The leaves are starting to change and the weather is getting colder. That means it’s my favorite time of year.
The month of October is full of sports action at its finest – college and professional football picks up, hockey and basketball season’s start and baseball playoffs get into swing. Is there a better time to be a sports fan?
Starting off the month strong, my favorite college football team, the Nebraska Cornhuskers, played long-time rival Mizzou Thursday.
For every college football follower, October is a telling time when we learn if much weighed predictions come true.
For example any team with a new coach, like Bill Snyder of Kansas State, is starting to see how that coach actually performs now that they’re in action.
This also goes for professional football. Preseason can only be so telling, and it takes real game play to show how a team is going to perform in the season.
Example – the St. Louis Rams preformed well in the preseason with three wins and one loss, putting them second on the NFC West team. But now, they are at the bottom and haven’t won a single game.
Hockey season has finally started.
Many Chicago Blackhawk fans have been waiting for this season to start since the end of last season when the Blackhawks made a strong appearance in the playoffs.
St. Louis fans are happy to see the start of a promising season with the Blues winning their first two games because hope has faded fast that the Rams will do any better this season.
Let’s not forget about the Bulls fans out there. Chicagoans were happy to see the Bulls start on a high, beating the Pacers.
Preseason started Oct. 1 and regular season will start on Oct. 27.
The best thing about October is MLB playoffs. Let’s be honest, it is the second best time of year, right next to the start of the MLB season in April.
Now this may not be a spectacular time of year for those of you who root for teams that haven’t been on the ball this season, but for those of us whose teams have secured a spot, we can’t wait to see how it all plays out.
But we can all agree that we are anxious to see which league takes the win this year.
Living in an area where there are three professional baseball eams, the students at Bradley have to be excited to watch the playoffs, even if their team didn’t make it.
But October is more then just a month filled with back-to-back sports action. It is also breast cancer aweareness month.
Many teams are taking action and raising awarness among their fans. For example, Brett Favre’s wife is a breast cancer survior, and he made sure to mention this in an interview after the game between the Packers and the Vikings.
Let’s review: there are four different big-name sports playing in the month of October, giving sports fanatics an smorgasbord of games to watch. This makes it an overall fan-favorite month and its only just beginning.
Jeri Kohn is a sophomore actuarial science and public relations major from Lincoln, Neb. She is the Scout assistant sports editor.
Direct questions, comments and other responses to jkohn@mail.bradley.edu.