Welcome, Augustana, to the Greatest Month of Sports: October.
Why, you ask, is it the greatest? Three reasons: Major League Baseball playoffs, College football upsets, and National Basketball Association preseason.
With all the MLB playoff spots clinched, it looks to be a race between the Philadelphia Phillies and Cincinnati Reds on the National League side and the Minnesota Twins and the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Yankees pose a threat, as always, but the Rangers, Twins, and Rays proved they can beat them in the regular season, and the luster of the "pinstripes" is wearing off.
The Phillies will most likely cruise their way into the World Series, after all, their top three pitchers (Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels, and Roy Oswalt) were a combined 13-1 in September.
Secondly, when you look at October, college football conference play is underway and teams who are familiar with one another find themselves playing. What that means for the top-rated squads, is that game-plans will be drawn up based on history, not just scouting. Look for Michigan St. to make noise in the Big Ten, Nebraska to continue their rise in the Big 12, UCLA upsetting a few schools atop the Pac-10, and Alabama to lose their top ranking in a conference game (probably against South Carolina), and Notre Dame to continue their mediocrity.
Finally, the NBA season is underway. While making an argument that professional basketball is relevant once again is difficult, I couldn't be more excited for the season.
Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh and in Miami, the Lakers are defending champs, and Shaq is once again with a new team. All's well that ends well.
What I'm most excited about this season is watching South Dakota native Mike Miller take his three-point shooting game to Miami, and prove that he is an all-star caliber player (or at least a sixth man award winner).
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