November is here, and with it comes cold weather, changing leaves and stuffing-induced comas.

Oh yeah, there are a few football games, too.

Thanksgiving is almost as football-oriented as it is associated with turkey. Every year, you get to watch teams go at it on a Thursday, and you know that both the NFL and NCAA football seasons are in full swing.

But every November, I find myself less enthused about the pigskin. Don’t get me wrong, I love watching who a computer thinks should be the national champion, or watching the Packers and Bears go at it late in the season as much as anyone. It’s just that I get distracted by something new – the beauty that is NCAA Basketball.

I’ve got plenty of reasons that I call college hoops one of my favorite sports, and to me they’re quite legit.

It’s inside.

This one’s simple enough. There’s no hiding the fact that it gets cold in November, and as a fan I do enjoy braving the elements to catch a good game of football, but that doesn’t mean I like the cold. In fact, I hate the cold. So what would seem better to someone who prefers to keep his fingers from becoming icicles, sitting on cold bleachers or in a nice, temperature-regulated gym where I have a nice seat to plop down in? Easy choice, I think.

It’s more exciting.

This one is a little harder to justify. Football plays are about as exciting as it can get. Full-contact sports can have that effect. But I’m not too keen on the 20-30 seconds of nothingness in between. I respect what the time is used for, but calling your plays on the fly is much more exciting. Plus, in what other sport can you see a 10-point swing in a manner of 30-45 seconds? It sounds ludicrous, but hoops makes it happen. Sure, you could see a touchdown and a field goal happen in 45 seconds of game time, only it would happen once a year, and those 45 “seconds” would last about five minutes.

It just fits the winter season.

Allow me to veer off for a second. To quote Michael Scott from The Office, “Football is like rock and roll, and basketball is like jazz.” Both are great, but it’s winter. Time to pop in the Vince Guaraldi, watch A Charlie Brown Christmas, and grab some hot cocoa. Some of my fondest memories as a kid are of walking in the freezing cold to a basketball game, and the NCAA seasons are just getting into the swing of things right around December.

It has, hands-down, the most exciting postseason ever.

I shouldn’t really have to say anything else about this. March Madness versus the BCS? Come on, people can’t honestly prefer watching Ohio State vs. that year’s national champion again than the possibility of a George Mason-esque run. I’d be the first to call shenanigans on that. The NCAA Tournament is one thing the NCAA got so right that it nearly makes up for their BCS blunders.

So there it is, my platform for this college basketball season. I actively encourage every sports fan to watch the season from beginning to end, because it really is the most exciting spectacle sports has to offer. Also, fill the Convocation Center to support your NIU hoops teams, because basketball is something that should be experienced in person.