To some, the additional week of previewing, speculating and predicting that precedes the Super Bowl is just too much analysis to handle. All the football talk might seem painstakingly repetitive right now, however, but in another couple of weeks, don�t think it’s not going to be missed.

Take this weekend as an opportunity to look ahead. Not to the upcoming Super Bowl, mind you, but at what lies just beyond the final meaningful football game of the season. We�re about to enter the almost three-week-long dead period that takes place between February 3 (this year�s Super Bowl Sunday) and the start of spring training games, and it�s not going to be pretty.

This period of time takes place each year, and this time around it appears like it’s going to be just as boring as ever.

As far as football goes, next Sunday�s matchup between the Patriots and the Giants may not be the last event that�ll occur before the draft in April, but it certainly will be the last one worth paying any real attention to.

With the NFL Network airing countless hours of weigh-ins and 40-yard dashes at the combine, football fans at home, as well as the scouts present in Indianapolis with nothing better to do, will drool over the next receiver to show up and run a 4.3.

Although speculating about who might be a steal might be fun now, by the time Tennessee Tech�s cornerback with the blazing speed gets drafted in the sixth round, he�ll have long been an afterthought even in the most diehard fan�s mind, and the hours watching the combine will reap little benefit.

The Pro Bowl will also provide an opportunity to watch football, but due to injuries, real or fake, and general laziness, the game never proves to be anything exciting.

So, as long as there�s nothing going on in football, it looks like an all-right time to start paying attention to other sports, right? Wrong.

The NHL All-Star game is this weekend, and because the league�s biggest star, Sidney Crosby, will not be playing in it, the usually overlooked game should go even more unnoticed this season. In fact, with Crosby possibly missing the next eight weeks with an ankle injury (which would put his return at a little before the start of the playoffs), there isn�t really any professional hockey worth watching for the casual fan until the Stanley Cup playoffs begin. Of course, that clashes with the start of the baseball season, so the prospect of watching hockey this season is looking dim for most.

With hockey and football providing little to watch during this stretch, it’s basketball that the brunt of the sports-watching load seems to fall on during the upcoming lull.

Unfortunately, the �highlight� of NBA play during February is the All-Star Weekend. In recent years, the once-fiercely played contest has turned into little more than an afterthought to what has became a party weekend. Now that it�s more of a place to see and be seen, all the activities on the court seem secondary to the ones going on off it. And with the game being played in New Orleans this year, the 2008 version should be no different. The weekend�s other main event, the slam dunk contest, no longer attracts the names it once did, and the celebrity game that precedes the professional one offers little more than an excuse to laugh at the 3-point shooting abilities of Frankie Muniz.

With the NBA playoffs lasting as long as they do, February might even be a good time to take a month off from watching the NBA � lest fans be bored of it by the time the season gears up for its playoff season that extends to mid-June.

College basketball tries its best to bail out sports fans, but even NCAA games come up short in February. Conference play is heating up and the NCAA Tournament picture starts to become clearer. But March is known as the sport�s signature month for a reason. Games between league rivals during the regular season, like the ones that occur in February, are no match for the ones that they play in March. And with tournament play so close, it’s tough not to pine for it to come more quickly.

Actually, the only truly exciting thing going on during this timeframe is the start of the NASCAR season. The Sprint Cup Series opens Feb. 9, but the sport, despite its massive popularity, doesn�t appeal to a diverse enough group of fans to lift their collective spirits very much.

Perhaps the only good thing about the period between the Super Bowl and baseball is that every year the same thing happens, so hopefully by now fans have found a way to cope with it.

Maybe it’s devoting hours to posting on web forums about pitchers and catchers reporting. Maybe it�s watching NASCAR for the first time. Or maybe it’s just diving into the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, which conveniently comes out the week of Valentine�s Day. Whatever it is, I suggest you enjoy the week of anticipation leading up to the Super Bowl now, because once the final whistle blows, you�re in for a pretty tough time.

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Mike Ackerstein is a sophomore majoring in political science. If you know a good way to kill a few weeks that doesn�t involve devoting more time to studying, he can be reached at [email protected]