Plenty of sporting events to fill the NFL void

Two days from now is the day unofficially referred to by NFL fans as Black Sunday. After more than five months of watching exhibition games, regular season contests and the playoffs, pro football fans go through withdrawal symptoms that don’t go away until the next season starts in another six months. And with the pending lockout that is threatening to cancel all upcoming games, things could get very serious for the most diehard of fans.

And while there is nothing that can replace the NFL, we would like to offer you a temporary cure of sorts by giving you some suggestions on some other sporting events you can watch Sunday to at least kill some time (all times ET).

 

NHL (NBC, 12:30pm): The Bruins are leading the Northeast Division and head to Detroit to take on Central Division-leading Red Wings. This one could go to overtime or even a shootout.

NCAA basketball (ESPN, 1pm): The Georgetown Hoyas are on a roll and are very tough to beat at home, so this will be a very tough test for the Marquette Golden Eagles. But if we’ve learned anything this season, it’s that there are no easy games in the vaunted Big East.

NBA (ABC, 1pm): The Fab 3 of the Miami Heat (LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh) take their show on the road to take on the Fab 3 of the Boston Celtics (Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce) for what should be a great showcase of the sport’s best individual players.

NASCAR (FOX, 1:05 pm): You know racing fans are devoted when they will watch a qualifying race a week before the actual Daytona 500, but this event is crucial in determining which racers will make the coveted front row.

PGA (CBS, 3 pm): Many of the world’s best golfers will converge on California for the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Tiger Woods is in not in the field, but he hasn’t been a factor for quite a while. Hard to say which golfer is the favorite on such a tough course, but look for Dustin Johnson, Vijay Singh, Jim Furyk and Mark Wilson to be in the mix at the end of the day Sunday.