The Sports Desert of February

A lot of people I know say that February is the worst month of the year. They say it's cold, monotonous, and has a lack of any excitement. I have a dislike of February for a different reason:

There are no sports in February!!

Football ends in late January/early February and I'm usually a bit grumpy at how my teams did in the playoffs, if indeed they made the playoffs (this year was no exception). Baseball is still 6 weeks away. The NBA doesn't matter till June. And college basketball usually doesn't get exciting till late February/early March. I haven't even watched Around the Horn/PTI when I get the chance, because there's nothing really interesting to hear about except depressing steroid stories or coaching changes.

I usually have to fill this time just by looking at the Astros or Red Sox rosters and waiting for spring. This year I've made politics my sporting event and have treated the primaries like an NFL season (which probably isn't a good comparison.....since politics actually affects people's lives). But today, my sports famine of February finally found some food.

This afternoon I got to go to the Harding-Henderson State basketball game. HSU is our biggest rivals and the game was nationally televised on CSS. We had to get tickets beforehand, and it was sold out and totally packed. The crowd was on fire and I felt like I had gotten out of a rock concert when I left (even Dr. Burks painted up). We totally dominated the game in the second half and ended up winning by 17. There really is just no comparison to the Rhodes Rowdies here at Harding. Every game you go to is an event, and you never know how pumped up the crowd is going to get.





The next awesome thing to make this a doubly-fantastic sports day was the match-up between #1 Memphis and #2 Tennessee. I can't remember UT basketball ever having a team that was near as good as this one (men's basketball that is), or there ever being a bigger regular season game than this one. The game did not disappoint as it went back and forth and came down to the wire. But in the end, thanks to a Tyler Smith turnaround J, UT came out the victor and can now claim the #1 spot in the country. I can't believe I'm saying that! UT is #1 in the country! Way to go Rocky Top!

I can't say how much I love this team. Last year's team was carried by my boy Chris Lofton. This year there are so many playmakers, we don't need to be carried by any one player. At any time Jajuan Smith, Tyler Smith, Ramar Smith, J.P. Prince, Wayne Chism, Lofton, and a great bench can come alive and dominate. We have great team chemistry, fantastic defense, decent rebounding, great outside shooting, and great dribbling penetration. Like I said.....I love this team!

So, for the next several weeks I will be fully immersed in college basketball. Sports are back. The famine is over. Thank goodness....February was getting rough.