Best Sports Times of the Year

In my opinion, the period from mid-October to mid-November is one of the two greatest stretches in the year, as far as sports are concerned. The other stretch would be mid-March to mid-April. Here's why.

Mid-October to Mid-November:

In the fall, you tend to think football, football, football, which is largely true. Right now, we are in the thick of the college football schedule, the middle of the NFL season, and fantasy football teams starting to take real shape. It gives people something to look forward to on Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays and sporadic Thursdays, and it's pretty much the "water cooler" talk wherever you work. If you're lucky like me and get to watch sports during your job as a sports writer, well then it's even better.

But this period also brings the start of the NBA season, which for the first time in a number of years is actually quite intriguing to me. I'm looking forward to watching the Bucks, specifically seeing Year 2 of Brandon Jennings, how healthy Andrew Bogut looks, and if our new draft picks and acquisitions will fit in and help out as hoped. I'm also curious to see how the Heat will actually perform, see what players make a jump to elite status (Russell Westbrook, Derrick Rose for example), which teams will finally put all the pieces together (Magic, Thunder) and other surprises. It's also good to see which players actually are on each team.

The biggest reason I love this period? The World Series. Screw the TV execs, the Rangers vs the Giants is a Fall Classic I'm definitely excited about. I even called this matchup before the postseason started! Scroll down if you don't believe me. I'm excited to watch the pitching (Lincecum vs. Cliff Lee in games 1, 4 and 7? Sign me up!), Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval, Josh Hamilton, Vlad Guerrero and whatever is growing in Brian Wilson's beard. If I was a betting man, which I think I should be more of, I'd go with Rangers in 7. Rangers have the better offense, but the Giants have the better pitching to push it to the brink.

March/April:

This period comes down to NCAA conference tournaments and March Madness, but also includes Spring Training/Opening Day in the MLB and the NFL Draft. I go out of my way to watch all three of these things (well, at least the first few games of the Brewers season), which makes this a rival to October/November in my mind.