The doldrums of February

The Super Bowl is over, college basketball season for UCF has effectively ended, and baseball is still a couple of months away.

And so begins the worst month in the history of sports: February.

It’s the barren wasteland in the world of sports. In a sense, though, it’s the calm before the storm.

Spring Training starts next month.

March Madness will be here before we know it.

Golf season is about to hit its stride with the Florida swing.

But until then, we have two sports to deal with: regular season hockey and basketball.

I apologize to diehard NBA fans, but there’s nothing less exciting to me than late-season basketball. For most fans outside of the Western conference, the season is all but over.

Watching the Magic and Hawks battle it out for second best in the East is just straight up boring, and barring epic collapse, Orlando is all but guaranteed a playoff spot. So I guess we can continue to cheer for Orlando stability for the next few months.

Yay, stability.

I feel bad hating hockey as much as I do. So many fans are so passionate about the sport, but I just can’t muster up any interest. I even tried to jump on the Lightning bandwagon back when they won the Cup. That bandwagon ride lasted about 48 hours.

So what do we do for the rest of this month? Watch repeats on ESPN Classic?

There are a few diamonds in the rough to stave off the cold of winter.

The Winter Olympics are a little anticlimactic, but I want everyone to follow my lead and become curling fanatics.

Watch out for curling superstar Natalie Nicholson, the pride of Bemidji, Minnesota, as she and fellow young-gun hotshot Nicole Joraanstad look to start a youth movement and take the reigns from old vets Tracy Sachtjen and Debbie McCormick.

Curling! Get excited!

Manchester City vs. Liverpool on Feb. 21 is set up to be one of the best matches of the Premier League’s season, with both teams tied for 4th in the league tables.

Yes, it’s another Tiger-less golf tournament, so the ratings are going to be abysmal, but Pebble Beach this weekend is always one of the best PGA Tour venues. Also, there’s the Phoenix Open on the 25th, and the crowd at Scottsdale is always exciting.

The NFL Combine on February 27 is always interesting for draft-addicts like me - especially because there’s always the chance that Al Davis falls in love with another terrible player.
And then there’s Feb. 17: the best day of the year. Pitchers and catchers report. Baseball will be back. And all will be right in this cruel, cruel world.