Oh, what a wonderful time of year.
Temperatures are rising, days are getting longer, and the vibrant colours of new, fresh life are starting to show their faces again.
You can even feel that dark, dense cloud of seasonal depression that hangs over your head and fogs your mind begin to lift and dissipate with every warm ray of sunshine that hits your skin.
And that’s before even mentioning the absolute treat that springtime sports are for sports fans. Hockey, basketball, baseball, soccer, mountain biking, and skiing all at the same time—with some football free agency action sprinkled in—makes this truly the greatest time of year for sports.
And this spring has been one for the ages.
Already we have witnessed a Cinderella story in the March Madness college basketball tournament with the 15th-seeded Saint Peter’s Peacocks going farther than any 15 seed ever with wins against the second-seeded Kentucky Wildcats, seventh-seeded Murray State Racers, and third-seeded Purdue Boilermakers before losing to the University of North Carolina Tar Heels in the Elite Eight. If that’s not enough, we also got to see the first-ever tournament meeting between heated rivals UNC and Duke when they faced off in their Final Four matchup on Saturday, April 2.
But aside from college basketball, this spring we’ve also been witness to what may be the greatest NFL offseason of all time.
Never before have there been so many blockbuster trades in a single offseason, and the course of the entire league has been altered heading into next season. Aaron Rodgers’ record-setting $50-million contract kicked things off, followed shortly by the shocking move that sent his top pass-catching option Davante Adams to the Oakland Raiders with a new record-setting contract of his own at $28 million per year.
In response to seeing Adams’ contract, Kansas City Chiefs superstar wide receiver Tyreek Hill demanded a similar payday, which forced the team to trade him to the Miami Dolphins, who subsequently signed the wideout to a $30-million-per-year contract. Crazy stuff.
The Denver Broncos got in on the action, too, as they traded for Seattle Seahawks Superbowl-winning QB Russell Wilson. And Deshaun Watson finally got his wish to get out of Houston, with a trade to Cleveland where he will take the place of 2018 first overall pick Baker Mayfield. With all these moves, plus a few others like the Chargers bolstering their defence and the Colts bringing in veteran QB Matt Ryan, the AFC went from what was essentially a two-horse race to having seven legit contenders.
Next season is going to be a wild one.
It’s almost overwhelming how much excitement the last month and a bit has brought sports fans. And nearing the top of that list, for the first time in my memory, is the Canadian men’s soccer team. It’s not often that I (or most Canadians, for that matter) are talking about soccer ahead of the other major sports, but qualifying for their first World Cup since 1986 with a 4-0 win against Jamaica definitely gets them in the running of most exciting moment of the spring. And to do it all without arguably their best player Alphonso Davies is truly remarkable.
The groupings for the World Cup were announced on April 1, with Canada landing in a group with Croatia, Belgium and Morocco. The competition will be stiff, but with momentum on its side, nothing is out of the question for this Canadian squad.
And finally, if all this wasn’t enough to get your heart racing as a sports fan, springtime also means NHL playoffs are right around the corner. Apologies to the old TV show Dancing on Ice, but the real “greatest show on ice”—the NHL playoffs—will be kicking off in early May. And with the emergence of the Florida Panthers and Calgary Flames as two of the league’s best teams, there are now five strong contenders (six if you actually think the Leafs count) that could go all the way.
But the beautiful thing about the NHL playoffs is it’s not just about the contenders. Every year we see upsets, meltdowns, miracle runs and non-stop action all the way to one team lifting the Stanley Cup.
With each of the last two spring seasons being mired by that pesky COVID-19 pandemic, it’s refreshing to return to a time when we can be excited about sports without being scared that they might be taken away from us again.
Maybe, just maybe, this awesome last month of sports is a sign of good things to come for the rest of the year. I know that may be a little optimistic as experts say a sixth wave could be on its way, but it’s hard not to get carried away when there is so much exciting sports action all around us.
