I do not have to wait every three days to watch you guys play a quarter of basketball, and then watch as you drag the series out to seven games — which translates into almost three weeks to finish a seven-game series!

June — the NBA finals. This will only be of interest to local sports fans if Shaquille O’Neal and the Miami Heat still are playing. The bigger sporting event to pay attention to in June is the College World Series. Maybe LSU actually will win a game in Omaha this season, which would make the whole boring month of June worth it.

July — Ahhh, some football relief. Dwarfing the MLB All-Star game on July 12 is the release of NCAA Football 2006. By the time football season begins for LSU, I will have four national championships with the Tigers and four Heisman trophies for Ryan Perrilloux.

August — finally, the end is near. The NFL preseason begins August 6 in Tokyo as Atlanta takes on Indianapolis, without a Michael Vick sighting most likely. All eyes will be on the August 8 match-up between Chicago and Miami in the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio. NFL fans will get their first taste of the Rex Grossman-to-Muhsin Muhammad connection, which is going to fill the void left by the messy breakup of Dante Culpepper and Randy Moss. Oh yeah, and it is Nick Saban’s first game as an NFL coach.

September — The floods arrive. LSU opens the season Sept. 3 against North Texas and the Les Miles era begins. The NFL preseason winds down and the regular season heats up. Better hope all that fantasy football preparation paid off. And poor, poor baseball. Now that the games really do matter, people have football again and do not need you — not that they ever did, anyway.
Click to expand...

Carface, Apr 6, 2005

#1
Mystikalilusion Founding Member

Joined:

Jan 21, 2005

Messages:

866

Likes Received:

1

Word.

I don't want to start up a war here with the baseball people, but neither collegiate nor pro matches up with basketball or football in terms of popularity or ratings.

Makes me wish the XFL hadn't been such a flop, if only to delay the inevitable lack of sporting events until the NBA playoffs.

Mystikalilusion, Apr 6, 2005

#2
Carface What the...?

Joined:

Jul 14, 2004

Messages:

3,468

Likes Received:

151

Mystikalilusion said:

Word.
Makes me wish the XFL hadn't been such a flop, if only to delay the inevitable lack of sporting events until the NBA playoffs.
Click to expand...

There's always the AFL.

Sure, it's not "real football", but if you've ever been to one of the games you'd see it's nearly as fun to watch. I went to one of the Voodoo games not too long ago. It helps feed that football thirst and holds me over for a while.

Carface, Apr 6, 2005

#3
NoLimitMD Founding Member

Joined:

Dec 15, 2004

Messages:

7,551

Likes Received:

366

I've tried watching the AFL more times than I'd like to admit, but I just thought it was so bad and unwatchable, for a split second I almost considered watching women's hoops. Luckily, I came to my senses and realized how ludicrous that would be.

This is indeed a conflicted time. My favorite day of the year is swiftly approaching (DRAFT DAY) but after that, it's pretty tough.

I'm actually a pretty big fan of the NBA and MLB, so I can't imagine how tough it's gotta be if you don't like either.

NoLimitMD, Apr 6, 2005

#4
Mystikalilusion Founding Member

Joined:

Jan 21, 2005

Messages:

866

Likes Received:

1

I like some things about the AFL.

I mean, the MVP last year had 99 tds and 5 ints. How can you not like that?

I also wish we could implement their pre-snap formations into the collegiate game. Can you imagine if our WR corp could get a 3-5 count running start before the snap? Off to the races. . . :shock:

Mystikalilusion, Apr 6, 2005

#5
NoLimitMD Founding Member

Joined:

Dec 15, 2004

Messages:

7,551

Likes Received:

366

No doubt, it would be an interesting game if it were played on field larger than a racquetball court.

NoLimitMD, Apr 6, 2005

#6
OkieTigerTK Tornado Alley

Joined:

Jan 3, 2005

Messages:

18,000

Likes Received:

1,286

:tigbas: Personally, I don't consider baseball season a "drought"!:tigbas:

OkieTigerTK, Apr 6, 2005

#7
Mystikalilusion Founding Member

Joined:

Jan 21, 2005

Messages:

866

Likes Received:

1

OkieTiger said:

:tigbas: Personally, I don't consider baseball season a "drought"!:tigbas:
Click to expand...

Understandable. . . That's the writer's point however, that baseball season only gets the attention it does because nothing else of note is occuring in the sporting world. :hihi:

Mystikalilusion, Apr 6, 2005

#8
BB Founding Member

Joined:

Jan 26, 2004

Messages:

2,038

Likes Received:

3

Mystikalilusion said:

Word.

I don't want to start up a war here with the baseball people, but neither collegiate nor pro matches up with basketball or football in terms of popularity or ratings.

Makes me wish the XFL hadn't been such a flop, if only to delay the inevitable lack of sporting events until the NBA playoffs.
Click to expand...

So true - had the XFL not tried so damn hard, it would have worked. I would watch Pop Warner Football if you televised it right...

BB, Apr 6, 2005

#9
tirk im the lyrical jessie james

Joined:

Feb 4, 2004

Messages:

47,369

Likes Received:

21,536

NFL Europe is watchable since its now a pretty good farm club for the NFL. mr. #3 akili smith played against the Rhein Fire and lose of course. i guess it was the season opener.

i was lookin for rohan or someone i knew of.

tirk, Apr 6, 2005

#10

(You must log in or sign up to reply here.)

Page 1 of 3

Share This Page