Sure baseball and softball are great.

What’s not to love about all the drama and strategy? But there is something to be said about track & field too.

Who wouldn’t love the stories about the run-’til-they-hurl athletes who ooze dedication in every meter run?

Enjoy graceful things? Check out the high jumpers or the pole vaulters. The competitors glide over the bar and show elegance that can’t be matched on an ice rink.

Like watching grit, or action that is anything but graceful? Check out the shot put, discus and javelin throwers. These competitors won’t grace any magazine covers and aren’t typically anywhere close to super model thin. But that’s not what these athletes are striding for.

Hurling a shot put, throwing a discus and javelin aren’t the most natural sporting events and sound more like a bar room bet than a sport. Nevertheless, it makes for great watching.

Those crazy long jumpers and triple jumpers must believe they can fly because at times it sure looks that way. How does one practice these events? No one builds a long jump ramp and sand pit in their back yard. Perhaps young long jumpers leap barrels. No matter how they do it, when they jump fans should jump and cheer.

Agony of defeat, thrill of victory – doesn’t matter. Track & field has it all. And fans with the fever can take it all in this weekend at O’Brien Stadium. Some 600 athletes will compete in the Big Blue Classic that continues Friday through Sunday. Athletes from 10 schools compete in the event that launches the outdoor track season into high gear.

Athletes are currently considering when to make their move, in other words, when to peak. It’s the key question on most tracksters’ minds.

u So what if Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa is stuck at 499 home runs. The more important statistic is 2-1, the Cubs’ record.

The North Siders love April and May, September, well that’s a different story. But it only takes little things to get Cubs fans, purveyors of eternal optimism like no other group.

What’s even better? The White Sox are 0-2.

u It’s official – Eastern will have artificial turf soon. So what would be the depleted Panther football team’s slogan next year? Not fastest show on turf, that’s been done before.

What do the Panthers have to offer? A rookie quarterback, a backfield that runs a few steps slower on a sterile field let’s see, that translates into a slogan: “Panther football – it beats going to the hospital, but it’s just as clean.”

u So now that everyone’s bracket busted and many realize the silliness of trying to predict the future and rooting for a team only to advance higher in an office pool, let’s all root for the underdog – Marquette.

The Golden Eagles coach has one of the best headline names in college basketball – Tom Crean, as in, of the crop.