12. July: By far and away, the worst month out of the year for sports. There is absolutely nothing to watch during this time. The only games that can be viewed during this period are the MLS and Baseball. Sadly MLS isn't the prettiest soccer product on the planet, but at least it's something, and it's definitely a growing product. Baseball's only value is that it's something on in the background, but baseball is too brutal to sit and watch through. We are on the back end of the World Cup and Euro Cup every two years, so those first two weeks of the month provide something, but they're wrapping things up by this point. It's not the prettiest product, but the NBA Summer League is worth having on over any MLB game, which only lasts a week and a half. July is that time when we should just be more productive, go outside, and take care of any significant household chores that shouldn't be put off anymore.  

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11. August: is the darkest before the dawn month of the year. Football Twitter starts taking off for college football and NFL with training camps (Hard Knocks) and pre-season. The unfortunate thing, though, is that football is dangling like a carrot on a hook, and we all see it, and it's fun to look at it with those pre-season games, but it's still not yet within reach. With no football for this long, you might get desperate and find yourself watching the NFL Redzone channel just listening to the background saxophone music, anticipating that first Sunday. We get some quality soccer back with the English Premier League kicking off its regular season, but if you're on the west coast, those matches start too early, making it too difficult to keep up with. Sadly, there's really not much difference between this month and July. The only thing that makes this month superior to July is that it's closer to football starting and that Week 0 of college football kicks off on the last Saturday of the month. Outside of that, everything that was said in the July column also applies to August. 

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10. June: can be brutal because all we have left is the NBA Finals and Stanley Cup Finals. Those can be some of the best competition those sports have to offer, but it hurts knowing that when mid-June hits, it's the actual end of the sports year. Again, though, we have the World Cup and Euro Cup every two years, and June is its kick-off month, so those two years provide the most competitive and entertaining soccer, but whenever the year ends on a prime number, June is a difficult month to get through. Especially with the NBA Finals and Stanley Cup Finals playing only once every three to four days.  

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9. May: Compared to June, it is more preferred, considering we have more playoff games for both the NBA and NHL. Although football is a good four months away, there is a sufficient amount of quality sports on with the PGA Championship and playoffs for the NBA and NHL to keep us distracted. May is the last month we can rely on having something worth watching every day of the month.  

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8. April: I think it contains one of the worst sports calendar days of the year (https://karterkast.webflow.io/articles/top-5-worst-sports-calendar-days); I can't ignore April has so much going on that it certainly helps us forget about that day very quickly. Starting with the Final Four and National Championship of college basketball on that first weekend, we've also got the biggest golf tournament with the Masters on that second weekend. With that going on, the NBA and NHL are wrapping up their regular seasons and kicking off the playoffs later in the month. We also get the NFL draft on that final weekend to end the month off with a decent bang, provide us football talking points, and give us some hope for our NFL teams. April may not be the bright side compared to the rest of the other months of the year, but it still holds good value with some of the highest quality and decent quantity of sports.

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7. September: The true beginning of the sports year starts in September. Finally, after a long hot summer with nothing but MLS and boring old baseball, college football and NFL begin their seasons. September is great for us fans to transition into the sports calendar year by having football games Thursday-Monday and taking a little break on Tuesday and Wednesday. I suppose baseball is a little more interesting with the regular season wrapping up with all the teams trying to make one last push into the playoffs. But more importantly, football dominates our weekends again, with basketball just shortly behind. 

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6. February: Sadly, both professional and collegiate football officially ends with the Superbowl in the middle of the month, but basketball is in its most entire swing. NBA regular season is on with the All-Star weekend, but more importantly, college basketball is going strong and on the cusp of the greatest tournament in American sports. These regular-season matchups can make up some of the most historical moments of the season. If you're as deep into college basketball as I am, you also start looking into potential seeding implications of the conference tournaments. But you gotta start making plans now if you plan on watching these events in March.  

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5. January: Football is at its end here with NFL regular season and the college football national championship wrapped up, but this is probably when the NFL is at its most exciting. The expanded playoffs provide more football for January with the addition of another playoff team in both the NFC and AFC. January can be a lull month for the NBA since we've had it on for the past three months, but as of writing this (July 16th), I'd give anything to be in that "lull." All the non-conference matchups have wrapped up in college basketball, so we get conference games from this point until the NCAA tournament. It is sad to know football is concluding for the year, but the NFL playoffs are the best professional playoffs in the US. Last year we had some of the most memorable games in NFL history so enjoy it while we have it.  

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4. October: It's apparent from reading this deep into this article I'm clearly not the biggest baseball fan. But even I can admit playoff baseball is pretty interesting to watch. Probably because the games finally matter. October is an excellent month in the middle of both NFL and college football seasons. And on top of that, we finally get basketball back with the NBA tipping off. Something about the season starting with the NBA on TNT with that crew makes the world feel right again. With the weather getting a little colder, we finally have legitimate excuses for staying inside and watching all the games.  

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3. November: Baseball's World Series in the first week of the month (and it's finally over!), NBA has just started, and college basketball finally tips off. The peak of the sports calendar year is this month. College football is beginning to end, and all we talk about is whether Alabama deserves that number one spot in the college football playoff rankings. But this is when College football provides its best product with its rivalry games towards the end of the season. This year specifically, November (and December) will be extra special, having the FIFA World Cup being delayed until Thanksgiving week. Think about it, we will have World cup matches, College basketball, NBA, NFL Thanksgiving, and College football the same week we stuff ourselves with the best food of the year. Even without the World Cup, the sound of all that is still incredible.  

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2. March: College basketball runs this month. College basketball is easily the best of all the post-seasons in American sports. Yeah, we have NBA games, but who is honestly paying attention at this point? It's March Madness. The end of the regular season shapes up all the conference tournaments, where most teams are fighting for their seasons to get their names punched in on Selection Sunday. There's nothing in this world like the NCAA tournament. Of all the months, this one is my personal favorite. Even though it's starting to slightly warm up outside, who are we kidding? It's not time to go outside just yet with all this college basketball to watch. The end of the regular season, conference tournament week, and the NCAA tournament alone catapults this month all the way up to the second-best month.  

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1. December: December is probably a surprise to some, but if you really think about it, this month has everything (except baseball). It's basically "bowl month" for college football; some of the best non-conference college basketball is played during this time, NBA is still fresh, we get the Christmas games, and the NFL is wrapping up with teams still in the hunt to make the playoffs. The quality of sports during this time makes this month probably the best, with big games just about every day of the month. It only gets better and better as the month goes on too. The best college football bowl games are towards the end of December, and NFL games become more critical. There's nothing like sitting on a warm comfy couch, anticipating Christmas day, with all the food and snacks by us with the best sports games at our disposal.

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