I’m going through sports withdrawal.

I don’t know why.

But I’m starting to show the symptoms.

Instead of gluing myself in front of the television set to watch Phil Mickelson choke away another U.S. Open, I’ve been watching the countless reruns of “Jon and Kate Plus 8.”

I cannot wait until August to find out if they’re going to get back together or if they’re actually really divorcing.

Instead of sitting around and watching the 2 Live Stews debate with Skip Bayless on “The Artist Formerly Known as Cold Pizza” about whether or not Brett Favre will be in a Vikings uniform next season, I’ve been out walking my dog or actually wanting to spend time with my family and friends.

Instead of listening to Jalen Rose predicting that the Los Angeles Clippers will be the eighth seed in the NBA playoffs next season in the Western Conference, I’ve been reading about the latest unfolding drama on “I’m a Celebrity. Get Me Out of Here.” If you ask me, I think Heidi and Spencer are just hogging all the attention.

I think I’m going crazy. I need sports. And I need ‘em now. I might need help.

This is why I decided to root for the Cleveland Indians this baseball season. I wanted a team to enjoy cheering for while I tried to get through this “down period” of no NBA or college basketball and no NFL or college football.

But the Indians are stuck in last place in the American League Central and are standing at 29-42 and are 10 games back of first in the division.

I swear, that team has had me cursing them more times than I have cheered them. It’s gotten to the point where I don’t even really care about them anymore. I know. I know.

There’s still golf to enjoy. There’s still The Chase in NASCAR. There’s still more than 100 games left for the Indians to make a turnaround and a late postseason surge.

There’s still boxing and mixed martial arts to enjoy as well, I guess. Oh yeah, the Tour De France is this summer, too. Also, I think Team USA soccer is playing in something. Yay! Not.

But there’s also tennis — without the world’s top player in Rafael Nadal. There’s no NFL, though ESPN says otherwise with the constant “Favre-Watch Part 882.” There’s no college basketball, just a bunch of scandals involving high-profile schools like USC and Memphis. There’s no Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. No more Most Valuable Puppets commercials.

There’s no Olympics. No Redeem Team, no Coach K, no Michael Phelps, no Usain Bolt, nothing. There’s no college football, either.

This is why I’m excited about the NBA Draft on Thursday night. It’s kind of a quick fix for my addiction to sports.

It gives me something to enjoy. We find out where our favorite college basketball players will be spending their professional careers. We find out which players from North Carolina (Sean May, Eric Montross), North Carolina State (Julius Hodge, Todd Fuller, Cedric Simmons) and Duke (Cherokee Parks, J.J. Redick, Mike Dunleavy) will be draft busts.

The draft day trades are also fun to watch. Which team will swap picks? Where will players with expiring contracts end up? How many teams will be dumping players off on different teams to try and save money and room for the 2010 offseason when LeBron, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade hit the free agent market.

I’m anxious to see where guys like Stephen Curry from Davidson and Tyler Hansbrough, Wayne Ellington, Ty Lawson and Danny Green from UNC end up. I’m curious to see how well Blake Griffin will do as a member of the Clippers.

I wonder if he’s really excited that he’s going to be a Clipper or if he wishes he could go overseas. I want to know if the Celtics will trade Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen to the Pistons for Richard Hamilton, Rodney Stuckey and Tayshaun Prince. I’d want to know why, too. I want to know if Al Jefferson and the Minnesota Timberwolves’ first-round pick will be going to the Phoenix Suns for Amare Stoudemire.

It’s two rounds.

It’s one night.

It’s my favorite draft of all the major sports.

Then, it’s over.

And I’m back to having nothing again.

Back to the constant talk of steroids in baseball.

Back to Favre Watch. Back to seeing Roger Federer surpass Pete Sampras as the greatest tennis player of all time. It’s back to the same ol’ stuff. It’s back to the Yankee-Red Sox love affair.

Just give me sports. Give me football. Give me basketball. Give me the Indians winning. Give my boss the Cubs winning. Give me something to be excited about.

Give me an Indians-Cubs World Series. That’ll at least give me something to enjoy.

I can do this. I can fight this addiction. I’ve been told that if I don’t think about sports, I’ll get over this addiction a lot quicker.

If I watch something that doesn’t remind me of sports, I won’t want to think about them. It’ll help football season get here quicker.

Until then, it’s back to my regularly scheduled rerun of “Family Matters” on Nick at Nite.

Except this one has Larry Johnson playing Grandmama.

Great. Just great.