I know there's about 400+ articles about why Fall is the best season, but I can't sit idly by and read another post about pumpkin spice, flannels, and orange leaves. In every post, football shows up, but it's so much deeper than that. The sports we get in the fall are underrated and deserve more attention than a sport that will be on its last legs in 20 years. So I made a list about the 5 reasons fall is REALLY the best season.
1. Playoff baseball
After the long season and dealing with baseball being the only sport on regularly, it finally comes to a head when the playoffs start. These games are as exciting as 4 hour, 9 inning games can be, but there's an electric feeling around every game. Not the best aspect of fall sports, but it provides a more fun atmosphere than a 102 degree game in July.
2. Soccer (Specifically Premier League)
Soccer is so low on this list only because it's a sport than transcends nearly every season. However, Premier League begins right at the end of summer, and while it gets more exciting in the Spring, the beginning of any season is exciting. However, this year we get the thrill of the end of World Cup qualifying and the drama of if the US will make it or if Messi and Argentina will miss the cut.
3. Football
The go-to sport for the Fall season. Die hard fandoms, tailgates, crazy upsets in college football, are all the makings of a fantastic sport. What puts this right in the middle is how the NFL is run and how little action we actually get during the game. College Football averages around 4 hours per game, or at least Tech games do. NFL has tried to combat the issue and has gotten the average time to around 3 hours. Still, that's triple or quadruple the actual time of the game. Within those 60 minutes though is about 10-15 minutes of the game actually being played, there are times when I would rather tailgate and watch the game at home. It's a great sport, just not worth the preparation and dealing with drunk students, standing for 4 hours, and watching the team lose in the last minute.
4. Basketball
Basketball is almost like soccer at this point, year round. Not officially, the season runs October-June. However, with the most electric free agency, blockbuster trades, and the draft/Summer League, basketball knows how to maintain relevance even when there are not games being played. While the drama of the season is pretty low as a whole, the individual games are so much fun to watch. We all know the Cavaliers and Warriors are going to make the Finals, and a Raptors/Timberwolves game in the winter will be just as good as a Thunder/Rockets playoff game.
5. Hockey
Finally, the greatest sport that starts in the fall: hockey. It helps that the Blackhawks are the best regular season team, so I don't have to worry about the playoffs collapses that have happened in the past few years right when the season starts. While hockey does die out in the middle of summer, the build-up from pre-season leading into the regular season is unmatched. Hockey is not as popular as football, as talked about year round as basketball, not as long as baseball, but what you get is 3, 20 minute periods (equal game time to football) with something happening for all 60. The pace is ridiculous, the season is reasonable, and the athletes are some of the best in all of sports. While this sport also concludes in June, hockey fans are relentless from October until their team is eliminated from Championship contention.
