A couple of weeks ago I made an off the cuff comment to my wife Tricia about how much I HATE the spring, and that it is my least favorite of all the seasons.

Let me fill you in on what was going on that day.

First, I have horrible seasonal allergies at the beginning of spring. It whoops my backside every year. The sneezing, itchy eyes, foggy headed feeling is just about enough to drive me over the edge.

Also, I serve as a youth pastor at a local church, which means, among many other things, that we have to be at the church at the crack of dawn – presumably to open the door so God can get in.

The person who came up with daylights savings time decided that in between Saturday (my busiest day of the week) and Sunday (crack of dawn day) would be the best time to throw in this forsaken energy saving measure.

Oh yeah, I have a six month old baby.

So, we get up on Sunday for church, before sunrise because of daylight savings, with an hour less sleep (because really, who goes to sleep an hour earlier before daylight savings?) and have to wake up a groggy, sleepy little boy who loves his sleep (like his father) and really was into his routine of getting up an hour later.

On my way to church, with the post Benadryl hangover still in my head and the sleep deprivation staring me in the face, I looked over at Tricia and said, "I hate the spring."

A few weeks have since passed. My body has become accustomed to the time change. The sun is rising earlier in the day. My allergies have calmed down. I get to wear shorts to work. My hatred of this season had definitely subsided.

And mostly for one major reason: Sports.

Four days from today we will see opening day for Major League Baseball and the minor league clubs will quickly follow. We are in the midst of the Final Four college basketball tournament. The NFL draft is later on this month. The NBA playoffs are rapidly approaching. Tiger just won another tournament.

Whew! Just that is enough to keep a sports nut busy and his TeVo full.

But we have more. T-ball, baseball, softball and soccer for the little kids has kicked off. High school and middle school district track meets, golf tournaments and tennis tournaments are all in the upcoming weeks. Varsity and JV baseball and softball are all in the midst of their district seasons.

This is just an exciting time. Perhaps I hate to see the signs of spring when they first hit me, but believe me - I love it when the season is here.

Marcus Elliott is the Sports Editor for the Anna News. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .