The Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup. This not only signified the end of the NHL season but the start of something awful: summer sports purgatory. The weather is hot as balls and there isn’t much happening on the sporting calendar until college football week 0 rolls around in the last weekend of August.
Before we begin moaning about summer sports purgatory, let’s take a moment to thank hockey for delaying it by a few days. Usually, the NBA Draft is the official start date but the NHL elongating its season for an Olympic break gave us some extra relief. Also, the Stanley Cup Playoffs ending after the NBA Finals was an improvement and this change should be made permanent.
But that’s another topic for another article. Let’s focus on the here and now. It is an awful time to be a sports fan. Sure, there is baseball and the MLS. However, these aren’t fun to follow day-in and day-out. Most people enjoy watching one or two games a week. Anything more just becomes a grind. It’s like forcing yourself to eat salad with every meal. What’s the point?
There is the NBA Summer League, but this has become less watchable in recent years as teams rest star rookies. In fact, the first couple of days have become the best part. Also, RIP to the rinky-dink Orlando Summer League that was played in some practice gym with games starting at like 10am. It is amazing to think it has gone from that to a made-for-TV event.
Summer sports purgatory scraps the bottom of the barrel
Once you move past the previously mentioned sporting events, things get real depressing, real quick. The Basketball Tournament, or TBT, is fine, although still unmemorable. Playing at Rucker Park this year is a cool idea in theory. In reality, it remains a better venue for AND1 Mixtape games and not ones with an actual referee.
Auto racing is slightly less interesting. There is something about NASCAR, Indy racing and funny car racing that just isn’t very fun. F1 can eat a bag of donkey dicks for locking me out of the Japan Grand Prix a few years back despite having paid for tickets months in advance.
If the WNBA is your thing, that’s cool. Having watched and even covered games professionally, it does nothing for me.
Golf sucks to watch on television and this whole drama with the fake PGA Tour somehow makes the sport even less likeable. The Wimbledon finals are outstanding viewing, but there is no interest in the three weeks leading up to that point.
Australian sports are a bit of a saving grace. NRL is a lot of fun, although some people prefer Australian Football. The problem with these is the time difference. Games are on during the middle of the night which makes them impossible to watch for most sports fans.
As bad as living through the summer sports purgatory is, there is a silver lining. It means football season is nearly upon us. August 27 will be here faster than you think.
