Necessary Roughness

Don’t Interrupt Me During Sports Season … In Other Words, Don’t Interrupt Me

Every year it’s the same. The days leading up to the Super Bowl I start fretting over losing football for seven months. “What will I do with myself?” I ask. “How am I going to spend my free time?” Then, sure enough, “bubble” talk begins and my attention has been grabbed by the pending college basketball tournament. By the time the Big Dance arrives, I’ve already been to a couple of Spring Training baseball games, and I’m trying to convince myself that this year the Diamondbacks are going to turn things around. Then it’s Opening Day, followed by the NBA Playoffs. Throw in the College Baseball World Series, the grand slams of tennis and various World Championships and, before you know it, we are right back at the beginning of college and professional football.

So my fears of having idle time in the months following the Super Bowl are always unfounded.

That’s what is so great about being a sports fan – and I mean a fan of many sports. If the team you follow in one sport is having a rough campaign, it isn’t long before the next sport’s season starts up, and you can cast your hopes onto another favorite. This must be what the folks on Wall Street call diversifying; if you only follow one team in one sport (say, the Kansas City Royals), it can be a grim year when that team is out of contention by June, and you are left waiting for Spring Training to start in February.

(I understand a similar philosophy is practiced by the suits at Bravo, who never let us go without a new Real Housewives franchise.)

I like to keep my sports portfolio diversified, and I am thankful I’ve done so, given the previous 12 months. You see, “my” teams have not been providing me with a whole lot to cheer for in that time span. The year started off on a high, as “my” Phoenix Suns made a surprising trip to the NBA Western Conference Finals. But then “my” Diamondbacks had another dismal year, followed by a truly disappointing season by “my” Dallas Cowboys. “My” Arizona State Sun Devils didn’t live up to preseason expectations in either football or basketball, and while the ASU baseball team is once again highly ranked their probationary status will keep them from being a contender.

So that brings us back to the present, Opening Day of Major League Baseball. The season is 162 games – a marathon, not a sprint – so fans have at least a few months before they may have to resign themselves to the fact that their team sucks. At this point, I’m entirely convinced that the Diamondbacks rotation that includes Daniel Hudson, Ian Kennedy, Joe Saunders and Barry Enright can keep the squad in the race. I believe that Brandon Allen is the league’s next great first baseman. And I have a feeling that skipper Kirk Gibson can get this young team to buy into his game plan.

Of course, I’m still holding out for the day when Andy Roddick wins Wimbledon, too. But even if the D’backs don’t have a winning season, I’ll have until the All-Star break before I have to come to terms with it, and by that time NFL training camps will be fast approaching (knock on wood).

Then it starts all over again.