Ah, September, the leaves begin to change colors, school is well in session, and sports enjoy their annual cascade of unbridled excellence. At no other point during the year can one American sports fan have so much going on and so much excitement in the air.

With all apologies to the spectacle of the Super Bowl, March Madness and the NHL playoffs – which are very underrated, by the way – the sports calendar just doesn’t get any more exciting.

Baseball, America’s real national pastime, is coming down the home stretch, and, thanks to the gift that is the Wild Card race, it always proves exciting.

In my case, I have conceded that my NL team, the Nationals, have fallen by the wayside. My first love, however, the Indians, are possibly making a run at one of the biggest divisional comebacks in baseball history. Pair this with the always hard-fought races for the AL East and West, and baseball fans must be in heaven (excluding Royals fans).

Meanwhile, the NL wild card is crazy as ever, with Houston, Philadelphia, Florida and Washington all seeming to not quite want it bad enough. It might be a case of seeing who stumbles across the line first. That being said, it has still been an amazingly engaging race thus far (except for Cubs fans) and should only get more heated come playoff time. I like the Cards in six games over the Indians, but who knows?

The gridiron is good and hot, and both college and pro teams have their fans up in arms. The first three weeks of college football have already created many delicious upsets, (apologies to Oklahoma, Michigan and Iowa) as well as some incredibly good games. So, while we here in Ames ponder how Iowa is ranked ahead of us in both polls, Bob Stoops and Dave Wannestedt can get their teams ready for next year. Call it passe, but a USC vs Texas national championship game looks awfully possible right now.

Lastly, but not least, the big dog, the NFL is back in season. As is the case almost every year, the first two weeks have proven we all know nothing, except of course, that Daunte Culpepper is the most overrated quarterback in football, which I have known for years.

Almost every team the pundits picked for the Super Bowl has already lost. Give the Colts time, I assure you their defense isn’t that good, and it leaves every fan of every team with a newfound excitement that will certainly be lost over the next few weeks (apologies to Vikings, Packers, 49ers and Texans fans). It is way too early to call the NFL, but, if I had to guess, I would take Pittsburgh against the 7-9 Bears in the Super Bowl. Good luck breaking that one down.

Meanwhile, sports cynics like me can sit back and take bets with myself to see who gets fired first: Mike Tice, Mike Martz, Mike Sherman, Joe Torre, Bill Callahan or Charlie Manuel. So sit back, once you are done with your homework, and enjoy sports over the next month, because it just doesn’t get any better than this. Well, except in my fantasy leagues.

– Nathan Chiaravalloti is a junior in journalism and mass communication from Davenport.