The Top 5

Ranking the Top 5 sports….

The first in a two-parter ranking the current top five sports on my list, and then the five that I argue are not worthy to be considered sports. The top five first.......

1) College basketball - There aren't two better days in all of sports than the first two days of the NCAA basketball tournament in March. When you can watch noon to midnight hoops, chock full of upsets, Cinderellas and amazing moments, all while wolfing down massive quantities of your favorite game time foods, there’s nothin’ finer.

2) MLB - Yes, 162 games is a long season. But if you’ve ever sat in a stadium watching a key late season game, every pitch and swing of the bat impacting the pennant race, you can't deny the magic.

3) College football - The easy route would be to tell you to watch a replay of the 2006 national title game between USC and Texas. Those 60 minutes of action encapsulate what’s so great about college football. Amazing athletes, impossibly difficult plays, rallies, passion…….it’s all there. But to understand the greatness of college football, you have to look at the passion not only on the field, but in the stands and on the campuses around the nation.

4) NFL - Being truly passionate about a sport where you don’t have a favorite team is difficult, but it is in this respect that you can see the true reason the NFL is becoming America’s real pastime: fantasy football.

5) NBA - I was hesitant to include the NBA on this list. When the league’s last work stoppage came, my interest in the NBA went. Went out the window, went the way of the dinosaurs, went the way of George W.’s approval ratings…..you get the point. And from where I sit, the NBA is still nowhere near college basketball in terms of following hoops, this year’s NBA playoffs notwithstanding. See, college basketball produces that sort of postseason excitement every year, not just every few years.