Why April is the best month in sports

There is some debate as to which month on the sports calendar is best, but that debate ends here. April is the undisputed champ. It is the best month in sports. Why, you ask? Let us count the ways.

The NFL Draft
It’s impossible to overstate the hold that the NFL has on the American sports scene. Even though other leagues are in their postseasons, or have just started their year anew, the draft is for many sports fans the biggest event of the spring. Wondering why your friend is suddenly scouring the internet for Florida A&M game film, or why they suddenly can’t stop talking about broad jumps and three-cone drills? Are they talking obsessively about what a player’s tape says about him as opposed to his workouts? Blame the draft. I have a friend whose job is serious, time-consuming, and important to him. It has nothing to do with sports. Yet he happily says that the draft is arguably his favorite event on the calendar, even more so than the actual games, and the amount of free time he spends on it makes me believe him. He makes charts, reads obsessively, scours film, and even makes his own mock drafts, complete with rationale for each pick. The fact that there are probably a few hundred thousand people just like him in this regard is a testament to the NFL’s primacy.

The NBA and NHL playoffs finally arrive
My infant son was still over a month from being born when the 2018-19 NBA and NHL seasons started. He is now capable of rolling over on his own, sleeping through the night, holding his head up on his own, and by the time both regular seasons actually come to an end, he’ll be inching closer to trying “people food” for the first time. Does that put into perspective the interminable nature of the NBA and NHL’s regular season grind? Thankfully, our reward as fans for putting up with meaningless games between going-nowhere teams is the playoffs. The first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs might be the best post-season action in any sport, and the NBA Playoffs tend to get better and better as they go. The intensity in both leagues ratchets up considerably, especially the NBA, and the tension of overtime playoff hockey is almost too much for many fans to bear. With games in both leagues running every night from the middle of April onward, it’s a sports fan’s dream come true.

Opening Day
Okay, technically Opening Day was in March this year, but do you really think of it as a “March” thing? Me neither. The calendar turning to April means that baseball is back, and baseball being back means that summer is just around the corner. The sport has its warts, from where I sit, but they are far outweighed by its merits. Baseball’s daily grind, unlike that of the NBA or NHL, is probably a better measure of the sport’s best team than its crapshoot playoff format. The pomp and pageantry of Opening Day has a certain cachet that the other three “big four” sports leagues simply can’t match. Does your team stink? Doesn’t matter if they win on Opening Day.

The Final Four
It doesn’t always work this way, but when the Final Four delivers a classic game or two, like Villanova’s all-time thriller over North Carolina in 2016, there are few things better. Rabid crowds, the occasional Cinderella crashing the party, and more often than not, bluebloods slugging it out in heavyweight battles define the pinnacle of the college basketball season. The games feel like a larger-than-life spectacle, owing to the fact that they’ve outgrown mere arenas and are now played in gargantuan football stadiums, which, to be fair, has somewhat cheapened the whole experience from a purist’s perspective. Still, if you’re able to sell 70,000 tickets, you’ve got to sell 70,000 tickets.

The Masters
Full disclosure: I am a much bigger fan of both the Open Championship and the U.S. Open than I am of the Masters. The battle of man versus elements at the birthplace of the game, and man versus sadistic USGA setup at some of this country’s most historic venues just appeals to me much more than the whole Masters vibe. Having said that, if you consider yourself a golf fan, there is a good chance that the Masters is your favorite tournament of the year. It’s practically a four-day holiday weekend for some of my friends, who very literally call off of work to sit and watch all four rounds—that is, if they didn’t win the ticket lottery. Augusta National can be toothless if it rains, and today’s players, with modern equipment, can pummel the ball, but if things dry out, there’s trouble everywhere. I could do without the over-the-top elitism and the absurd ground rules (no running, for example) at Augusta, but the tournament itself is an incredible spectacle, and like Opening Day, a sign that summer is right around the corner.