The Best Time of the Year…
For sports fans, that is. Yes, Spring is pretty nice but the three months between mid-March and mid-June is a paradise for sports fans. For baseball fans, the first sign of Spring is when pitchers and catchers report and their teams begin to take shape in spring training. By the time June comes, the season will be in full swing. And March Madness culminates in late March with the NCAA basketball tournament for men and women and this year both tournaments were special. Villanova won the men’s in the greatest finish ever in the tournament final. And the UConn women won their 4th straight title and went undefeated the entire season – winning all their games by a margin greater than 10 points. Just total domination all year long. And the Husky senior class, led by Breanna Stewart, Moriah Jefferson, and Morgan Tuck, went 151-5 in their stellar college career!
And then, this weekend, the NCAA hockey season culminated with perennial powerhouse North Dakota downing the up-and-coming powerhouse Quinnipiac 5-1 in the championship game, winning their 8th national championship. And, of course, there was also this little golf tournament called the Masters. Poor Jordan Spieth, attempting to become only the fourth man to repeat as Masters champion and in command of the tournament with a 5 shot lead, had an unbelievable, incredible, total, epic collapse on the par 3 12th hole, taking a quadruple bogey 7, and opening the door for a relatively unknown Englishman, Danny Willett, to shoot a 5 under par 67 and take the hideous green jacket by 3 strokes. More surprisingly, Willett did not plan to enter the tournament because his wife was about to give birth. But the baby came early and Danny became the last man to enter the tournament.
And now we have the NHL and NBA playoffs to look forward to – both bruising marathons that will end sometime in June. For the runners out there, we can’t forget the Boston Marathon on Patriots Day in Mass. And, in mid May, tennis fans get two weeks of the French Open. Will Serena rebound to win it again? Will Djokovic finally be able to win on clay, complete his career Grand Slam, and set himself up to win all four majors this year – the season Grand Slam? For horse lovers, the first Saturday in May brings us the Kentucky Derby and another quest for the Triple Crown. And after the Belmont Stakes in early June, it’s time for more golf with the US Open.
There really is no time of year that has more important events in so many sports at the same time. It’s a wonder I get out of the house at all to enjoy these beautiful Spring days!