Post-spring break can be a depressing time for some UW-Madison sports fans. Basketball and hockey have finished and there's no baseball (and that's not going to change anytime soonA-—sorryA- Badger fans). But do not despair, for the world of professional sports has picked up considerably in the past two weeks, and sports fans have no reason to be bored in the next two months.
First off, the Stanley Cup playoffs started last night. I know barely anybody watches the NHL anymore, but if you're going to start, now is the time. The NHL has the most fast-paced, bruising playoffs of any sport and is easily the most exciting to watch. There is at least one overtime game per series and rivalries come alive when April hits. I've got the Red Wings' Dominik Hasek defeating his former team the Buffalo Sabres for the Cup.
If you're looking for an opening round series to introduce yourself to the NHL, look no further than the Pittsburgh-Ottawa series. Ottawa has two Wisconsin connections (superstar Dany Heatley as well as Mike Eaves' son play for the Senators) and their first line of Heatley, Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza is the best in hockey. On the other side of the ice, you have the Penguins, who were in danger of relocating coming into this year. The Pens have an incredible young base in Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal, and it will be interesting to see how Crosby (who led the NHL with 120 points) will respond in his first playoff experience.
In the NFL, commissioner Roger Goodell finally dished out some justice by suspending Pac-Man Jones for the entire year and Chris Henry for half of it. Crime ran rampant through the NFL last season and something needed to be done. Jones has been questioned 10 times by police in the offseason and whenever ESPN.com did their table of the Bengals' crime woes, Henry always needed an asterisk next to his name because they couldn't fit his number of arrests in the box. Perhaps this will finally quell the growing problem of crime in the NFL and turn Cincinn-attica back into a team people can cheer for.
It is April, which means baseball has gloriously returned. Besides the postponements for cold weather (c'mon, there's no reason they can't play in 30 degree weather, just tell them to man up and play), the first few weeks have been fantastic. Daisuke Matsuzaka looks dominant, Johan Santana does too (which is amazing, because he never looks good in April) and it's early, but it looks like there will be many exciting pennant races this season. There's always the Sox-Yanks, but the AL Central will be an interesting race and the Braves-Mets-Marlins should be a fight to the bitter end.
So put away that tub of ice cream and that container of cookie dough. Just turn on Versus to watch some hockey or ESPN for some baseball and you'll feel a lot better.
Want to share your joy of the spring season with Zach? Send him an e-mail at Zlkukkonen@dailycardinal.com.
