Are You Ready For Some Football?

Well, it’s just about that time of year again. The dog day doldrums of late August summer are slowly starting to fade away as they morph into the new rebirth brought on by the autumn winds of September. The meager sporting calendar that for an agonizing month or two was “only” an endless parade of baseball games and not much else is just about ready to be rejuvenated again. It’s football season.

Pro football is back. Training camps are over. The final pre-season games are gonna be completed this weekend, and after that, fans can actually watch the good players (the starters) play for a full game for the first time in about seven months. Fantasy football fans from all over the country are gathering, either online or in person at draft parties for their various fantasy drafts and or auctions this weekend, with smiles on their faces. Estimates are that 28 to 30 million fans will play fantasy football this season.

More so than any other sport, football gets people talking about it, because everybody feels like they are a football expert. Go to the water cooler on any Monday during football season, and you will hear co-workers talking about the previous day’s games. It is, by far, America’s favorite sport.

Of course, people are also glad it’s back because it gives them something to gamble on. I do not know why so many people who cannot even catch a football thrown at them can think they know enough about who will win, lose or cover point spreads that they will bet hefty amounts of money on it just for the hell of it. But they do it.

And of course there is also college football. Real games are being played this weekend. Fans of college football probably show more crazed allegiance to their teams than anyone. Every week, the college football fan gets geeked up about their team’s chances of winning just that one game that week. And they keep getting fired up for every week of the season until maybe they win enough games to earn a berth in a bowl game. Or, maybe they are one of the elite teams that run the table and get a chance to play for the championship. Either way, college football fans love college football. Oh, and they can gamble on college games too.

It’s also the same time of the year that high school football gets it in gear. And there are a ton of fans who love that version of the sport too. Parents with kids on the team, parents of kids going to school who are not on the team, and even former students who used to go to the school, these fan-types all help to support the high school football juggernaut. And don’t forget, that applies to nearly every school in each and every town in this nation, almost all of which has some form of football team playing in the fall. That’s a lot of fans. Hopefully, they’re not gambling on these games too.

So, football season has arrived. They’ll be running, throwing, blocking and tackling at full speed now. Scoring plays. Saturdays and Sundays (not to mention games now on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays) filled with real games, played for keeps now with the results counting in the standings. With real odds and real fantasy results. It is basically what most American sports fans have been waiting for since the Super Bowl ended. It’s about time. Let the games begin.