The days of April 20 thru 30 in 2013 ran the gamut of Field of Dreams' excitement. Starting with the Final Four of March Madness and culminating with the last holes of the Master’s, we corpulent couch potatoes looked forward to the opening games of Major League Baseball (not to mention the college baseball insanity), the PGA Warm-up Tournament finale, NASCAR mayhem, the NCAA Basketball Championship game, the Master’s practice rounds, the Pro-Am, the 4-day Tournament in Augusta, the University of Georgia G Day football game — what have I forgotten?

Does it matter?

Of course, some say the Kentucky Derby in May supersedes them all (I disagree; horse racing is an exhibition, not a sport, right up there with cock and/or dog fighting.)

Others are prone to swoon over tennis and golf’s U.S. Opens and sundry subsidiary events: Wimbledon, the PGA, etc., the World Series, the Super Bowl, ad infinitum. I personally love them all. I do all possible not to miss a moment. I would rather tailgate in the family room in front of my flat screen than win the Nobel Prize for History!

Well, almost.

Come to think of it, we live in a time — and a country — that allows us to thrive on sporting events. And is not that special!

The economy is still in the toilet, there are nutcases in the Middle East who would not know a hockey puck from a Frisbee, Democrats hate Republicans, Republicans hate Independents, Independents hate the NRA, the NRA hates everyone — and yet Americans from coast to coast with a credit card have big screen, flat HDTVs with which to watch PBS, the History Channel, Discovery, C-Span. . . .

Yeah, right! If I got a choice between Friday Night Smack Down and Ken Burns, where do you all think I would be?

Notwithstanding the National Figure Skating competition, the drought between the Super Bowl and March Madness will be over soon enough. Normalcy on the Tube will return. The stock market will recover. The housing market has got breathing room. Twenty-two people will find work. There is hope.

God save Jim Nantz !





Robert A. Mills
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