Those April showers

If you’re a big sports fan, April has to be your favorite time of year.

Why?

Every major sport is covered, not counting curling.

If you’re a big basketball fan, there’s the Final Four in both the men’s and women’s game.

Unfortunately, it also means having to listen to that “One Shining Moment” song after the men’s champion is crowned.

Is it just me or does CBS change the song a little bit every year?

Hopefully, color man Billy Packer will actually sound like he’s at the same game as his partner, Jim Nantz.

If you would rather see the players that play for pay, there’s the start of the NBA playoffs where, for some reason, every team dons black shoes and socks and the on-court fights increase drastically.

So you happen to be more of a baseball lover?

You have Major League Baseball opening day, starting with the best rivalry in sports between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. Just how many Red Sox players will try to fight Alex Rodriguez this season?

If you like hockey there’s the start of the NHL playoffs.

Wait a minute. Scratch that. The season was cancelled.

Did anyone even notice?

Well at least there’s college hockey and the Frozen Four, though I’m pretty sure no one outside of the Midwest cares.

The NFL season ended in February, but there is the NFL draft on April 23-24, the weekend where every general manager in the league thinks he got the steal of the draft and every fan around the country wishes he had read just one more mock draft.

The down side?

Having to look at Mel Kiper’s hair for all 17 hours of coverage on ESPN and ESPN 2. Does that hair ever move?

Probably not.

You must also be prepared to hear the words “reach” and “steal” in 24 hours more than you ever have before in your life.

There is also the Spring Game for every college football team in the nation, a time when every coach either gets excited for the upcoming season or realizes his team isn’t very good and wants to change his non-conference schedule to “cupcake city”. Or in some extreme cases, retire.

Though it’s usually whichever comes first.

There’s the PGA Tour and its most prestigious tournament: the Masters.

It will be the only time when wearing a green jacket is better than winning thousands of dollars. It’s also the next chance Tiger Woods gets to prove that he really is the No. 1 player in the country and not the overrated golfer he has been for the last few years.

That’s what April has to offer.

If you’re not excited, you’re probably not the sports fan you thought you were.