April may be my favourite month of the year. No, not because I celebrate a birthday in it and not because it usually means it’s the end of another cold Albertan winter.
I love April because it is single-handedly the most exciting month for any sort of sports fan. Be it the die-hard fans hoping their teams qualify for their league’s respective playoffs, or fans excited for their teams to start a new campaign with aspirations of an ever-elusive title.
April is even great for the common fans, who may not necessarily follow a sport exclusively but enjoy major tournaments and events, which always happen in the fourth month of the year.
Let’s begin with Canada’s national pastime, hockey, and the sport’s most popular league in the world, the NHL. Every April, teams are clawing and fighting for the final spots in the NHL’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, which in turn leads to some of the most exciting hockey for any fan, even if your team is not playing for anything in the final month of the season (sorry, Oilers fans).
This year, Alberta does have a team fighting for a chance in the playoffs, in the form of the Calgary Flames. The Flames were not expected to be in contention for a playoff birth, let alone clinching their first playoff visit in six seasons. Due to some stellar play all season and the emergence of potential NHL superstars such as Sean Monahan, Johnny Gaudreau and T.J. Brodie, the Flames have reignited the excitement for spring hockey in Southern Alberta.
Even if your team is not in the playoffs, the NHL playoffs prove to be an exciting time for most hockey fans, with fans having playoff pools, playoff bracket predictions or just cheering for a certain team as they attempt to win the holy grail of hockey, the Stanley Cup.
If hockey is not your cup of tea, perhaps basketball is. The NBA season also comes to a close in April and their playoffs are also set to start mid-April. For the second year in the row, the Toronto Raptors will be playing in the postseason. Being Canada’s lone team has been a major influence on the Raptors support. Toronto has relished in being the only team north of the Canadian and American border. With their “We The North” mentality, they try to appeal to all Canadian basketball fans, and their fan base continues to grow year in and year out.
While some sports are having their seasons come to an end, other sports are just getting started. The Major League Baseball (MLB) season kicked off on April 5. Like the Raptors in the NBA, Canada has just one team in the best baseball league in the world. The Toronto Blue Jays, much similar to the Raptors, thrive as being Canada’s team. This year, the Blue Jays are fielding one of the youngest teams in the MLB. Fans across Canada can be excited for the future of their young, up-and-coming roster, with nowhere to look but up.
American football fans can also get excited as the start of their sports season fast approaches. The path to the NFL’s next season begins in April with the 2015 NFL Draft, which runs from April 30 to May 4. A lot of fans will have their eyes glued to the television to see who is the next player and future leader for their favourite teams. The NFL Draft has proved to be a staple for NFL fans who try to make their predictions as to which NFL hopeful goes where, who will make an immediate impact and who is going to be a bust.
So as you can tell, April is one of the most exciting months when it comes to world of sports. It offers more than just one sport to fans but definitely brings more than just playoffs or the start of a new season.
