Some sports fans think the summer months are a down time for sports, but I don’t think that’s necessarily the case.

Sure, after the NBA Finals and the Stanley Cup Finals crown their respective champions, there is a bit of a letdown, and the sports schedule becomes a bit less packed. Many people are already looking forward to the NFL and college football season.

However, if you’re like me, this gives you the time to watch and enjoy other sports, be it on television or in person.

This is the time of year I start paying more attention to golf tournaments on television. Beyond the major tournaments that occur in the spring, I don’t spend much time watching golf until we get into June or July. I also enjoy watching the Canadian Football League that airs occasionally on CBS Sports Network. I’m a longtime CFL fan and think their brand of football is faster paced and a bit more exciting than the NFL.

I spent some time last weekend watching the 2025 NHL Draft. I’m not a huge fan of any of the major sports drafts, but the NHL Draft intrigues me because my Buffalo Sabres consistently finish near or at the bottom of the standings each year, meaning they usually get a high first round draft pick. You would think that with how many No. 1 and top five picks they’ve had over the past 10 years, the Sabres would eventually make the playoffs and not be a part of the NHL draft lottery year after year. The draft lottery this year wasn’t so kind, and the Sabres had the ninth pick overall. They took a 6’6” defenseman whom I hope will make a sudden impact on the team.

I’m also intrigued by the NHL Draft because of the fact that so many young players out of the junior ranks are drafted and particularly this year, not many college players were taken in the first round. Only five of the 32 players selected in the first round had college experience. That’s uncommon in other sports. There were several 17- and 18-year-old players drafted by the NHL teams. That just seems very young for a person to become a professional, in any sport.

I’ve heard a lot about the Savannah Bananas exhibition baseball team but have never been to one of their games. Well, just this past weekend I watched a rebroadcast of one of their games from earlier this spring on ESPN, and it was very entertaining. They came to Tulsa a couple years ago, and the tickets sold out in just a couple hours. They have turned their brand of baseball into quite a show and the fans love it, selling out Major League and minor league ballparks all over the country. I hope I get an opportunity to see them in person sometime.

Of course, we’re in the midst of baseball season and I watch a fair amount of MLB games on television. I have to keep up with my favorite teams, the Nationals and A’s. That means we are also midway through the minor league season, as well, and it’s still a great evening of family entertainment and fun to go out to ONEOK Field and watch the Tulsa Drillers. The Drillers are out of town this weekend but will return home on July 18.

If you’ve read this column for a while, you know that I’ve been involved with minor league baseball since I became a batboy in 1978. I’m still involved as a pitch clock operator and fill-in official scorer for Drillers games. I love minor league baseball and have been to about 20 different minor league ballparks around the country. Even at my age, and experience, it’s still a thrill to visit a ballpark that I haven’t been to before.

Here in Tulsa, we also have a team in the Indoor Football League, which plays a season that starts in the spring and runs all summer. The Tulsa Oilers football team plays an exciting brand of football between the walls of the hockey rink at the BOK Center, and keep in mind, if a football goes into the stands and you catch it, you’re allowed to keep it. That’s pretty cool.

So, yeah, Oklahoma might be a football crazy state, but there is still a lot of sports to enjoy during the summer months.

TULSA BEACON RADIO

Tune in to “Tulsa Beacon Weekend” radio show every week, featuring interviews with local and national guests, talking about everything from politics to family issues. This week my guest will be “Secret Church Shopper,” author and speaker, Dr. Thomas Harrison. The show airs on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. CST on 970am KCFO.