July

This month is characterized by the MLB’s All-Star Game, and the trading deadline. The mid-summer classic is a celebration of each individual’s performance during the first half of the season, and the players hold a selection to the All-Star team in high-esteem. In the days leading up to the All-Star game, we have the Home Run Derby where some of the game’s powerful players square off against each other by trying to out-mash each other. The trading deadline is placed on July 31, where general managers wheel-and-deal their players to build lineup/rotation that can carry their teams to a World Series championship. Players switch uniforms, and leave their old teams behind and build a new foundation for their new team. The Open Championship, the third tournament in the Grand Slam of golf, is played on the third Friday of the month at any of nine courses in the United Kingdom. Often called the British Open, it is the only major held outside of the United States, and since 2002, it has had the richest purse of all four majors. The NFL kicks into gear with teams reporting to training camps, where teams get a first look at their new acquisitions and how they perform in their new offense. Training camps start each NFL team’s high hopes of attaining that elusive Super Bowl ring. NASCAR’s season is steaming towards the postseason with races at Daytona, Chicago, and The Brickyard. Several UEFA Champions League clubs begin their quest for the European Cup.

August

Another month full of baseball games, only August games bring an added pressure of winning to inch closer to a postseason berth. The NFL pre-season games get underway, where teams finally get to see their new acquisitions in action against NFL talent, and how they adjust to the speed of the NFL game. Pre-season games are typically for rookies, and second stringers to compete for a spot on the team, and to show their coaches that they can contribute to their team. College football kicks off at the end of the month when every Division I-A team opens its season with its non-conference schedule, which is characterized by massive blowouts when the nation’s powerhouses tune up for a title run against talent-starved Division I-A teams or Division I-AA teams. The PGA wraps up its major schedule with the PGA Championship during the first week of the month. The PGA Championship, nicknamed “Glory’s last shot”, is the last major of the season and the last chance for golfers to claim a major championship during the season. Tennis also has its last major of their season in the US Open, held during the last week of the month and into September; another last chance to gain a major championship for the season. Last, but certainly not least, is five of the last six races in NASCAR before the chase for the Nextel Cup races begin. Races in California, Bristol, Michigan, Watkins-Glen, and Pocono take place during the course of the month and have a huge effect on the points standings for each driver looking to be in the top 12 to advance to the Nextel Cup chase.

September

As the calendar turns to the ninth month of the year, Americans are cured of their football fever that they have been suffering from for awhile when the NFL opens a new season early in the month. The most popular sport in America has everybody glued to their televisions every Sunday and gives us an outlet every Monday after a long day of work. The NFL draws over 67,000 viewers for each individual game making the NFL one of the most watched domestic sports in the world. College football continues during the month to its fifth week of games, where most teams have cleaned up the rust and start playing their conference schedule, and with an early loss dropping a team from the top ten, or out of the top 25 altogether (Michigan, anyone?). Baseball enters its last month of the season where teams are jockeying for better playoff position, or when teams make a run for the postseason (see Rockies and Phillies), or go through a fall from grace (see Mets). NASCAR starts the chase for the Nextel Cup with races at New Hampshire, Dover, and Kansas where the top 12 racers pick up valuable points to inch closer to that coveted championship. While the PGA has already played all of its majors, there still is one tournament that every golfer dreams of competing in: the Ryder Cup. The Ryder Cup is sort of like the Olympics for golf, pitting the American team versus the European team. It is a highly esteemed tournament that is played for country pride every two years. This famed tournament has been in existence since 1927. Like golf, tennis has finished its majors for the season, but there are still smaller tournaments that can keep a tennis player sharp for the beginning of next season.

October

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