The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

By - Keith Smith

It's almost here! That special time we all wait a full year for and count down to.

I'm not talking about Christmas, although I like that, too. It's not Thanksgiving, although consider me a big fan of it as well.

No, what I'm talking about is simply the month of October. For a sports fan, it is definitely "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year."

You see, October is the only month where the four major sports all intersect (sorry, soccer isn't one of them).

 

Photo by: Getty Images

Baseball begins its playoffs and transitions to the World Series, in my opinion, the best of the best in sports. The NFL and college football both hit their mid-season strides. The NBA and NHL (well, most years, anyway) both begin their regular seasons. Add to that the Chase for the Cup in NASCAR and there isn't a sports fan alive who has trouble finding something to watch in the month of October.

You will be very hard-pressed to find a single day during the month where there isn't at least one major sporting event taking place, and there are several days when each of the "Big 4" have games.

It kind of makes me tingly all over.

Also, if memory serves me correctly, I believe October is the month that ESPN has chosen in the past to run their "Ten Games in Ten Days" broadcast of college football. Although, they haven't advertised if they plan that promotion this year or not.

Here's hoping!

This entire month makes me happier than Chris Berman announcing a game where Bert "Be Home Blyleven" gets to face Miguel "Tejada They Come, Tejada They Fall" a half-dozen times.

Of course, nothing is perfect. The fiasco of replacement officials had the NFL in chaos for the first three weeks of the season, and the work stoppage in hockey will cause a delay to the start of the NHL season.

Alas, there's always someone there to rain on my parade.

Still, be sure to do a few extra reps of thumb exercises this weekend to get into full remote control shape, sports fans. Learn how to work that DVR and clear out all the back episodes of "Honey Boo Boo" so you have room to record all those games. Stock the cabinets with chips and the fridge with dips and beer.

After that, settle in for "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year."