Well the major league baseball season is done, we have crowned a new champion, the President has called the team and the ticker tape has fallen. Now what? The off season can be cruel to fans, no games to follow, no daily news on the team, what is a guy supposed to do?
Well there was an argument on the local sports talk radio the other day that baseball does the off season the best. By that they meant they were able to keep the fans involved in the league, even if there was no games by creating news. The examples of naming the managers of the year, Cy Young award winners, Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Players after the season then the start of free agency in December and once the holidays are done, you wake up and its March and the season starts again. Not a bad argument.
For more of an argument, let's look at the other sports. The NHL has a glitzy award show to present its awards, then free agency and the owners meetings seem to get alot of attention every year for how they might decide to change the game. Nothing ever really changes, but the Canadian sports channels take the opportunity for an 8 man panel show.
The NBA had one of its best off seasons ever because of the intrigue of free agency and where 3 of the top 15 players in the league would play the following season. This years free agency created 3 years of hype, but next summer the same won't be true because the players aren't as high profile. The NBA draft is always a good show in particular because it is only two rounds and that means basketball fans know most of the players being taken, unlike the other major sports which extend over multiple days.
Then we come to the new national pastime, the NFL. In my mind this is the league that has made its league a 12 month phenomenon. There isn't an off season anymore if you are a football fan. The NFL has created events around all of its activities that make it as popular as it is. Once the Super Bowl is played in February, there is the Pro Bowl the week after. Then the draftniks start making appearances to promote the April draft weekend. This year, the NFL moved its first round to Friday night in prime time, then continued the draft for the next two days. The whole draft is televised on its own network. After the draft, there is rookie camps, optional training activities (OTA) for players (which aren't really optional), then training camp starts in August and 3 weeks later the season starts again.
Which league can't you live without for 12 months and which league does it best in keeping you interested all year?
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