Now what?

So what do we do with our time now? The NFL season is over, save for the commercial spectacle that is the Super Bowl. MLB spring training is a couple of months away. Aside from recruiting, college football is on ice until August. The NHL was apparently disbanded due to a lack of interest several years ago.

Granted, the NBA regular season is in full swing, nearing its mid-way point. However, this is all just a prelude to the never-ending NBA playoffs, which last a staggering two months and stretch from April until late June. I salute anyone who can honestly say they regularly watch the NBA and then have the stamina to watch the entire post-season. The playoff teams are pretty much set at this point, give or take a couple of seven or eight seeds. Through roughly half of the regular season schedule, only six Eastern Conference teams carry a winning record, meaning the odds are decent that the East will produce two teams with losing records in the playoffs. The Western Conference playoff race should be a little more interesting, but let’s be real: The winner will come down to Dallas, Phoenix, San Antonio, and maybe LA. The East winner will be Boston, Detroit, or maybe Orlando. That’s it. So wake me up in April when the playoffs start.

College basketball appears to be the lone source of sports entertainment, but even now, conference play is just heating up. Things won’t get interesting for another month or so, when teams are jockeying for a spot in the Big Dance. I’m not sure why, but I love the Bubble Watch. Teams that have never played each other are sized up, judged, ranked and seeded, and then of course it all goes to crap once the games are actually played. ESPN currently runs a Bubble Watch segment, which I find to be a little preposterous at this point in the season. Still interesting, but can any team really be a lock at this point? Most teams have played three, maybe four conference games. I’ve never been a huge college basketball fan, but now that Tennessee is turning it on (aside from the Kentucky incident) I will start paying a little closer attention. It is hard to imagine someone from outside the North Carolina/Kansas/Duke/Memphis conglomerate winning the tournament, but with two months to go, plenty can change.

For the soccer fans among you, the Champions League is down to it last 16, with the first games set for mid-February. All the usual players are still involved, including Real Madrid, Barcelona, AC Milan, Chelsea, Manchester, and Arsenal. In La Liga action, Real Madrid holds a comfortable seven point lead over Barcelona, with just under half the schedule left to play. Real Madrid has performed spectacularly thus far, with a perfect home record and an impressive 7-2-2 away record. The Premiership race is much tighter, with Manchester United and Arsenal tied atop the standings, with Chelsea only four points behind in third place. United has also performed well in its home stadium: The Red Devils have allowed only three goals in twelve home games. As you can see, there is plenty of exciting European soccer action to follow, but unfortunately it’s never on television here, and reading box scores just doesn’t seem to have the same effect.

So, bottom line, my advice to you is that you find a new hobby or activity to occupy your time until the end of February, when sports will become relevant again. Bummed about that gut? Can’t afford bigger shirts? Try hitting the gym. Go run outside. Trust me - you’ll feel a much bigger sense of accomplishment than you do running in normal weather, especially if you’re running through a little bit of snow. Imagine Rocky IV. Try something new, like curling. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. I haven’t actually tried it myself, but I’ve heard good things, especially when alcohol is involved. If you can’t think of anything, you'll be forced to fall back onto the dregs of sports reporting. I imagine we’ll be subjected to many more stories about Roger Clemens’ ass, where Terrelle Pryor is visiting this week, and Chris Mortensen’s haircut’s Mock Draft Version 15. Don't say I didn't warn you...

Or....you can lose part of your soul along with the rest of the nation and submit to Fox's concoction The Moment of Truth, which is basically the most evil television show ever created.