By Jacob Horton
For sports enthusiasts all over the country, no other time of the year can compete with the fall. To quote the late Andy Williams and his world-renown 1963 Christmas hit, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year.” Regardless of your team or sport, the upcoming fall slate of action never fails to disappoint.
At the top of the list of fall sports stands football, in all of its glory. Here in America, football serves as the driving force behind almost everything we do. In the southeastern region of the United States, football is a way of life. Since there are not many professional football organizations in our region, college football tends to be the preferred choice among most fans. Weddings, birthdays and other social gatherings are all planned with extreme caution on Saturdays during the fall.
Let’s stop beating around the bush here; football is what makes the fall so great. Everything about it seems to bring out the best in everybody that chooses to partake in this revelry. The food, the atmosphere, the rivalries; one could make a list of all the positives that come included with this great sport.
Arguably the best thing about football is that in our country, we have a day (or night) of the weekend dedicated to each and every level of competition, with the occasional weeknight game thrown in. Friday nights belong to high school football, with the majority of teams across the nation kicking off on this day. Then you have your college football on Saturdays, which in our part of the country can be the reason behind a good or bad proceeding week at work or school. We wrap up our weekend with a little bit of professional football on Sundays, which also may consist of an afternoon nap as we try to recover from yesterday’s college games. Three whole days of nonstop football watching action is how most sports fans in our country spend their weekends in the fall.
While football serves as the main attraction for fall entertainment, there are still other sporting events that take place during this time that can be as exciting. September and October provide us with enthusiastic, down-to-the-wire pennant races in Major League Baseball. As the lengthy 162-game regular season comes to a close, teams all over the MLB look to punch their post season tickets in hopes of bringing home a World Series title.
Unlike football, where one may only get to watch it on certain nights, playoff baseball is on television every evening until a champion is crowned. These postseason games feature close-knit action, where one pitch could result in the difference between winning and losing a series. These games have the calmest of baseball fans on the edge of their seats, clinging nervously to every play. When it comes to middle of the week prime time television entertainment, look for a postseason baseball to be able to do the trick.
As the leaves begin to change colors and we approach the beloved season of fall, sports fans all over begin to rejoice over the great things that they know are to come. No matter what level of competition, the satisfaction we get from these sporting events cannot be rivaled. Some of our greatest memories in life can be associated with these events that take place every year. From a fan’s perspective, there really is no better time than fall.