Inside This Issue
FRONT PAGE CAMPUS & COMMUNITY ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT FEATURES SPORTS OPINION BACK PAGE CONTACT US ABOUT USThe Badger Beat with Charlie Viana
Baseball Season Boon
With the first week of April embarking on us, it can only mean one thing: the start of the Major League Baseball season. Each major professional sport in our country (baseball, basketball, football, and hockey) in its own right has a much anticipated buzz to a new season starting.
At the end of each season, the countdown to the next starts seconds after the champion is crowned. There isn’t really an off-season for the fans or the news reporters. Whether it is trades, the great ones saying good-bye, or the always eye-popping off-the-field scandals, there is always something to hear and read about.
I guess my question would have to be, which of these four major sports has the largest and loudest anticipated start to the season?
I consider myself a knowledgeable sports fan for all the major sports except hockey. With that said, I still hear and see what goes on during and after the NHL season. Since I’m not a fan of the NHL, it’s hard for me to say where it falls in comparison to the openings of other sports.
To be honest, naturally I would be more partial towards baseball because of my love for the Yankees. But that is not affecting or determining my decision. Even with baseball being the long grind of the 162-game schedule that it is, it seems like fans and baseball analysts wish it were longer. The long season brings about endless possibilities for each team. Getting hot at the right time while division rivals are not can make or break a team’s season.
This is why I feel the off-season transactions in baseball are so crucial and followed so in depth. Fans who sit from April to September sticking by even though there is slim to no
hope, waiting for the off-season for their teams to make moves that will turn them [teams] around seems to be worth it.
In regard to the NFL, I see it as being extremely similar to baseball except for length of season, and the anticipation of each team’s draft picks. With college baseball not getting the exposure like college football and college basketball does, the MLB team’s draft picks aren’t usually a high topic of conversation. With the NFL season being only 17 weeks long, each game has a playoff atmosphere to it. One bad play or one bad game can end a team’s chance of reaching the postseason. Like baseball, the off-season transactions for each team are extremely important.
As for the NBA, there is a definite hype and anxiousness to start the season, but I feel it is not as big as the MLB or the NFL. The 82-game schedule of the NBA gives teams the chance to bounce back from rough starts or streaks they may encounter, which I think is one reason why fans love it so much. The other reasons would have to be the up and down pace of the game with these high-flying athletes, and most importantly the players who we all grow to love during March Madness and what NBA team they will go to. The NBA is different from the other sports because if a team gets one or two more key guys in a blockbuster trade, that team could be completely revamped. A prime example would have to be this year’s Boston Celtics.
With this being said, it might be safe to say that there are years when the off-season in the NBA could be more exciting than the actual season itself. Concluding on the NBA, I believe that a major reason why it may not have the hype at the start of the season that the other major professional sports have is because it seems like there is more college basketball fans out there rather than NBA fans.
Finally, I would say my decision comes down to football versus baseball. Football, in my mind, has the impact of college players right away over baseball, and baseball has the 162-game schedule where anything can happen. I think I would have to pick baseball as having the most anticipatory noise at the beginning of the season. Baseball is a game of hot and cold streaks. With the season, including playoffs, being seven months long, anything can happen.