Campus Times Online

Oktoberfest for sports fans

Posted October 21, 2005

Steven Falls
Sports Editor

Don’t you just love October? The rain is starting to fall, the leaves are turning brown, red and orange, and the heat of the summer is finally starting to wear off as we dive deeper into the month. Don’t get me wrong, I love the summer and the hot weather it brings.

I love the beach and all of the vacations but there comes that time where everyone is just ready for the fall. You can feel the season change. It is time for Thanksgiving, time to save up all of that hard earned money for all the Christmas gifts you are going to buy for family and friends.

All of this is just fine and dandy. But what I really love about October is sports. Many people, including myself, argue that this is the greatest time of the year for a sports fan. It is the month that all of us wait for during the year, at least I do anyway.

It is the month where the four major sports in America intersect and play at the same time.

If you can’t find a sport to watch on television in October, you have a problem, or you just can’t afford cable or satellite (my apologies to you).

Baseball is my personal sport of preference. I love baseball and I grew up on baseball.

The best teams in Major League Baseball duke it out in the playoffs all September and early October to have a chance to compete in the Fall
Classic in the latter part of October, better known as the World Series.

Although I prefer Vin Scully to Joe Buck, the sounds of the announcers within the game give me that type of nostalgic feeling that everyone gets from something in their life.

Then comes college football. Nothing is really quite like getting together with a bunch of buddies and watching your favorite college football team play on a Saturday afternoon.

The workweek has just ended and the last thing on your mind is any midterms you have to study for or any papers you have to write for that matter. Check those at the door and revisit them the night before they are due.

There is something really special to be said about college football. To me, it has this special feel to it. The players really care whether they win or lose and they do not get paid for it.

Well maybe you did have to work on Saturday after all or you had to study for that midterm in order to pass the class. It would not worry some of us because the National Football League plays all day on Sunday.

There is the Sunday night game of the week then, of course, Monday Night Football.

Then there is basketball. Teams are preparing for the season in camps across the country, the Lakers are the usual story here in L.A. The basketball season kicks off somewhere around Halloween every year.

I’ll be honest, basketball is the only sport where I can sit and watch the entire game on television without becoming distracted too much at some point. Hey, I love baseball, but I am being realistic here.

The final sport is hockey. I have already said far too much than I originally anticipated about hockey so I will just stop there.

I just can’t get myself to watch the sport or follow it. An occasional visit to Staples Center or the Pond to watch a game can be exciting, I guess. It is a far better sport to watch in person than on television, I’ll leave it at that.

It is a great time of year. Last weekend I watched the Angels fold like a tent, USC beat Notre Dame in one of the greatest games in college football history, the Chargers beat the Raiders, a little preseason basketball and some hockey.

Alright, so I didn’t really watch that much hockey.

But it’s still a great time to be a sports fan.

Steven Falls, a senior communications major, is sports editor for the Campus Times. He can be reached by e-mail at fallss@ulv.edu.