Seasons may change, but fall stands still in time. Fall is the best time of year, made better by the fresh apples, Halloween, the World Series and, of course, the beginning of the Villanova basketball season.

It is a great feeling when you no longer need the fans in your room blowing at full blast. The windows need not be all the way open, but the blinds must be in order to see the leaves outside change to more colors than someone’s face when they fart in an elevator.

The feeling of fall is just different. The cool, crisp air acts as a catalyst for memories and sensations. Just walking outside on a nice fall day and smelling the fresh air makes you forget that the beach and the bathing suits are going to have to wait til next year and that it’s time to break out the pigskin and get a game of football going.

Winter has its snow, spring has its rain and summer has its humid, disgusting heat, but fall has its cool air that magically takes you back to some of the best times of your life.

Autumn’s arrival also means that All Hallows Eve is not far.

A time reserved for some tomfoolery and ballyhoo, Halloween is almost a guaranteed sweet night. The costumes that some people come up with are just flat-out awesome.

Some people say that I use Halloween as and excuse to run around half naked, since this year’s costume will be either Tom Cruise in “Risky Business” or Chris Farley from the “Chippendales” SNL skit. The point is that Halloween the one night of the year where looking completely ridiculous is not only condoned, but downright appreciated.

With autumn’s gradual dip in temperatures comes the Fall Classic, or better yet the entire month of the MLB playoffs. I’d have to say that the majority of people on this campus find that their loyalties lay with teams from New York, Philadelphia, or Boston. I’m not even going to touch the Phillies because they are just too easy a target. To the Boston fans, yea it stinks, but this is why they came up with the phrase “better luck next year.” To the Yankee fans, ha-ha.

And lastly, to the Met fans, our beloved Mets look poised for greatness. It is possible that by the time you read this, the Mets are World Series bound, but then again, they might not be. Looking back to early childhood, fall baseball can cause a range of extreme emotions: the happiest of the happy to the most depressed of the down.

It is remarkable to see just how many people live vicariously through their teams and schedule their every appointment around the playoff schedule.

Finally, the most important aspect of fall for Villanova students is not the treachery found in mid-terms, but the total awesomeness that comes with the start of basketball season.

Encouraged by trips to the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight in the last two years respectively, the Wildcats come back with the high hopes of the entire student body to put ‘Nova Nation above the rest. With early polls showing the Wildcats either at the bottom of the Top 25 or sometimes not on the list at all, I’d say that we are going to turn some heads in the coming months.

Hoops Mania will highlight a homecoming weekend that might just be the best weekend of the year.

Sit outside. Enjoy the weather. Stand up and be heard as the great ‘Nova Nation that we are.