Sports View: Seasons definitely too mixed up

By Sun Advocate

For years I have heard people say that anymore they are having a hard time telling the difference between the seasons. Winter seems to run into spring and fall and summer seems to do the same.
But I’m not talking about the weather; I’m talking about sports.
If you have a good cable or satellite hookup right now you can watch baseball, football, basketball, hockey and soccer all in the same evening.
Here are some problems with what we are witnessing as far as I am concerned.
First the World Series. I can see the day when the final games of the annual ritual are played on Thanksgiving weekend. What a great way to celebrate Americana. It seems to get later every year with the boys of summer also becoming the toddlers of spring and the old men of the fall.
Heck, why do we just let ’em use an orange ball and play in January too, particularly in places like Milwaukee.
Football. It used to be when you went to a football game you were prepared for cool weather. For half the season now, you have to wear shorts and a tank top just to stay cool. Alcohol is served to cool you down early in the season and to warm you up in December.
Basketball. As much of a fan as I am of this game, I am not enough of a fan to see it played 365 days a year. Right now if you follow the minor leagues, the NBA, the college game and the WNBA you can literally find a game being played somewhere all the time. I blame some of this on the Olympics. James Naismith invented the sport for wintertime, but the Olympics put it in the games as a summer sport.
Of course in the pros when you pay the guys more than the national debt for bouncing a ball, you had better get your money’s worth.
Soccer. This is one of those sports in which you must admire the players. They don’t worry about a little rain or playing in Green Bay in late November. They run around with no protective equipment and sometimes few clothes regardless of the weather. It still remains mainly a summer and early fall sport despite the fact the pros have gotten their hands on it.
Hockey. Of all the sports to remain the truest to it’s natural season, hockey seems newer and fresher now. But that might just be because no one had played it at the highest professional level for almost a year and a half until the last couple of weeks.
Maybe that’s the way to get these sports back into their natural seasons. Lock out the players for a couple of years and then things will settle down.
Or by that time they might all become professional poker players.