Opening Day: What's So Great About It?

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

OGS Surveys two days in a row? Could life be any better?

Len Berman, Sports Broadcasting Legend — Winter's over. Everyone's in first place.

Mark Ennis, College Football Blogger — The best thing about Opening Day is that everyone still has a chance. That's something that doesn't last for long in baseball, so you have to enjoy it while you can.

John Fay, Cincinnati Reds Beat Writer — It's the start of summer, even though it happens in the spring, often in bad weather. In Cincinnati, it's almost like a holiday. Everyone is into it. Baseball season is so long that you know for the next month or two everyone has a chance. Opening Day is about possibilities.

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Jeff Garcia, San Antonio Spurs Blogger — What makes MLB Opening Day great is knowing summer is under way, fans gathering and filling in the stadium seats, and the expectations each fan carries, hoping their team is in contention for the pennant.

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Survey: What's Your Most Memorable March Madness Moment?

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

Just a few days left of the NCAA Tournament. Despite a hectic few weeks rocking the BracketMaster Challenge, the OGS Survey Team found a minute to reach out to friends and compile this collection of their most memorable March Madness moments:

Len Berman, Sports Broadcasting Legend — Two-part answer: Single game, Villanova's monumental upset of Georgetown. Single moment, Jimmy Valvano running around the court after NC State beat Houston.

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Survey: What's Your Favorite Sports Movie?

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

It's Oscar Week, and that can mean only one thing. You're wondering what sports movies are the most popular among sports columnists, bloggers and other OGS friends.

As it turns out, the OGS Survey Team has compiled such a list. We wish you a lovely weekend:

David Balutanski, Stand-Up Comic — Bad News Bears is at the top. It captures that universal sports dream of a group of misfits coming together and achieving something they didn't think possible. The montage of Walter Matthau pitching batting practice as he slowly gets drunk via the Styrofoam cooler of beer on the pitcher's mound is American Cinema at its finest.

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Len Berman, Sports Broadcasting Legend — The Natural. You can't beat the final home run off the light tower with the sound track up full blast.

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Survey: What Do You Love About The Super Bowl?

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

Part of the obnoxious Super Bowl hype every year is when football fans across the globe hustle over here to OGS on the Tuesday before the big game to read what our friends say they love about the NFL's colossal championship finale.

You're welcome:

David Balutanski, Stand-Up Comic — If my team isn't playing, I just want to be a fan and eat. I love the crappy food. It's like redneck Thanksgiving. It's a day where you can just say, "Screw it, I'm going to eat 12,000 calories." Buffalo wings, bowls of Velveeta and ground beef, the obligatory taco dip, shrimp cocktail, more cheese, little sloppy joes, oh, and three dozen Bud Lights.

Len Berman, Sports Broadcasting Legend — The kickoff. Finally all the talking stops. The most exciting single moment in sports (other than the start of a major heavyweight championship fight, which we haven't had for years).

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Survey: What Do You Want To See In 2011?

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

Now that college football's champion has been crowned, we're a couple weeks away from the NFL coronation and college basketball is more than halfway through its regular season, we're officially well into the new year, at least according to the sports calendar.

The friends of OGS are here now to share with you what they hope to see in 2011:

Len Berman, Sports Broadcasting Legend —More vuvuzelas.

Jacqueline Conrad, St. Louis Cardinals Blogger — I would love to see Major League Baseball institute an instant replay program similar to what is used in the Little League World Series. It's simple, quick and effective. If that doesn't happen, then how about the MLB renaming all divisions after middle-school YMCA leagues? The Big Ten had so much success, it should cause a groundswell. Gooo Legends!

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YOUR THOUGHTS: What Would You Like To See In 2011?

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Paul Daugherty, Cincinnati Enquirer Columnist — Eliminate instant replay in all sports.

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Survey: The Most Memorable Sports Story Of 2010

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

A lot can happen in sports in 12 short months. Championships are won and sometimes choked away, coaches are fired and hired and players are injured and traded when they're not sending cell-phone dong pics.

There are Cinderella stories, Internet stories and true stories. Whichever your preference, the bottom line is that there is no shortage of stories, on or off the field, in the world of sports, and 2010 was no exception. The friends of OGS now share with you which single story they'll remember most about this year.

Len Berman, Sports Broadcasting Legend — Sure, Tiger Woods was the biggest news in 2010, but let's look for something good and decent, like the New Orleans Saints winning the Super Bowl. The franchise that invented paper bags over fans' heads, (The 'Aints) gave a ravaged city something to cheer about ... and the rest of us, too.

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Jacqueline Conrad, St. Louis Cardinals Blogger — Best and most memorable sports story was the Saints winning the Super Bowl. The story of them coming back from football oblivion to win the Lombardi Trophy was incomparable. They won their chance to go to the Super Bowl in a stadium that just a few years prior had held the dead of Katrina in its Super Dome freezers. The connection between city and team will never be matched. Great team and even greater city.

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Survey: What Would You Change About Sports?

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

You might remember One Great Season's "The Best & Worst of ESPN" survey we published last month. It was such a hit that the OGS executive team asked me to crank out a new survey every month. So I asked some sportswriters and bloggers to answer this question: "If you could change one thing about sports, what would it be?" Of course, sportswriters being sportswriters, many gave me several things they'd change about sports. They've been appropriately disciplined.

Len Berman, Sports Broadcasting Legend — A pitch clock in baseball posted in the stadium. Throw home in 20 seconds or it's a ball. And don't let the batter out of the box unless he has an appendicitis attack.

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Erica Boeke, Author, "GameFace: The Kick-Ass Guide For Women Who Love Pro Sports" — I would definitely shorten the MLB season. The NFL is the only league that gets it; its season is the perfect length. We ache for the NFL during the offseason. Every single game matters. My team won the World Series this year and I couldn't even muster up that much excitement. MLB has not kept up with the waning attention span of our fast-paced world. If pitchers and catchers report in February, and the season is not done until early November, that only gives us three months without baseball. Not nearly enough time to pine over America's pastime.

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The Best & Worst Of ESPN

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

Welcome to the first annual Best & Worst of ESPN. I recently asked some writer friends to give me a list of their favorite on-air people at the WWL, as well as a list of those they like the least.

There were no restrictions, really; voters could pick "SportsCenter" anchors, in-studio analysts, game analysts, color commentators, sideline reporters, any on-camera personality. Even Jenn Brown got a vote, and this wasn't even a bikini contest. (It was a "worst" vote, by the way.)

So without further adieu, after the jump you'll find a look at our ESPN favorites, with a quote or two from our voters:

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