Northern California is enduring a sports depression.

The Giants and A’s have begun a West Coast version of the Cubs/Red Sox curse.

The 49ers and Raiders look like bad sequels to last year’s teams. Remember “Dumb and Dumberer”?

The NBA has yet to arrive, and while Hornet football looked promising, they’ve disappeared faster then Randy Moss on a blocking assignment.

With attention toward all other sports vanishing, the Sacramento State men’s basketball team had the chance to capture it.

But they missed a wide-open dunk.

While big name basketball schools were throwing Midnight Madness basketball parties this weekend to inaugurate the start of basketball season, Hornet gym remained empty.

Fearing that it was a bad idea to send out their banged up squad in front of the pressures of a dunk-craving crowd, the basketball program decided to move the event to a Midday Madness on Nov. 1.

Excuse me?

Midnight Madness is for the fans. It is a way to market the program and gives fans a reason to come sit in a shack of a gym and watch their school play.For some, Midnight Madness means more entertainment than a regular season game. It’s a dunk contest, it’s a scrimmage, it’s a chance to get the campus talking about basketball.

It could have been the night where Jameel Pugh flew, along with plenty of gossip. “Did you see Jameel Pugh’s 360 degree, windmill dunk?”

Instead it is Midday Madness – a hungover day after Halloween without a dunk contest. There will be the usual set of fans – the ones that showed up last season.

It is understandable not to want some of your tops players to get injured. But Midnight Madness is about college kids coming out to watch their favorite stars give them a show.

Something needed to be put together for that night — maybe invite some members of the student population to take part in the dunk contest or hold a students vs. team game.

But now you can forget about bringing in new fans and students….Every series in this year’s baseball playoffs has been phenomenal… until the Yankees and Marlins became our final matchup.

Fans are flipping coins to decide which team they’d rather have lose. It’s like shopping at a music store that only has two CDs left: The Baha Men’s Greatest Hits and Peter Gammons Sings the Blues.

…I still think it would have been awesome to see Steve Bartman, the Cubs fan who got in the way of the Game 6 foul ball, rip off his shirt Hulk Hogan style and reveal a Marlins T-shirt. Then have little Darrin Baker hit him upside the head with a steel chair.

Will you be hangin’ out at Midday Madness or strolling around Chico trying to find your car keys the day after Halloween?

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