Prompted by a discussion I heard on ESPN radio a couple weeks ago, I’ve been thinking a lot about this time of year and how completely awesome it is in terms of sports. You may be surprised to hear that a college football freak like me looks forward to spring as much as I do.

The question was fairly simple — name the five annual sporting events you look forward to the most. My first thought? Ohio State’s first football game, its second game, its third game, etc…

But that’s not really true. My list would actually look something like this:

5) Kentucky Derby. An odd choice for someone who doesn’t care about horse racing, but the derby has always been a thing for me. It helps that I’ve actually attended one, in 1990 when I was stationed just down the road at Fort Knox. Drank 14 mint juleps that day, so it’s a little surprising I remember much of the day at all. The race is on…

4) The Masters. I’ll probably never get a chance to attend this one, but I feel like I know all of Augusta’s nuances just from watching every year. Next weekend, boys and girls.

3) Baseball’s opening day. It helps when the Indians are good, but that actually doesn’t matter — this is about anticipation of the long summer ahead.

2) NCAA men’s basketball tournament. I’ll concede that this may be moved up one spot because OHIO STATE PLAYS IN THE FREAKING FINAL FOUR IN JUST THREE FREAKING HOURS, but March Madness is always high on my list. College sports are always better.

1) Ohio State-Michigan football. Well, duh. What else would you expect me to say?

That’s my list. What’s yours?