January-June: What's Your Favorite Sports Month?

There are two universal truths about sports: everybody has a sport that they follow (whether it be a major sport or a smaller, lesser-known sport), and sports are year-round.

Just as sure as the sun rising, every April baseball starts, every September football starts, and every October hockey and basketball start.

Not a fan of the pros? Well then, college sports kick off every year and create just as much buzz as their professional counterparts. College football kicks off every August, college basketball tips off every November, and college baseball starts every February.

Sports give us recurring themes, rivalries, and clutch moments that keep us tuned in all year long. The best part is when your sport ends, even though you don't want to see it end, because that means eventually a whole new season will start.

So without further adieu, I give you a month-by-month breakdown of the sporting schedule. Feel free to chime in with your favorite month of sports, and what the best month of sports is in your opinion.

January

We turn the calendar into the New Year with postseason football.

On the first, we have the famed Rose Bowl, which usually matches up two powerhouse football programs of the Big Ten and Pac-10. Frequent participants USC, Ohio State, and Michigan seem to make the Rose Bowl game a huge draw for college football fans.

In the next couple of days the football gods bless us with the three other BCS Bowls: the Orange Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, and the Fiesta Bowl. Not to mention the BCS National Championship Game.

On the professional side, the NFL playoffs kick off with the wild card games, ending with each conference's title games. At the end of the month we have all the hype leading up to the Super Bowl.

The NBA is two months into its season, with the players lobbying for more All-Star votes. The NHL has its All-Star game late in the month.

In college basketball teams are in the midst of conference play and the rankings are changing every week.

Other leagues in action are UEFA Champion League, the English Premiere League, and the PGA. Tennis has its first Grand Slam tournament of the year with the Australian Open, held at Melbourne Park in Australia.

February

This month opens with a bang with the Super Bowl on the first Sunday of the month. The most watched sporting event in the US easily makes February a top month in sports.

In addition to the Super Bowl, February boasts the NBA All-Star game. The re-emergence of the slam dunk contest (Thanks, Dwight.) adds another must-see in February.

College basketball and the NHL are gearing up for their postseasons, with each team fighting for higher seedings.

NASCAR opens up its season with its most historic race, the Daytona 500, in which drivers make their marks on their sport.

In the PGA, golfers are honing their skills for the year's majors while playing the beautiful Spyglass Hill Golf Course in Pebble Beach, CA in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

March

March is highlighted by the 65-team playoff in college basketball.

Probably the best tournament in sports, this event gets critical acclaim for its one-and-done format and intense battles between powerhouse programs. The champion must win six in a row to claim the title.

The NCAA tournament is known for its game-winning shots and powerhouse match-ups that aren't scheduled during the regular season.

It’s almost playoff time for the NBA and NHL. The MVP race is heating up in both leagues, while teams battle for home court advantage.

America’s pastime kicks into gear with each team traveling to Florida or Arizona to work off the rust of the offseason with spring training games.

NASCAR starts its season with races in Las Vegas, Bristol, Martinsville, and Atlanta.

Golf has its Arnold Palmer Invitational, a famous tournament in honor of the golf legend.

April

April is packed with anticipation and intensity.

The NBA and NHL playoffs kick off in the middle of the month. Teams that have fought hard all season hope to establish a reputation of delivering in the playoffs.

Towards the end of the month some of the individual NBA awards are handed out: the Sixth Man of the Year, the Defensive Player of the Year, and most importantly, the Most Valuable Player.

With baseball's opening day coming early in the month, and the NFL draft later in the month, each team has its anticipation running high for the upcoming season.

In golf we have the first, and most prestigious, major of the season in the Masters tournament held at historic Augusta National.

Many golfers have transformed this tournament in the most well-known major in golf. Whether it is Jack Nicklaus winning consecutive Masters’ jackets in 1965-66, Tiger Woods' four Masters’ jackets, or Gary Player’s record-setting 51 appearances at the Masters.

Fans fill their favorite college football stadiums to witness their teams' spring games every April in hopes that this year will bring the glory of a national championship.

Other notable events are the UEFA Champions League playoffs, and NASCAR's races at Talledega, Phoenix, and Texas.

May

May plunges us right into the middle of the NHL and NBA playoffs.

Each league is in the second round or further in their respective playoffs. The NHL has its conference finals towards the end of the month, and the NBA has its conference finals starting at the end of the month and possibly going into June.

For all those horse racing fans out there, the famed “most exciting two minutes in sports” takes place on the first Saturday of the month at the Kentucky Derby. The first leg of the Triple Crown has a long and historic history, dating back to its first running in 1875, and drawing a crowd of 155,000 fans or more per race.

The second leg of the Triple Crown is held two weeks after the Kentucky Derby. The history of the Preakness Stakes is just as long and historic as the Kentucky Derby, dating back to its first running in 1873.

For the most popular sport in the world, the UEFA Champions League has its final match, pitting two of the top soccer clubs against each other with star-power galore.

Baseball opens up its second full month of the season. Teams are still working out some of the rust and building their division records for later in the season.

Racing fans are treated to the famed Indianapolis 500, held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indiana.

The Indy 500 is one of the most important motor racing events today. It draws one of the largest audiences, including both radio and television audiences. An estimated 270,000 people attend the race annually.

Tennis has its second Grand Slam tournament with the French Open, held in Paris, France. This physically demanding tournament draws the widest worldwide audience of all tennis events, and ends in early June.

The PGA is well into its season, with golfers hitting their marks and producing under-par scores in the teens, highlighted by the Players Championship held in Florida.

Finally, NASCAR has races in Richmond, Darlington, their All-Star Race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, and Charlotte as drivers rack up points in the chase for the Sprint Cup.

June

As the temperature rises in this summer month, so does the intensity for teams left standing in the NHL and NBA playoffs.

Both leagues have their final series, with the winners taking home the Stanley Cup or Larry O’Brien Trophy and marking their places in history as the best teams of the season.

Each league also has its annual draft. This can make a lottery team a playoff contender the next season, or give bad teams hope that, with the right pick, they can set their team up for success for many years to come.

However, a bad pick can see a team plummet in the standings and give them a top pick in the draft the next year.

The third and final leg of the Triple Crown of horse racing is the Belmont Stakes, held three weeks after the Preakness Stakes. The Belmont is the race where a horse can cement itself in racing history.

With victories here, at the Kentucky Derby, and at the Preakness, the horse claims the Triple Crown.

This race, like the other two Triple Crown races, has a long history, dating back to 1867 for its first running.

Baseball starts the dog days of summer, with June being the month in which players campaign for a starting spot in the upcoming All-Star game.

Golf has its second major of the season in the U.S. Open, held at Torrey Pines Golf Club in La Jolla, California this year. This is another major that draws a huge audience and many elite golfers.

Tennis has its third, and oldest, Grand Slam tournament with Wimbledon, held in London, England, which ends in July.

NASCAR has races at Pocono, Dover, Michigan, Sonoma, and New Hampshire.

The July-December installment of "What's Your Favorite Sports Month?" will be available shortly.

*2007-2008 schedules were used for all sporting events mentioned.