The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

The Daily Illini

The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

The Daily Illini

The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

The Daily Illini

The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871

The Daily Illini

Linsanity continues in the absence of legitimate sports news

Jeremy Lin picked a great time to play himself into the national spotlight. Since the conclusion of the Super Bowl, there really hasn’t been much else to talk about in professional sports. Sure, it was fun to listen to Gisele Bundchen try to “explain the intricacies”:http://www.tmz.com/2012/02/06/gisele-tom-brady-super-bowl-patriots-lose-giants/#.Tz1yu0xSQto of football, but we find ourselves approaching one of the most boring periods of the sports year.

Beside the NBA, there has been very little of substance being talked about on ESPN and other sports outlets recently; most coverage has revolved around speculation and predictions. From where Dwight Howard may land, what the status on Peyton Manning is, to whether anyone wants Randy Moss or Terrell Owens anymore, all we have is questions and very few answers.

To put things in perspective, the most entertaining (least boring) professional sports events coming up are the NBA All-Star Weekend, the NFL Combine and Spring Training.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy watching the NBA All-Star weekend, but it’s hard to care about a glorified scrimmage where no one plays defense and the MVP is whoever decided to be the biggest ball hog. As far as the celebrity game is concerned: Justin “Bieber”:http://www.nba.com/allstar/2011/celebrity.game/index.html was named the MVP last year, so that pretty much sums it up. And with no Blake Griffin in the slam dunk contest, I don’t foresee anyone jumping over a car again this year.

The NFL Combine is really only relevant because it provides something for football fans to talk about from after the Super Bowl until the draft. Granted, the Combine allows players like “Calvin Johnson”:http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/draft07/columns/story?columnist=clayton_john&id=2779980 to raise their draft stock with impressive performances; or destroy it by showing teams how fat and slow you’ve gotten (I’m looking at you, “Maurice Clarett”:http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/draft05/columns/story?columnist=pasquarelli_len&id=2000680. More often than not, however, it just reiterates what we already knew about that player from college. It’s nice to have something tangible to talk about after all the 40-yard dash times and other scores have been recorded, but nothing is decided until the draft anyway. Still, more than 69 days away, ESPN has already started the countdown to the NFL Draft.

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When I was growing up, I used to love watching MLB Spring Training, which goes to show — kids have terrible taste. Spring Training is one of the most boring events to watch from a fan’s perspective. First off, we’re going to have the pitchers and catchers report early to play catch for a week. When the rest of the team arrives, we’re going to play a bunch of meaningless three-hour games with all the starters coming out after a couple innings so you can watch some guy who won’t make the team strike out three times. Spring Training is a nice reminder that baseball season is soon arriving, but it takes some serious willpower to watch more than a half hour.

Despite the fact professional sports are about to enter a bland period, do not fear because the amateurs can provide what the pros cannot. March Madness is a little less than a month away and will definitely provide enough “excitement”:http://search.espn.go.com/results?searchString=duke unc&dims=4294876796 to carry sports fans over into April for the NFL Draft and the NBA Playoffs. In the meantime, I’d recommend to turn off the TV set and go find something to do for a while, unless you want to hear Skip Bayless keep rattling off Jeremy Lin puns.

_Kevin is a sophomore in Media. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @KevinThorn10._

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