Brian Kimmes

October is the best month for sports. Many people argue that March is the best, but I disagree. March is a quality month for sports, but it is not as good as October.

March is missing two big things – college football and professional football. Football is the American sport. The National Football League is the standard that other professional leagues compare themselves to. The NFL varies from year to year. Teams that are bad one year can be good the next. One of last year’s Super Bowl teams, the Carolina Panthers, had won one game two seasons earlier and didn’t make the playoffs the year before. Many teams in the NFL are similar in talent so most of the games are of high quality. Also, since it is the early part of the season fans still have hope that their team will make the playoffs. No team is eliminated from contention in the first month of the season. However, a team can start out hot and put themselves in a great position for the playoffs, like the Minnesota Vikings did last year. The Vikings ultimately did not make the playoffs, but the month of October was the best month of the season for Vikings’ fans.

College football is also incredibly popular. Students all across the country show support for their local teams. The college game atmosphere is like no other. Nineteen-year-old freshmen college students can get just as excited about football as 80-year-old alumni. The college football season is almost like an 11-game playoff. If your team loses one game, its hopes of a national championship are all but gone. This makes every game important. October is when the conference schedule begins for college teams. Rivals begin to play each other and bragging rights are on the line. Football is the most-loved sport in the U.S. How can March be considered the best month when it doesn’t even have football?

Football is not the only sport that takes place in October though. October is the best time of year for baseball due to the playoffs. October baseball games are the best of the year. The fall provides a chill in the air, the players give it their all every play of the game and fans cheer their loudest, hoping to encourage their favorite players to win.. The playoffs are when the games are the most intense and when heroes are made. Football may be America’s sport now, but baseball is the national pastime. October is the only month for baseball playoffs.

The baseball season is wrapping up in October, but the professional basketball season is just getting started. October is when NBA training camps open and games start at the end of the month. The start of a new season is always exciting because it is filled with hope. Every team feels they made the right moves in the off-season that will put them over the top. The fans are excited to see if this year is the year their team will win it all. Fans also get their first chance to see the new players that were signed over the summer.

October is one of the few times of the year that three out of the four major professional sports are in progress. The third pro sport in session in October is hockey. Hockey has not yet started this year, due to a lockout imposed by the owners. Normally hockey is in the first part of its season by now.

October has both endings and beginnings, America’s favorite sport and America’s pastime. No other month offers so much in sports. Sports fans should cherish the next few weeks – they are the best.