I am depressed. Ever since the NBA Finals ended last week, I have been sort of down in the dumps.
It just seems that nothing interesting is going on in the world of sports, and it has sort of left me demoralized.
Remember when the NBA playoffs first began? What about the Stanley Cup Finals? The opening days of baseball? Life was so much better back then.
66 days ago it was Saturday, April 19 and times were more different than they are today.
We were getting ready for the first round of the NBA Finals. We were questioning the overall toughness of the potential champion Boston Celtics. We were questioning whether or not the Phoenix Suns could actually beat the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Playoffs after trading for Shaquille O’Neal for that very reason. We were questioning the comments made by Josh Howard that he likes to smoke it up in the offseason. We were questioning what a team like the Atlanta Hawks were doing in the NBA Playoffs after finishing the season below .500. We had so many questions, that were all finally answered when the Celtics won the NBA Finals in game 6, officially ending the NBA season.
We were nine days into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. At this point, the New York Rangers were the only team that had punched their ticket into the Eastern Conference semi-finals. As the Anaheim Ducks and the Detroit Red Wings both had uphill battles with the Stars and the Nashville Predators. Once again the Carolina Hurricanes were left out of the playoffs after finishing ninth in the Eastern Conference and just two points shy of the eighth seeded Boston Bruins.
We were right at the beginning of baseball season. Believe it or not, the Royals stood one game above .500 at 9-8, while the Seattle Mariners were actually a .500 ballclub standing at 9-9. The New York Yankees held the same record as the Mariners at the time. The New York Mets were actually looking really good with a 9-6 mark.
Like I said, things were way different back then.
Flash forward to today. It seems as though this is a dead period of sports. Sure, we have baseball. But we are not even at the halfway point of the season yet. Don’t get me wrong, I love baseball. I just don’t like it being the only sport on to watch.
Yeah, we also have golf. But without Tiger Woods, I will not be watching. I know I wrote last week about how I am now officially a golf fan after last week’s U.S. Open, but that was before Tiger announced he was done for the season. I can’t watch golf without watching Tiger. I’m sorry.
We’ve also got Wimbledon. Yippie, skippie. I am predicting another Federer-Nadal showdown in the final, and everyone will be questioning what happened to all the Americans. This will, once again, be the year where no Americans (men and women) make it to the finals.
There’s also NASCAR. Fun sport to watch, but the problem with it is that you can miss the entire race and make it back by the final 20 laps and you feel like you haven’t missed a thing. Because, well, you haven’t.
The Olympics are starting soon, but I kind of lost interest in the Olympics after 1996. I might flip it over from time to time, but I cannot sit in front of the television and watch international gymnastics. Again, I’m sorry.
Luckily, 66 days from now is the start of something new. Something exciting. Something unpredictable.
66 days from today, we will see Wake Forest travel to Baylor. North Carolina State travel to South Carolina, and my Western Carolina Catamounts taking on Shorter College (I swear, if they lose that game…). We are at the halfway point to the official kickoff of college football, which is my favorite time of the year.
Today was the halfway point to the kickoff of college football and I am very excited. Because when college football starts, the NFL won’t be far behind. With football starting and baseball closing in on its final weeks, the sports world will once again be exciting.
It seems as though the NBA Playoffs flew by, and that the first round was just yesterday. Hopefully, the rest of the summer will go by just as quick so we can get back to sports.
We just have 66 days to go until the kickoff of football season. Just hang on, it will be here sooner than we know it.
Just 66 days and counting…
Welcome to Sanford Ryan. I hope you find your time here rewarding and I look forward to reading your articles in The Sanford Herald and reading your blog as well.
I feel your pain in this summer dead period. Growing up, I would never have wished for summer to come to an end but, as an adult, I find myself yearning for August and the start of football season. Especially high school football.
I grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee and remain a diehard Volunteer fan. I still prefer the college game to the NFL but, high school football is my favorite sport.
Having attended college in the western part of the state, I’m sure you noticed the popularity of high school football in such places as Tuscola, East Burke, Hickory and Crest to name just a few. It is my hope, that you can help generate that kind of interest around here in your reporting and commentary on area high school football.
As Alex has blogged about, there are a number of prep websites and forums, where high school football fans can go to talk football. One of the most recent, is run by a former Douglas Byrd coach and now fellow Sanford resident, Chris Hughes. His Carolina Preps site is well written and covers high school sports in North and South Carolina. Chris already has an article and picture posted about new Southern Lee head coach, Bill Maczko.
My whole point in writing this is to let local sports fans know that, during this period of not much happening in sports, you can at least pass the time talking prep football and looking forward to one of the best weekly fall events that bring communities together.
Friday night lights.
By: Terry T on June 28, 2008
at 1:04 pm
Thanks for the info about Carolina Preps Terry.
Yes I run the site and do my very best to cover both NC and SC. It’s a tough job, it takes a lot of help from coaches, fans, and newspaper reporters to keep abreast of such a massive project.
This is also a dead period on the website. A lot of fans are at the beach or on vacation and don’t spend a lot of time talking about sports, but the website has a great forum to talk about anything from high school sports, college sports, pro sports, and even politics.
By: Chris Hughes on June 29, 2008
at 4:20 pm