The calendar has turned and we are one month closer to Spring. In recent years the first weekend of February has been a lot better than when I was a kid in the 70's and 80's. Back then the Super Bowl was usually played on the last, or second to last weekend of January. This made the first weekend of February feel as if I had fallen into the same well little Johnny tumbled into when he was rescued by Lassie.
What was I to do without football, two months away from the start of baseball games that counted? At least March Madness was on the horizon to provide a respite. But that wasn't until, well, mid-March. Despite it being the shortest month of the year, even during a leap year, February was starting to feel as if it had thirty-three or thirty-four days
On the rare occasion, by way of a quirk in the calendar, the Super Bowl was sometimes played on the last Sunday in January. This left the first weekend in February for the Pro Bowl, which unfortunately didn't count as football, especially the week after a Super Bowl champion was crowned. While they actually tackled in the Pro Bowl when I was a kid, as opposed to the glorified rough touch that was on display at this year's luau, it was still a tough watch. Five to ten minutes was about all I could handle.
Due mainly to passion Gordon Gekko would be proud of, the NFL now begins its season the weekend after Labor Day (as opposed to Labor Day weekend), and has added a bye week during the year for each team. The resulting change has pushed the Super Bowl to the first weekend of February and made the longest short month, just a bit less long. While better, the rest of the month is cluttered with skiing, meaningless college basketball games, and bowling, if you can even count that as a sport. Rumor has it some bowlers consider themselves professional athletes.
Oh, the delusion of some of those walking amongst us! And it is thought Alice wandered into a strange place when she came upon Wonderland.
Is it any wonder the groundhog looks to be afraid of his shadow every February 2nd?