February Actually Not Worst Month to Be a Fan

By Chris Mottram
Inspired by The Big Picture’s rather hilarious post yesterday in which he asks if February could melt away, I decided to try to figure out if this is, in fact, the worst month of the year for sports fans.
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Here’s how it breaks down in my mind, in order from best month to worst (with an assist from my Sports Fanatic’s Walmanac calendar that Santa brought me):
1: October
Why it’s awesome: MLB playoffs/World Series, plus you still have NCAA football and NFL going on. And the NBA regular season starts, if you’re into that sort of thing.
Why it’s not: Unless you’re from Boston or New York, there’s a good chance your baseball team isn’t playing.
2: April
Why it’s awesome: The Final Four/NCAA National Championship, the Masters, MLB Opening Day, and the NBA and NHL playoffs kick off. Oh, and the NFL Draft comes at the end of the month. I’m not sure how I’m ever sober for more than 12 hours at a time in April.
Why it’s not: The NBA playoffs kick off. And last until June.
3: September
Why it’s awesome: NFL football returns. This is almost enough to make the ninth month No. 1 on this list. Beyond that, you still have regular season NCAA football and MLB to watch, along with the U.S. Open (tennis) finals.
Why it’s not: Your favorite baseball team is 15 1/2 games back by this point.
4: March
Why it’s awesome: NCAA basketball.
Why it’s not: The good conference tourneys don’t start until the 15th, rendering the first half of the month worthless.
5: January
Why it’s awesome: NFL playoffs start, along with NCAA bowl season and the BCS championship. And if you’re up at 4AM, you can catch the Aussie Open.
Why it’s not: Because you’ve just realized that it’s 2009, and you’re still sad and lonely, plus your job sucks (for the 5% that this doesn’t apply to, know that the rest of us hate you).
6: November
Why it’s awesome: Regular season NFL and NCAA football continue and Thanksgiving usually occurs during this month.
Why it’s not: Baseball season is over, and the Yankees or Red Sox are champs again.
7: December
Why it’s awesome: Regular season NFL continues, NCAA bowl season starts, and college hoops conference play begins.
Why it’s not: The NCAA bowl season starts, reminding us that no matter how much we complain, we will never, ever get a playoff system.
8: May
Why it’s awesome: MLB regular season is in full swing and your team might not totally suck yet. NBA playoffs are also (still) going on, along with the NHL Finals. For racing fans, there’s the Indy 500 and for alcoholics, there’s the Preakness.
Why it’s not: None of the “awesome” stuff listed above is actually that interesting.
9: August
Why it’s awesome: College football kicks off, MLB rolls on and U.S. Open (tennis) tournament starts.
Why it’s not: Summer Olympics.
10: June
Why it’s awesome: A group of mildly interesting championships: NBA Finals (finally), Euro Cup championship match and French Open finals. And yes, we still have baseball.
Why it’s not: It’s hotter than the hinges of hell outside and you wonder how you could have ever complained about that foot of snow you got back in January.
11: February
Why it’s awesome: The Super Bowl and Daytona 500. I guess.
Why it’s not: With only two of the 28 days occupied by a major sporting event, you’re forced to find 26 other excuses to get drunk.
12: July
Why it’s awesome: MLB All-Star weekend (not really awesome, especially considering it’s in the Bronx this year), plus the British Open and Wimbledon finals go down in the UK.
Why it’s not: It’s the absolute middle of the MLB season when you start to wonder if 162 games actually is ridiculous like your baseball-hating friend has tried to tell you all summer. But mostly it’s the worst month because Chris Berman screams “back, back, back, back” no less than 800 times.↵