What a great day in Sports today!  What a great week — what a great time in general for the Sports industry.

First, it’s Opening Day in MLB (although the Yanks – Red Sox did get it started with an entertaining game last night).  In DC, our hometown Nationals will host the imposing Philadelphia Phillies, featuring the best pitcher in baseball, Roy Halladay.  One of the highlights will surely be having President Obama throw out the ceremonial First Pitch today.  This had been a long-standing tradition but with DC having no baseball team for over 30 years, the tradition went away.  So, it’ll be great to have the POTUS in attendance.

Then, at 2:00 pm is the Tiger Woods press conference at the Masters in Augusta, Ga.  This will be one of the most historic and most-watched press conferences in the history of Sports.  Tiger, along with a handful of others, has been one of the most famous and popular athletes in the world over the past decade.  I’m sure he’ll feel much better after he’s done with the press conference this afternoon.  So many people will tune in — and the so-called experts will analyze the Q & A over and over and over.

Then, at 9:20 pm, is the tip-off of the NCAA Championship Game between the mighty Duke Blue Devils and the upstart Butler Bulldogs from the Horizon Conference.  This too will most likely generate huge TV ratings.   Coach K is deserving of the praise he generates — he runs a clean program, graduates his players and wins championships.  But, having Butler win it all would be one of the coolest sports stories in a long time.   They are certainly not a Cinderella team — they are legit and have NBA-caliber players on the squad.  I’m so excited for this game.

And, all of this is just today.  What else is going in Sports?  So much — the NHL season will end this week — then it’s time for the NHL play-offs.  Play-0ff hockey is one of the greatest things in Sports.  The teams crank it up another level and really go at it.  Kudos to the Washington Capitals for securing their first-ever Presidents Trophy for the most points in the league.  Verizon Center will absolutely be boisterous and “rocking the red” next week and hopefully for the next two months.

DC United kicked off its’ home schedule this past weekend.  Soccer will continue to become a bigger story in the Sports world – especially with the World Cup starting in June.  ESPN will throw heavy promotional weight behind this terrific sports event.

Oh, yeah, and how about those Skins?  Trading for Donovan McNabb?  Wow.  It’s hard to believe a team traded a star player within their own division.  But, the Eagles didn’t want to pay the huge bonus due in early May and the high salaries for the next few seasons.  They got what they wanted — draft picks.  And, the Skins and Coach Shanahan got themselves a Hall-of-Fame caliber QB.  Of course, now they need to focus on improving the offensive line to protect Donovan.

Whew, what a great time in Sports — today, this week, this month.  Love it.