No football. Now what?

Every year the weekend before the Super Bowl is probably the worst weekend for sporting events ever. Why the NFL feels the need to have a week off before the big game, I will never understand. But anyway with the football season pretty much over that leaves the question...what to do with all that free time until baseball's Opening Day. If you're like me, you start banging your head off the wall come mid-February in what is by far the worst month of sports. But don't worry, here are The Wheelhouse's top four things (in no particular order) to help pass the time until March 31.

College basketball - Hey it's no football, but college basketball is still a solid sport to watch. It was a lot better when players actually stayed for three or four years, but there are plenty of unbelievable freshman to check out this year. Indiana's Eric Gordon, UCLA's Kevin Love, Memphis' Derrick Rose and USC's O.J. Mayo are just a couple of the freshman worth watching. ESPN does a stellar job of having games on all week along with CBS on the weekends. Plus with the regular season finishing in about a month, conference tournaments will begin followed by one of the most exciting couple of weeks in sports...March Madness. The opening rounds feature a plethora of games filled with upsets, exciting finishes, buzzer beaters and Bill Raftery catch phrases...the dagger! And another reason to tune in, it's not the NBA. My early Final Four is North Carolina, Kansas, Michigan State and Tennessee.

NHL - Ok, so the National Hockey League isn't the most popular sport around right now, but it's doing it's best to get back on its feet after the strike in 2004. The salary cap made the play more competitive (listening Bud Selig?), the play is more wide open and goals are being scored, shootouts have made overtime more exciting and a new group of young players are ready to take the league on its shoulders. Seriously, tune in if you haven't in a while...it's really not as bad as the media and ESPN portrays it. All you have to do is scour your cable channels to find Versus and you are set...that is, if you even have Versus.

Catch up on your 24 seasons - I've never been on illegal drugs before in my lifetime to experience an addiction or a withdrawal...until I had full seasons of 24 at my disposal. 24 is the hit show on FOX where Jack Bauer (played by Kiefer Sutherland) foils terrorists' plots while working for a counter terrorism unit in LA. With Kiefer currently behind bars for multiple DUI's and the writers guild on strike, I wouldn't expect a new season anytime soon. In the meantime, catch up on the six seasons. If you have not seen all the seasons, go buy one and enjoy. And even if you are an avid fan and seen every episode already...watch a season again. No time like the present to do so and you will not be able to watch just one episode in a sitting...it's impossible. I don't know how I ever went seven days before seeing the next episode because with the full season in front of you, the show consumes you.

Spring training - Even though it's hard to think about baseball weather with most of the country buried in snow and bitter temps, pitchers and catchers report to camp in only 18 days! MLB.com allows fans access to spring training games (with a small fee of course) as last year you could listen to any game and also watch games from your computer throughout March. And if you can't wait to see baseball in April and have an urge to get out of the cold, take a road trip to Florida or Arizona to see some baseball. Tickets are cheap, games are everyday and the sunshine is warm.

There you have it. Hope is not all lost after the Super Bowl and Pro Bowl so cheer up, get your 24 fix and get ready for a cold February to crawl along.