Despite the NHL season seeming like it ended a few weeks ago, hockey makes its not-so-long awaited return on Wednesday night. The sport’s barely-existent offseason got us thinking about which sports have the shortest and longest breaks between play. So, we counted the days from the final date of each major sport’s last postseason game to the accepted beginning of their newest season (ex., baseball games in Australian don’t count). The numbers were somewhat surprising. Here are the lengths of each offseason in major sports, starting with the longest.

NCAA football: 235 days

BCS championship: Jan. 6, 2014

Opening night: Aug. 28, 2014

Percent of year the sport is active: 37%

That the longest offseason belongs to college football was a surprise, at least based on an informal poll of FTW staffers. It makes perfect sense though: College football ends just after the new year, then goes through a long period of inactivity, minus some headlines for recruiting, spring games and whatever academic scandal is going on at UNC. Frankly, given that there’s no mass national coverage of preseason training nor any preseason games, the NCAA’s “real” offseason is probably a good two months longer than the NFL.

NCAA basketball: 222 days

NCAA final: Apr. 7, 2014

Opening night: Nov. 14, 2014

Percent of year the sport is active: 39%

This was the one I expected to be longest, maybe because college basketball simply disappears from April to November. Unless you’re dialed in to the goings on at your alma mater or with your favorite team, you could realistically go a solid seven months without thinking about college basketball.

NFL: 215 days

Super Bowl: Feb. 2, 2014

Opening night: Sept. 4, 2014

Percent of year the sport is active: 41%

The college basketball offseason is a week longer than the NFL’s, but it might as well be an eternity longer. The NFL never leaves the news cycle. After the Super Bowl, it’s the combine. After the combine, it’s free agency. After free agency, it’s the build-up to the draft. Other than a brief break just before the start of training camp, it’s basically all NFL all the time. Those 215 days between games feel like forever, but there’s plenty to fill in the gaps.

MLB: 152 days

Game 6 of World Series: Oct. 30, 2013

Opening day: March 20, 2014

Percent of year the sport is active: 58%

If the NFL’s offseason feels too long and other those of other sports feel too short, baseball is Goldilocks: just right. Baseball is never played at a ridiculous time of year (cough, hockey, cough). Its ending symbolizes the start of winter and its start brings upon the introduction of spring.

NBA: 136 days

Game 5 of NBA Finals: June 15, 2014

Opening night: Oct. 28, 2014

Percent of year the sport is active: 63%

I’d have guessed the NBA’s offseason was far shorter than baseball’s, but turns out it’s just 16 days. When you factor that baseball plays twice as many regular games, it’s even more surprising and yet another sign that the NBA playoffs go … on … forever. For casual fans, the NBA starts at Christmas anyway.

NHL: 118 days

Game 5 of Stanley Cup Finals: June 13, 2014

Opening night: Oct. 8, 2014

Percent of year the sport is active: 68%

Hockey begins when the leaves haven’t changed colors, then ends when school is out and swimming pools are open. Everyone sees a problem with this, except the NHL, which still stretches its season longer than AMC did to the final years of Breaking Bad and Mad Men. Of the major American team sports, the NHL does indeed have the shortest offseason. Some individual sports, however, make the NHL’s offseasons seem like forever-ever.

NASCAR: 95 days

Final race: Nov. 13, 2013

Opening race: Feb. 15, 2014

Percent of year the sport is active: 75%

Maybe it’s just me, but that’s far too many weekends of turning left. Exclusivity is always a powerful draw. NASCAR, and the sports that follow, would be wise to remember that.

ATP Tour: 51 days

ATP World Tour Finals final: Nov. 16, 2014

First match: Jan. 5, 2015

Percent of year the sport is active: 86%

The tennis calendar is a little different than others, in that players often take breaks of multiple weeks throughout the year. (Roger Federer, for instance, played on Wednesday. It was his first match since his U.S. Open ended at the beginning of September.) Still, the offseason is far too short, especially when players frequently go on money-making tours of countries the ATP schedule ignores.

PGA Tour: 26 days

Final round: Sept. 14, 2014

First tournament: Oct. 9, 2014

Percent of year the sport is active: 93%

Those aren’t typos. For reasons known, but still not intelligent, the 2015 PGA season begins Thursday in California, less than one month after Billy Horschel closed out the 2014 season with a win in Atlanta. That’s just a 26-day break! When your sport’s offseason is shorter than a college kid’s winter break, there’s something fundamentally amiss.

The earlier beginning to next season was borne out of the PGA trying to make the FedEx Cup playoffs into a marquee event. That meant ending the season earlier, which left the fall events in limbo. So, instead of making these next two months a meaningless extension of the 2014 season, they’re a mostly meaningless beginning to the 2015 season. Overall, there’s not much harm done. Lesser players get a chance to earn rankings points and win tournaments, while the big boys relax and prepare for the real start of the season in mid-winter. It’s the same as tennis: Golfers are independent contractors and take off when they want. Still, it’s a little odd when the 2014 Euro Tour season ends 46 days after the PGA begins its 2015 season.