ESPNTheMag.Com Presents: All-World Power Rankings

What's the best sports month of the year?

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"April's my busy month."

FOR BEST SPORTS MONTH, WE'RE TAKING APRIL

[Ed's note: Not sure what All-World Power Rankings is? Please click here.]

Our man Klinger says to us yesterday, over Thai food: "February is a terrible sports month." Sure, it starts out well (in most years) with the Super Bowl (this year's edition was a good one, eh?) but then it slows to "Man, should I care this much about college basketball with the NCAA Tournament six weeks away?" (Thank Gawd it's over on Saturday night.) We started thinking: what's the best sports month? We realize this is contextual, as in if you're a Celtics fan, you probably think June is a pretty good month. You can argue with us if you want, but don't base it off "My Avalanche won the Cup in 1996, so it's gotta be June!" Ya gotta move from the specific to the general sometimes. That's the first of many life lessons we're about to impart.

TOP 5
RANK (YESTERDAY)		WHAT	WHY
	1 (6)	APRIL	The origin of the name "April" isn't clear (there are many theories), but it's fairly obvious that in a past life, Jim Nantz was a Greek god named "Apro" or something. In April, he calls the NCAA Final Four (awesome event) and The Masters (awesome event, especially if Tiger roars back and wins it this year). You also get baseball's Opening Day in here, a rare time of hope in America. And (!): beginning of the NBA and NHL playoffs. T.S. Eliot called it "the cruellest month." What the heck does he know, anyway?
	2 (10)	SEPTEMBER	Speaking of rare times of hope in America, September sees the return of college football (sometimes it's late August), the return of pro football, and baseball pennant races. To quote a 14 year-old boy on Google Chat: "Sik."
	3 (7)	JUNE	You're talking NBA Finals, Stanley Cup Finals, U.S. Open in golf (Tiger vs. Rocco was fun!) and the underrated gem of it all, the NBA Draft.
	4 (19)	MARCH	First two days of the NCAA Tournament are pretty cool. Spring training is always a good time for gossip, which we find charming. At the beginning of the month, you have conference hoops tournaments, which produce stuff like this. (That's an oldie but a goodie, eh?)
	5 (16)	JANUARY	This might need to be higher. You get three rounds of the NFL playoffs, the BCS Title game, the Aussie Open, the NHL Skills Competition (ha!), Winter X, MLB Hall of Fame announcements, and the Dakar Rally. That's pretty packed. We kinda threw it under the bus because the BCS Title game is never truly the BCS Title game, is it now?

HONORABLE MENTION
RANK (YESTERDAY)		WHAT	WHY
	12 (39)	MAY	NBA and NHL playoffs consume the entire month. You get the Indy 500 in there too, the French Open, the NBA Draft Lottery (will Jay Z rep the Nets?) and the kicker to it all, The Spelling Bee. Funny as all heck.
	21 (35)	OCTOBER	World Series is fun. NBA and NHL seasons commence. At least two or three big-time college football teams lose, so everyone starts hollering for a better system. In October '09, we'll find out who gets the 2016 Olympics, so that's an added bonus.

RISING AND FALLING
MOVEMENT		WHAT
		AUGUST (U.S. Open in tennis is cool, plus preseason football!)
		JULY ('Cept for the MLB All-Star Game and the trading deadline, this month is a wasteland.)

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