April showers bring……LOTS OF SPORTS!

Hello April!

March has been packed with sports fun - football trades, college basketball on every channel and the revving engines of motor sports, but April is when things start to heat up, and I’m not just talking about the weather!

Top 8 sporting events that happen in April:

• Starting 3/31 - Baseball is back in the swing of things.  Get ready for seven months of analyzing how much money it takes for a team to put together a winning roster, and be on the lookout for the younger teams to try and make a name for themselves, like the Kansas City Royals started to last year.  2013 Baseball Schedule

• 4/8 – March Madness will come to an end when Syracuse, Witchita State (Who?), Michigan or Louisville will be crowned College Basketball King for the year! These next three games should be exciting!  Final Four Schedule

• 4/9 – Women’s College Basketball takes the court after reining champion and top seeded Baylor goes down in the Elite 8.  Who will be taking home the tiara this year? Final Four Schedule 

• 4/11 - 4/14 – The Golf Masters at Augusta.  Tune in to see if Tiger Woods can remain the #1 golfer in the world and win his 15th major! Do you even own 15 pairs of shoes? Masters at Augusta Schedule  
• 4/13 - College Hockey Frozen Four takes the ice when the four remaining teams slash it out on the ice for the top championship in college hockey.  This is also where smaller schools make a name for themselves on a National stage…this year in the Frozen Four: St. Cloud State, Yale, UMass Lowell and all mighty Quinnipiac.  Frozen Four Schedule

• 4/20 - NBA Playoffs begin and you can bet all eyes will be on the reigning champions, The Miami Heat!  Not only have they been on fire all year, but it doesn’t look like they are ever going to cool off.  We’ll be able to let Lebron know if he gets to keep his crown in June, but he better watch out – teams are coming for him.

• 4/25 - 4/27 - NFL Draft Weekend aka college graduation for football players! This is the weekend, when the top 200 college football players find out where they are going to go to training camp in the summer.  Tune in for a lot of crowd noise, and pictures of athletes and their families (oh yeah, and their hot girlfriends)!  Draft details

• 4/30 - Stanley Cup Playoffs begin.  Due to the lockout, there was a much shorter hockey season this year.  So teams are just starting to get to know each other and get an idea for where their teammates are on the ice.  So the playoffs are really going to act like the middle of the season.  Should be a good one! 

As I sit here and write this, I realize that someone might want to reconsider the name April for this month, and just call it Playoffs month!

As always – feel free to ask me any sports related questions in the comment section below. 

Can you smell the fresh cut grass?

Ok, not yet, but it’s coming I promise.  Baseball fever is here - it’s already hit the warmer parts of the country and will official kick off on Sunday, March 31st with a night game between the Rangers vs. Astros.  Then April will bring the real start of spring, when all 30 teams will take the field and start their quest to still be playing in the month of October (playoffs)!

 To start the 2013 season off as a home run – below are five answers to commonly asked questions that will have your friends asking, ”how’d you know that?”

Five commonly asked baseball questions answered:
1.    How long is the baseball season? Baseball has the longest season in terms of number of games played by a single sport; there are 162 games before they even hit playoffs.   
2.    What is the purpose of the 1st & 3rd base coaches? The 1st & 3rd base coaches are on the field to give signals to the player at bat and the runner/s on base.  They are also there to provide guidance on whether a player should continue to run to the next base or stay safely on the base they are at after a ball is hit.
3.    What is stealing a base and why does a player do it? Stealing a base is when a base runner advances to another base while the pitcher is delivering a pitch. Base runners often take chances and steal bases so that they can get in better scoring position.
4.    What is DH and why do some teams have them and others don’t? DH stands for designated hitter, which is a position used in the American League.  It allows for the pitcher to focus on pitching and a different player to be in the batting line-up instead of the pitcher.  The National League does not have the designated hitter except when there is an interleague game. The league of the home field team determines if DH is used or not. So for example, if the Yankees play the Mets at Yankee stadium both teams will have DH’s because the game is being played on an American League field. 
5.    If a ball is caught in foul territory or over the home run fence, is the batter out?  Yes, the batter is out!  As long as the ball is hit in the air and the player on the field catches it, the batter is out.  That is why you see some players running to catch the ball that is in foul territory or even in the stands – because their efforts could result in an out. 

Feel ready for the 2013 season?  Check out the MLB schedule and head to your local stadium for a game or two this season.  Just remember to stay alert and watch out for foul balls, you’ll never know when you’ll have a player in your lap!

If you have any baseball related questions – feel free to ask in my comment section below.