Best time of the year...

To me, spring is not only the best time of the year weather wise, it also ushers in the best time of the year for sports. Currently I am sitting on a comfy chair, basking in the glorious spring weather, watching tournament basketball on CBS and anticipating the next 3 months of goodness. Let me explain.

NCAA March Madness - Easily my favorite time of the year for watching sports. Selection Sunday, the first Thursday/Friday of games, something to look forward to every weekend for 3 weeks, watching the bracket, etc.... Nothing beats the tournament for me, which, not to digress, there is talk of change in the tournament (expansion to 96 teams. Call me a traditionalist, but I do not want to see the tournament expand. I love the draw the way it is. Imagine if they expanded it to 96. Do you think the random office lady would want to fill out the draw? Do you think you would fill out a 96 team draw? Me neither. So please NCAA, leave it at 64 and keep it the best sporting event of the year.

MLB Spring Training - The best time of the year in the baseball season. Why, you may ask, are meaningless games in March the best time of the baseball season? Because the Blue Jays haven't been statistically eliminated from the playoffs yet. Playing the same division as the Yankees and Red Sox is just depressing if you are a Blue Jays fan. No matter how good of team we can compile, lining up against the Bronx Bombers and the Red Sox is not appealing. Even the Rays took a run at them for one year, but if you win the wild card or the division it just feels like you are renting the title from the 2 dominant teams. I can still be excited that Ricky Romero pitched 4 scoreless innings and that Adam Lind is looking like he could hit 40 HR's. Never mind that this all won't matter when we are 12 games back on June 15th, but it sure is fun to hope.

Spring baseball also reminds us in cold climates that there are places in the world where there is green grass and people have natural color on their skin. Too often in the midst of winter I lose hope that I will ever be warm again when I walk outside and spring baseball gives me that hope. It

NHL Playoff Race - Only because it signals that the NHL season will soon be over....wait, the playoffs take another 3 months. My bad. How bad are the NHL playoffs? If you look at the NHL season, training camp starts in September and the cup is hoisted in mid to late June. Is there not a more efficient way to do this? Here's my proposition to fix the NHL playoffs.

1. Shorten the first round to best of 5. This would lead to more upsets and shorten the tournament significantly. The NBA used to do this and I'll never forget the Sonics/Nuggets series where Dikembe was on the ground holding the ball after shocking the highly rated Sonics. It is really difficult to upset a team in a 7 game series. Upsets are exciting and shorter. Sweeps could occur one game quicker. No brainer to me.

2. Scrap the conferences and have the top 16 teams make the tournament based solely on record. No division winners, no automatic bids, just the 16 best teams. This could lead to some very interesting first round matchups and make the league a little less predictable.

3. Overtime is one 20 minute period of 4 on 4 and then you go to a shootout. I don't care if the purists don't like it. Typically the winning goal in a 4 OT game is no good anyways since the players are all dead tired. The threat of a possible shootout in the Olympics had me on the edge of my seat. Imagine a Stanley Cup decided on a shootout? How exciting would that be?

I'm way off now, but I do think these changes could lead to some more excitement.

NBA Playoff Race - Teams are gearing up for the final push, players actually break a sweat in the first half, teams are tanking for the John Wall Sweepstakes (I'm doing it in my fantasy league!), potential free agents are attempting to sway possible suitors with their end of the season play, the game just gets a lot more interesting. Some of my favorite moments in life have happened during the NBA playoffs: The Jordan years (too many moments to recount), Miller killing the Knicks at the Garden, John Starks going 3/18 in the NBA finals, Lebron's 3 last year against the Magic, the Kings/Lakers series, Suns/Spurs, Blazers/Lakers, Cavs/Bulls, Pistons/Bulls, Knicks/Bulls, etc...so many good matchups, so many memories.

NFL Draft - The only sport that truly has no offseason, the NFL draft is by far the most unique of the major sports. The worst drafts are baseball and hockey without questions due to the youth of those being picked. The NFL has so many positions and teams have so many needs. With the current salary structure and the money getting paid these high picks the drama continues to build. The Rams this year should take a DT with the first pick, but try selling that to a new owner? Its much easier to market a Sam Bradford than a Gerald McCoy. The other dynamic is when a player starts falling in the draft sometimes they fall hard. There may be 4 or 5 teams with a QB need and if they pass on a QB he could drop 10-15 places (see Matt Leinart/Aaron Rodger/Brady Quinn). Will that happen this year? Who will be the awkward last person left at the draft this year? So much to look forward to.

Enjoy the next few months...I know that I will.