Best Weekend of the Year

For those of you who have been reading my blog from the beginning, you may remember that I decried the last weekend of January as the worst sports weekend of the year. Well today I get to talk about the flip side as this weekend is, without a doubt, the best sports weekend of the year. All four major sports have something going on this weekend. The only other time that happens occasionally is at the end of October when the start of the NBA season sometimes overlaps with the World Series, but that is not quite as good as only two baseball teams are playing and basketball and hockey are just starting a very long season.

As for this weekend, the NBA and NHL are in the midst of the first round of the playoffs and since both these leagues feel the need to allow over half the teams into the playoffs, then there is a good chance that your team is still playing. I, for one, am looking forward to Game 6 between the Flyers and Penguins later today and Game 4 between the Sixers and Magic tomorrow. If you’re interested in my prediction, I think the Flyers will force Game 7 to be played Monday night, but will fall short against the Pens in Game 7. As for the Sixers, I think they will drop the next two games, but win Game 6 to force a decisive Game 7 as well. Before the playoffs, I would have never predicted that the Sixers would take the Magic to 7 games, but I believe that is where we are headed. As for Game 7, I tell you what I think if it gets there.

Major League Baseball is also now well into it’s season. The Phillies are once again off to a slow April start. At 7-8, they are 3 ½ games behind the Florida Marlins, but after last night’s comeback win against those Marlins (the Phillies scored 7 runs in the ninth to win 7-3), it’s good to remember that this is a long season and there is plenty of baseball to be played. As for this weekend, the Fightin’ Phils can continue to cut into the Marlins lead as they have two more games against the Fish.

However, one of the biggest sports headlines this weekend is the NFL Draft. If you are one of those people who don’t understand the excitement of the NFL Draft and would rather watch the NBA or NHL Playoffs, just consider this – you are in the minority. The past few years the NFL Draft has actually had a higher television share than either the NBA or NHL Playoffs. Now that the new commissioner Roger Goodell has shortened the time of the first round picks from 15 minutes to 10 minutes, it moves a lot faster and the excitement is that much better.

Well, that’s a run down of the weekend. I know many of you are planning to go out and enjoy some of the beautiful weather we are having here on the East Coast, but I have a lot of sports to watch.