It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I hate the cold. But I love sports; especially this time of year. That pretty much sums up the fall season for me as a sports fan. Yes, the time of year when the leaves start changing and the temperature starts dropping just happens to also be the most electrifying period of time in the world of sports. Or at least should be.

No matter what your preference, if you have an appetite for professional sports this is the time of year to suppress your hunger. What more could one possibly ask for? Once October rolls around you've got it all. The excitement of college football, the surprises of the National Football League (NFL) and the thrill of the Major League Baseball (MLB) playoffs all rolled up into one season. And for the 13 people (I being one) who are still fans of the National Basketball Association (NBA), pre-season has begun and the regular season is right around the corner.

Though it has experienced a significant decline in popularity over recent years, the MLB playoffs still hold the title of "fall classic." Just because its publicity has dropped doesn't take away the excitement it offers year in and year out. For the second year in a row, it took a play-in game to determine the final playoff spot, which went to the Minnesota Twins. So what if three out of the four divisional playoff series were sweeps? The Phillies/Rockies series was one of the most exciting sweeps I've ever seen, and the Red Sox/Angels wasn't half bad either. Plus, so far in the playoffs we've witnessed four games go into extra innings, and six games ending in walk-off fashion. I traditionally hate the Yankees with a passion, and don't care for any of the teams left chasing a pennant for that matter. However, for the sake of America's past-time, I think the game desperately needs a Yankees/Dodgers World Series. Arguably two of the most storied franchises in all of sports would help restore much of the passion that the "fall classic" has seemed to lose as of late. At least if the Yankees win, we can all be spared of seeing the Steinbrenner family checkbook in the headlines for the first time in nearly a decade.

Although baseball is in its most significant part of their season in comparison to the other seasonal sports, it by no means is hogging all the attention. Baseball owns the term "boys of summer," and cold weather means football. The only question is whether the NFL or NCAA has given fans more to offer. Personally, I don't really get the whole "year of the unknowns" belief in the NFL. Sure, no one saw the Broncos 6-0 after week six. The Jets, however, are coming to realize their quarterback is an inconsistent rookie who may have a bright future, but whose game right now isn't going to lead them to the playoffs. Let's face it; they've lost their last three, two coming from the Dolphins and Bills. Other than that, I'm no expert but I figured New Orleans, Indianapolis, Minnesota, and the Giants all being few of the strongest. The most puzzling thing I've gotten out of the whole league is that six weeks in a row the Redskins have played a team yet to have one win and sit at 2-4. And the only person I feel worse for than Jim Zorn I guess would be Wade Phillips because he gets so much pressure to win with a below average team who has the most over-rated quarterback ever. Yes, ever. Big ups to Brett Favre though. The best quarterback in history is still doing it, and with the same flare and passion as always.

As for college football, who's not excited to see how the BCS screws things up again this year? The top 25, or "BCS blunder," is at it again, and proving even more why it's the worst playoff system in sports. As much as I love to hate Virginia Tech and criticize them for being entirely overrated, it's hard to do so when I have to look at teams like BYU, Houston, TCU, Arizona, and so on. Arizona, the one team not in a mid-major conference, has victories over Central Michigan, Northern Arizona, and Stanford. They also have two losses, one courtesy of a Washington team that failed to win a game last season. I won't even go into teams like Houston and TCU's resume because most of their opponents people have never heard of. Except for the one big game on their schedule, their schedules come no where close to the non-mid major conferences. I would rather see three-loss teams from the SEC, Big 12, or Big Ten make up the Top 25 because they play good competition week in and week out; seriously.

There is no doubt all is good this time of year in the sports world. We can find all the issues we want with the systems and rankings, but that's what makes sports great. What else would guys get drunk and argue about at Mulligan's on Thursday's? It all comes down to if you could do a better job, and the answer is no. So for now, enjoy the excitement, and find everything wrong with it you possibly can - because it doesn't last forever.