We have entered a dark time in the sports calendar. The Super Bowl is over, March Madness is still a month away, NBA players are still at that point where they don’t really try until the last five minutes of a game and the lockout-shortened NHL season is just getting started. Instead of getting sucked into a painfully boring, mainstream sports filler, why not expand your horizons as a sports fan during this dull period? Here are a few sporting events to keep an eye on.
FC Barcelona vs. AC Milan. You could listen to sports pundits debate whether or not Joe Flacco belongs in the elite, sub-elite or above average category of NFL quarterback — or you could watch the best soccer player in the world play for the best team in the world in the most important club tournament in the world. Lionel Messi and Barcelona will take on Italian club AC Milan on Feb. 20 in the Champions League round of 16. To the uninitiated, European Soccer can seem pretty confusing, but the Champions League puts all the best teams in Europe into one tournament to see who is the best — pretty simple.
World Curling Championship. Off of the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field and onto the actually frozen ice in Green Bay, NBC sports will broadcast the World Curling Championship as part of the “Road to Sochi,” where the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia will be held. Laugh if you want to, but next winter when everyone is talking about the Olympic sports, you can impress friends and family by being the only one in the room to actually know the rules of curling.
Bombers Basketball vs. Nazareth. If you’ve been too busy paying attention to the Hollywood soap opera of the Lakers this year, you might have missed the fact that some pretty good basketball is being played right here on South Hill. The men are 2nd to Stevens in the Empire 8 Championship, while the women are in first. The games against Nazareth on Feb. 16 will be senior night to honor both teams’ seniors, who, combined, have earned four NCAA tournament appearances and two Empire 8 tournament titles.
