February is simply the worst. It is the middle of a brutal winter and the flu seems to come around each and every February. To add insult to injury, sports fans have nothing to watch. The sports landscape is always a bit darker this time of year. After the Super Bowl, it is all downhill for a month. Each year sports fans pray for March to come quickly.

First off, the football season comes to an end in February. The first Sunday without football is always the most disheartening. The absence of football makes the month of February a dreary one. Die-hard football fans can only sit on their hands and hope the NFL Draft will hold them over.

The NBA and NHL are still in the midst of their regular seasons in February. Each league's postseasons do not begin until April. The NBA Finals and Stanley Cup take place in June. Each league competes in an 82 game regular season. All those games in the middle of February feel meaningless compared to the playoffs.

Major League Baseball has some upside in the month of February. Pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training in the middle of February, so there is some consolation when it comes to baseball. Still, Spring Training is not the same as a certain glorious event: Opening Day. This year will be Major League Baseball's earliest Opening Day on March 28. March cannot come fast enough this year.

The final and most obvious reason February can take a hike is this: it is the month right before March Madness. Conference championship tournaments are just around the corner, which makes February all the more unbearable. College basketball junkies are gearing up for the most acclaimed and distinguished tournament in sports. NCAA basketball is great on its own, but the tournament is why we watch. March Madness makes up for all the suffering endured during February.

There is not an abundance of reasons for sports fans to enjoy February. In fact, there is not an abundance of reasons for a non-sports fan to enjoy February. It's cold as can be, everyone under the sun catches the flu, and most New Year's resolutions are kicked to the curb by February. Even sports hit a dull point in the calendar year. Sports fans can only run out the clock this month and wait for March to finally come around. March Madness and Opening Day will be here soon enough.