Worst. Day. Ever.

In case you didn't know, today is the worst sports day of the year. Seriously. Not like, "Aw dude, my team just got shutout in the playoffs" or "Dang man, my favorite player broke his assneck the first day of spring training and is out for the season". Nope, the day after the MLB All Star Game is actually the worst sports day of the calender year. Go ahead, check ESPN's listings for today. How about Fox Sports Net? (By the way, that pic of Adam Morrison doesn't necessarily apply here but I figure it's a pretty good visual representation of guys all across the country who want nothing more than to come home after work and sit on the couch, drink a few High Lifes, and watch a game. Oh yeah, nice pick MJ!)

Let me break it down for you.

The NFL, NHL and NBA are all in their offseasons. All MLB teams get today off (but some start again tomorrow, some don't-weird). College Football and Basketball games don't start until the kiddies get back to school. Let's keep it going: no PGA Events, no tennis, hell even no NASCAR! I mean there has to be something, right?

Well, the New England Revolution is playing Pachuca (whoever that is) in a Superliga game(whatever that is) tonight at 8:00. NE is by far the best MLS team right now but this match won't be shown on any of ESPN's channels, or Fox Sports Net. In fact, ESPN is so desperate for programming, they are reshowing the home run derby from Monday. I know the Hamilton stuff was rad, but you could check that out on youtube whenever you want. Plus uh...it was just on two days ago. They're following that with a special about Yankee Stadium which if you watched ANY of the All Star coverage for the past two days, will be pretty pointless.

Now the Deuce is showing the AAA All-Star Game which is kinda interesting. So okay, not a complete black hole of sports. But reeeeaaallly close. Fortunately, I have a recommendation.

That's right people. In case you didn't know, and judging by the attendance you haven't (copyright Harry Doyle), the Arena Football League is on the verge of their Superbowl. Yup, Arena Bowl XXII snuck up on us like R. Kelly at a junior high dance. And just to let you know where my life has been at lately, I've watched some of this year's playoffs. We have the Bon Jovi owned Philadelphia Soul vs. the San Jose Sabercats. (No joke, I was in LA last week and saw some four year old kid with a Sabercats jersey on.) Now the game is scheduled for Sunday, July 27th. Why wait? If they pushed back the start of the season by a week, it's definitely possible for them to have the game this week. There really isn't a need to have the game on Sunday like the NFL. There also isn't a need to show the game on ABC. Yeah I can just imagine how pissed all the AFL fans would get when their championship game isn't shown on basic cable.

Oh yeah, did I mention that ESPN has a minority stake in the league? Because they do. I mean the angle rights itself. They could do a whole ad campaign around the fact that today sorta sucks and they are rescuing you, the fan, from having sports withdrawals. I know that the fact that Arena Football has been around for 22 years means that they're survivors and have scratched and clawed their way to stay afloat. They've come up with different ideas over that span, but I think this could really help them. If no other sports outlet besides ESPN is going to report on them anyway, the World Wide Leader should just go for it instead of sticking the game on ABC on a Sunday afternoon in the summer when people are actually doing stuff outside and whatnot.

Now, would people actually watch it? I think so. I'm not sure what the past Arena Bowls have done in the ratings but this would at least drum up some more interest. The product is definitely watchable especially for one game. If people knew this was the last game of the year, they'd give it a chance. So while July 16, 2008 will be the worst day of the year, maybe 2009 could avoid such a travesty.

(I know it's actually probably a healthy thing to not watch sports for ONE day out of 365 but a guy can dream, right?)



Also. Big ups to the man himself, Leon Powe and teammate Kendrick Perkins who did an autograph signing in Boston yesterday. Both were very friendly and I gave Leon a flyer advertising this very site. Let's cross our fingers for a possible interview down the road.