Spring forward

This is one of the best times of the year to be a sports fan. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Associated Press photo

Even if temperatures on the East Coast weren’t predicted to reach 80 degrees on Thursday, it would be a day for optimism — at least for sports fans.

It’s Major League Baseball’s official Opening Day (if you don’t count Wednesday night’s Yankees-Giants game that Netflix tried to turn into a three-hour promo). Everyone outside San Francisco is still undefeated (for now), although the good feelings in D.C. likely will be, again, short-lived.

We’re starting the best weekend of college basketball, with Sweet 16 games starting Thursday night for the men and Friday for the women. Unfortunately, perhaps in a nod to the current administration’s goals, there are no male Cinderellas this year. The only double-digit seed left on the men’s side is Texas, which will never be confused with Butler or Saint Peter’s.

Virginia is the darling of the women’s field, having qualified for the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2018 and reaching its first Sweet 16 since 2000, becoming the first team to make it from the First Four. Extending the dream will be a literal tall order, though: the Cavaliers’ next opponent, TCU, boasts four players standing 6-foot-7 or taller. Virginia’s tallest player is 6-5.

Let’s not mislabel the Cavaliers as huge underdogs, though. The program received a major donation last summer from alumnus Alexis Ohanian, who founded Reddit and also happens to be Serena Williams’ husband. His largesse allowed coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton to surround star guard Kymora Johnson with a veteran roster stacked with grad transfers, similar to Ryan Odom’s men’s team. (Bonus points to anyone who predicted U.Va.’s women’s season would last longer than the men’s.)

And my Fredericksburg friends are excited that the University of Mary Washington’s men have reached the Division III Final Four for the first time ever, with a chance to capture the school’s first national men’s team title in any sport. The only shame is that the Eagles have to wait two weeks between their semifinal victory over defending champion Trinity (CT) and their April 5 title matchup with Emory, simply because the NCAA wants to hold all three title games on the same weekend.

Speaking of Fredericksburg, the Washington Nationals’ top prospect, shortstop Eli Willits, is expected to open the season as a FredNat. He likely won’t be one for long as he moves up the organizational chain, so catch him while you can.

If baseball and basketball aren’t your things, the NFL Draft is less than a month away, allowing even the sorriest teams to dream of finding the next Tom Brady. The Washington Commanders hope to upgrade their receiver room, pass rush, secondary or running back positions with the seventh overall pick, and Fredericksburg natives Elijah Sarratt and Aiden Fisher will likely hear their names called after helping Indiana win the College Football Playoff in January.

We’re also two weeks away from the Masters, an unofficial sign of spring. The greed and politics of golf have dimmed my interest in the game, but there’s something about watching the world’s best play under the magnolias that draws me in for at least one weekend per year.

So enjoy it while you can. There may not a baseball season in 2027 (not one that starts on time, at least) due to an almost inevitable labor impasse. The Nationals are likely to finish in the NL East cellar again; D.C. United looks familiarly mediocre; and the Mystics seem to be in rebuilding mode.

Oh yes, and my seasonal allergies are kicking in.

Still, it’s spring, and it’s warm, and there’s a lot to do and watch. Get out and have fun.