By: Mike Anthony

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

It probably won’t come as much of a surprise to people that my radio is always on. For as long as I can remember, sports have always been my biggest interest. While baseball and college football are my favorites, I can get wrapped up in just about anything.

A few weeks ago, in the waning hours of a program where the hosts were trying to fill out their last segment of the show, the topic of the ‘sports calendar’ was brought up.

Obviously, there is no right answer to the question. Plenty of sports jump the normal calendar from December into January and there is enough of a following in each sport to keep one from being the league that opens or closes a ‘sports year’.

But I’d like to nominate today – July 18, 2018 – as the official unofficial singular day of the sports offseason.

This being the day after the MLB All-Star game, we’ve arrived at one of only two days each year in which none of the United States’ major professional leagues host games.

And that’s what makes today perfect for ending one year of sports and starting another

In this way, we’ll have wrapped up the last sports season with tennis’ most popular major at Wimbledon and the most watched all-star game of all major sports. We can all take inventory today and begin again tomorrow with the start of the British Open.

Using this timetable, the next ‘year’ should be an exciting one for sports fans in Georgia.

When MLB play resumes, the Braves will pick back up just half a game out of first place.

Atlanta is now popping up in many trade rumors as they look to add a piece that can put them over the top and each passing day is reaffirming that the success of the young roster is no fluke.

One of the newest sports on the scene in the Peach State is also turning some heads as the sports year begins.

Soccer is still trying to gain a strong foothold in the hierarchy of American sports, but it always gets a boost after the World Cup and those who give Atlanta United a chance will be pleasantly surprised.

The second-year franchise had a solid expansion season and has kept up the momentum in year two as United currently leads the Eastern Conference.

As fall arrives, the biggest fun starts as football returns.

On the pro side of things, the Falcons again figure to be a playoff team and will get a good barometer check from the get-go as they visit defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia in the first NFL game of the season.

Down in the college ranks, UGA fans might still be having nightmares of a national title game that got away but the Bulldogs have every reason to believe they can contend for a national title once again.

Football undoubtedly carries the bulk of the weight in this unique calendar and takes us into the early days of February. Georgia fans will face a lull for a month or two as Atlanta has no NHL team and the Hawks are only an NBA team by the most charitable of definitions.

But Georgia Tech, UGA and Georgia Southern all have solid baseball teams that will be in full swing by March and April brings The Masters, easily the most prestigious golf tournament in the world, to Georgia.

The end of the Masters coincides with the beginning of the MLB season, taking us into the dog days of summer where the head and grind call for this solitary day of rest.

Now enjoy your one day of sports offseason and get to bed early. The first groups at the British Open tee off at 1:35 a.m. Eastern time.