The Square Life

I don’t know if you realize it, but exciting things are happening right now in sports. To honor my own personal excitement, here is my list of top five reasons you should be excited too.

1. The Mountain West Conference is becoming a powerhouse football conference. Weird, but somehow true. For you BYU fans out there, I hope you don’t think this bye week means you can stop paying attention to college football this Saturday. Do you realize that the most important game for BYU so far takes place this weekend? That’s right. If TCU beats Oklahoma in Norman on Saturday, the roof will be completely removed. BYU, along with TCU and Utah, would officially be in the hunt for not just the BCS, but for the BCS Championship Game! Bruce Feldman from ESPN even went so far as to proclaim that if TCU pulls off the upset the MWC “leapfrogs every league outside of the SEC in conference rankings.” Wow.  

2. Baseball. I know some of you out there are baseball haters. “It’s so slow.” “It’s so boring.” “Why does he keep grabbing his privates, and what is that black stuff oozing out of his lower lip?” I’ve heard it all before. But you cannot deny the excitement of playoff baseball. It really is a classic. This postseason will be no exception. The Red Sox are looking good again, and the Angels are really tough. But if Cinderella is your type, the Cubs are in the hunt, along with the surprising Rays, the Phillies, and Manny’s Dodgers. We’re in for some good baseball.

But what makes me most excited is that the Yankees played their last game in Yankee Stadium on Sunday. While watching highlights, I was reminded of the destruction of the Death Star in Return of the Jedi and of the crumbling all-seeing eye in Return of the King. It took about 90 years, but the Red Sox have finally returned to the top of the baseball world. Blickety!

3. Fantasy Football. I really think everybody should be required to have a fantasy team. When you register your car or register to vote, you should have to register for fantasy football too. Yesterday, both my teams laid huge eggs. But it’s all good. At least I’m out there, shooting for the stars. (“What is he talking about?”)

4. Ryder Cup. For those three of you who watched Boo and the boys take the Cup back for the first time in 9 years, wasn’t that fun? I really think all golf tournaments should be openly raucous like the Ryder Cup is. It adds a whole new element to the game when the crowd erupts in cheers after a guy misses a putt. Are you telling me The Masters wouldn’t be twice as exciting with fans being allowed to yell stuff like, “Hey Sergio, maybe you can win a pink jacket!” as walks off the green? Either way, this has been a great year for U.S. sports teams. Never mind our economy.

5. There is no better time for sports viewing than right now. You can watch College Football, NFL Football, MLB Playoffs, and before long, the NBA preseason will begin. (Not to mention NASCAR. Really, I don’t want to mention that part. “Look, he’s going in another circle! That’s like a hundred of those!”) My point is there is no such thing as boredom during autumn weekends. The NFL is wide open, the local college boys are on fire, baseball playoffs always makes for water-cooler conversations, and if that isn’t enough, just hang tight while the tall boys get their sneakers warmed up.