ESPN.com recently published an article declaring August to be the worst month in sports. Before reading any more of my post, go read the ESPN article in the link below, but don't forget to come back.
ESPN - Worst Month For Sports
I can't disagree with their choice of August as the worst month in sports. In fact, I'd say they are dead on. But from a die-hard NBA fan who hates baseball and doesn't really care about football, the rest of the list needs a lot of work. So here's my take on the topic from an NBA-centric viewpoint.
1. August: The ESPN article nailed it. Let's be honest, the only thing going on sports wise in August is baseball, and I hate baseball. Let's move on.
2. September: The article says December belongs here, but they're dead wrong. The second worst month is September, and it's only marginally better than August. At least we're closing in on the NBA season, and speculation is picking up on who the contenders will be, which means that the professional sports writers and amateur hacks like me are starting to produce more NBA related content. NBA training camp for some teams also begins in late September, and this can add a little bit of excitement for the basketball starved fan.
3. October: You might think I'd agree with ESPN's choice of July, since it's the last month that never contains any NBA regular season or playoff games. But then you'd be wrong. While October often contains the start of the NBA season, it's only the last three or four days of the month at best. Some years the regular season doesn't even start until early November. Pre-season basketball just isn't that exciting, although the outdoor game that they've televised the last couple of years has been worth watching, especially when you haven't seen a real NBA game since June. Plus October loses points for mucking up the airwaves with the World Series. Did I mention that I hate baseball?
4. July: July beats out October because of NBA free agency. While we were submitted to "The Decision" this year, July is when we find out what the NBA landscape is going to look like for the first few months of the season. The next big roster shakeups don't usually happen until right before the trade deadline (see February).
5. March: Bad teams are tanking to improve their chances in the draft lottery and teams who have solidified their playoff positions are resting their stars. This makes for some boring TV games, and it will kill you if your fantasy basketball season goes deep into March. On the plus side you get to see what happens when Brian Scalabrine tries out his iso moves on the rookie from Wheretheheckisthatastan. As much as it makes sense for me to pay attention to NCAA basketball to see who the up and coming players are, I just can't get that into college hoops. March Madness does not make up for low quality NBA games.
6. November: The NBA season is in full swing and there's no more baseball. EJ, Kenny, and Charles are on Thursday nights on TNT for the next few months. That's some good TV right there.
7. December: NBA rosters have had time to gel. We're starting to see which teams have chemistry and which don't. By this point in the season we're starting to see who the surprise pseudo-contenders are (usually young talented teams we didn't think were ready yet) and which teams aren't as good as we thought (usually due to injuries and/or washed up former all stars). The big negatives to December are the early no name college football bowl games which are played on Friday nights, because ESPN will air them instead of their usual Friday night double-header.
8. January: January is pretty similar to December, and also tends to suffer from the Friday night bowl game issue. I'll give January a slight edge over December because the NBA games generally seem to be a little bit higher in quality.
9. April: The NBA playoffs get under way. The first round has eight seven game series going on at the same time. That's a lot of basketball to watch, so I'm usually pretty happy. But it is only the first round, which is how a non-playoff month squeaks in at a better position.
10: February: February is all about All-Star Weekend and the NBA trade deadline. I love NBA All-Star Weekend. For whatever reason, I know it leaves a lot of fans somewhat cold, but I just can't help but love it. The dunk contest isn't as good as it used to be, but it's still entertaining. The skills competition is great, and I also like the three point contest. The game play of the Rookie-Sophomore game is usually pretty sloppy, but I like it because it lets us get a good look at the young players who will be the future of the league. I probably like this game more than some because I don't watch college basketball on any kind of regularity, so I'm not very familiar yet with some of these guys. Then there's the All-Star game itself. Yes, the play is often sloppy, but every once in a while a few players on each team decide that winning is important, that attitude becomes contagious, and the yearly East vs. West game becomes a thing of beauty. Then there's the trade deadline. This is the last chance for contender's to add an extra piece for that playoff run, and for the also rans to shed a little salary. Now we basically know what the rosters will look like for the playoffs.
I guess there's also some little football game that happens during February. I hear the commercials are good.
11: June: You probably thought I'd leave June for last because of the NBA Finals. Well you'd be wrong. I love the NBA Finals. I really do. But the problem is that there are only two teams left. One of those teams is probably the Lakers. I hate it when the Lakers win. The Lakers winning really takes something out of the Finals for me. Of course when the Lakers make the Finals and lose (2004 - Pistons, 2008 - Celtics), it's one of the best feelings in sports. There's also a bit of a let down when the season is finally over that keeps me from calling June the best.
12: May: I think that May is a better sports month than June. May has the later rounds of the NBA playoffs, so there are a lot of high quality games going on. For some reason, it often seems like the best games of the year happen during the Eastern or Western Conference Finals and not during the NBA Finals. During May I often still have that hope that someone out West will beat the Lakers, and that we'll have a great non-Lakers Finals, and that I'll really be able to enjoy the Finals when June rolls around.
So there's my stance on how the year shakes out sports wise from an NBA-centric point of view. I agree with the ESPN article that August is the worst, but other than that I don't agree with them at all.
Too bad it's August.
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