As we get into the peak of fall and the start of the basketball season, I wondered to myself what the best time of year is to be a college sports fan.
Could it be the coolness of winter, the rainy and gloominess of spring or maybe the briskness of fall?
These rankings will be based on what many people perceive as the seasons rather than the calendar months. For instance, summer will be defined as June, July and August, even though most of June is technically part of spring and much of September is actually considered summer.
4. Summer (June, July, Aug.)
Starting with what is, no question, the worst season for sports. Summer.
Summer for college sports would widely be considered the offseason for every sport, and they wouldn’t entirely be wrong. July sees no NCAA-sanctioned sports and is typically the start of practices for fall sports.
Where that statement could be wrong, though, is in the months of June and August.
June sees the post-season of quite a few spring sports. Outdoor track and field, softball and tennis can all occasionally spill into early June.
What would likely be considered the biggest sport that goes into summer is baseball, but unfortunately, as many Cyclone sports fans know, Iowa State doesn’t have a baseball team.
The end of summer also sees the start of the most popular collegiate sport, college football and with more teams finding themselves playing Week 0 matchups, more and more teams will be playing through the final weeks of summer.
The lack of sports alone can put the summer months in fourth.
3. Spring (March, April, May)
We now find ourselves in a season that actually has regular-season sports, but it still lacks.
Spring has a lot of NCAA sports that Iowa State simply doesn’t have. As stated before, there’s no baseball, but there is also no lacrosse, men’s volleyball and we also don’t get to see the postseason of the Frozen Four, as Iowa State has no NCAA-affiliated hockey teams for men or women.
But with the negatives come some positives.
March sees what could be argued as the best post-season in any college sport, with the 64-team gauntlet that is March Madness for men and women. March also sees the NCAA Wrestling Championship, which Iowa State wrestling finds itself in often.
March also sees the start of conference play for softball, and that goes into April, where there are the championships for gymnastics.
With May, we see what was previously mentioned in the summer, with almost every spring sports championship.
With a large jump from summer, spring still finds itself in third.
2. Winter (Dec., Jan., Feb.)
The winter months just miss the first-place spot, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t still a great month for sports.
Winter sees men’s and women’s basketball from start to finish, with conference play typically starting at the end of December.
December also sees the start of track and field, as well as the Big 12 championship game for football. Speaking of football, the winter months see conference championships in December alongside a majority of the bowl games.
January sees the end of bowl games and most of the college football playoffs, which include the college football championship game. January is also the start of the gymnastics season, conference play for wrestling and the regular season for men’s golf.
February sees the beginning of women’s golf as well as the Big 12 championship for women’s swim and dive. February also closes out the regular seasons for men’s and women’s basketball as they begin preparation for March Madness.
Winter is an amazing season for sports, but it misses the first-place position by a couple of small factors.
1. Autumn (Sep., Oct., Nov.)
This might be a hot take, but I think that Autumn just gets into the first-place spot.
September usually sees Week 1 or Week 2 for college football and also has the biggest sports game in all of Iowa, the Cy-Hawk game, at the start of the month.
September also sees the start of almost every fall sport with men’s and women’s soccer, women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s golf, cross country and some tennis events.
October sees the beginning of swim and dive, and men’s and women’s basketball. October is also the start of conference play for many sports that start in August or September, and the end of the regular season for sports like soccer and cross country.
November sees the start of the wrestling season, as well as the end of many spring sports regular seasons, like football and volleyball.
November is a big crossover point for sports as well, seeing non-conference play for sports like men’s and women’s basketball, whose seasons have just started, and the end of conference play for sports like football.
There are also championships for sports like cross country and women’s soccer.
The reason for me is that autumn just beats out winter solely because of the number of sports to attend. The end of October to the middle of November is a sports fan’s dream: being able to go to a Cyclone football game Saturday night and go to a basketball game the next morning should be something to be celebrated.
