USA: July. The NBA And NHL have wrapped up, NFL training camp and the preseason don’t start until the end of the month or August; as a bonus, the baseball All-Star game is in the middle of it, basically shutting down the sport for almost a week. For an American sports fan these are the dog days of summer!
Runner up is February as the NFL season ends, spring training baseball doesn’t start until March, and its mid season NHL, NBA and college basketball. YUK
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February wins by a long shot. I like hockey well enough but I prefer to watch it live which doesn’t happen too often. I don’t care about basketball. I’m just ticking off the days until baseball.
yeah only bright spot in feb is the nba all star game/weekend
February and March are pretty awful; the NHL and NBA are grinding through boredom, there’s no football. Baseball has spring training in March but it doesn’t matter.
The worst days, of course, are the two days after the MLB all star game, where all four leagues are dark.
Definitely agreed. From a pro sports standpoint, March isn’t a whole lot better, other than baseball spring training, which is probably why the NCAA basketball tournament has become so huge – it’s expanded to fill the available space in the sports fan’s consciousness.
Not sure which team you root for, but our football team always plays in February. You should double check the schedule.
:p:D
This is not a single country, but motorsports in general are mostly dead from late November until about February/March. There are only a few major, but relatively niche, events during this time of year.
The Dakar Rally is in January (though this year it was shortened to 10 stages in a single country rather than the usual 13 across multiple countries). There’s also the Monte Carlo rally that starts the WRC season towards the end of January, and the 24 Hours of Dayonta in late Jan/early Feb. The all-electric Formula E series also runs out of sync with the traditional race calendar, from December to July.
For a college basketball fan (like me), February is second only to March. Conference races are heating up, the tournament bracket is on everybody’s mind, and one can find at least one competitive game on the tube every day.
Nitpick: MLB is dark the day before and the day after the all-star game. Last year, there were no games on July 16th and July 18th; the all-star game was on the 17th.
Yeah, the slog though February and March is the worst. I do like hockey but I’m starting to itch for the playoffs. The new golf schedule has me all confused, I used to know the first couple of months of the tour schedule by heart. I’ve lost all interest in the NBA and college basketball. Baseball spring training seems to drag on forever. And, of course, in general, I’m sick of winter and ready for better weather. I usually have my European trip in May, so the months leading up to it seem interminable.
I am golf fan, so I would say December.
I’d argue the opposite. I hate All Star games as a rule.
I actually don’t mind February too much. You have the Super Bowl…which sucks up the entire first week. Every 4 years you get the Winter Olympics. You then have the NBA trade deadline which is usually pretty interesting and the aforementioned All Star break. The back half of the month is when the College Hoops conference races are wining down (though most of the drama is in March), so that can be good TV due to a lot of rivalry games. Even if you don’t love mid-season NBA and NHL, it’s WAY better than July unless you REALLY love mid-summer baseball.
I don’t want to say things are slow, but you can watch “Senior Bowl Practice: From Mobile, Ala.” on ESPNU today…
For NFL Draft junkies like me, that’s a feature, not a bug.
You are right that it’s a day before and a day after. But the day before at least has the Home Run Derby, which can at least be amusing. The day after the MLB All Star Game is the most boring day in US sports.
It looks like this year there will be 2 dead days after the all star game, the ASG is July 9 and games resume on Friday July 12.
I’m pretty sure there were a couple of games played on the Thursday after the ASG last year, but they may have been make up games with all the early season weather postponements.
There’s just the Tour De France going on during that time and some years you’ll get the World Cup or Euro soccer tournaments.
For this Canuck it’s the summer, with no hockey and no footy. The French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open are my only condolences during that time.
There was one game on that Thursday (July 19, 2018), but it was a regularly-scheduled game between the Cubs and Cardinals.
This year, once again, there is one regularly-scheduled game on the Thursday following the ASG, which is July 11. This one features the Rangers hosting the Astros.
I have to add to my post a Horrible Sport Week. From January 20-26 I have had to endure:
-Endless whining from New Orleans fans about the officiating in the NFC title game
-Pro Bowl
-The Philadelphia Flyers taking the week off
-Endless social media rumors about Bruce Harper and Manny Machado signing or not signing with the Philadelphia Phillies
-A nasty article insinuating Philadelphia Eagles QB Carson Wentz MIGHT be a cur
-Another press report that Sixers Jimmy Butler is a locker room cancer, and endless calls on sports talk radio Ben Simmons sucks
AAAAAAAARGH!!!
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/snip
If Sixers fans didn’t realize this after the stories and bullshit that chased him from Chicago and Minnesota, it’s entirely on them. It would be like a Falcons fan only thinking Tom Brady might be a good football player guy after 28-3.
If you’re a footy fan, there is MLS in summer. You even have a choice of three Canadian teams.
It didn’t used to be February for me, but has become so. That’s because both the local NBA team and my college team are mostly shown on channels I don’t get. And I’m not a hockey fan. March, however, is the beginning of MLS, so that’s what I’m mainly waiting for right now.