Ah, the arrival of a new football season and the annual resurrection of a great American pastime, the very air is charged with the electric hum of anticipation. Picture it now: fall is rapidly approaching, and the smell of hot dogs and nachos mingles in your local stadium’s halls. If you can’t feel the thrill coursing through your veins, then perhaps you’ve been afflicted by some uncommon ailment of the soul or somehow landed on the wrong damn webpage! College players turned pro, fantasy players delivering joy (and anger), your trusty old team making their excuse for a run at the Super Bowl, and let us not forget the art of shit talking everyone who isn't a fan of your team. Follow me for a moment as we explore the wondrous spectacle of football season and how it stirs our passions.
First, there’s nothing quite like the excitement of seeing your favorite college players don their NFL uniform signifying that they have finally reached the pinnacle. It's the moment many of them have pursued their entire lives. It is a great joy to see their dreams come true and watch how they stack up against the leagues elite. Or in my case you get to see your college team's QB get drafted in the first round and proceed to suffer a season ending injury in the first pre-season game. Ah yes...the grandeur. Glad I didn't draft him in my fantasy league.
Speaking of Fantasy Football: a modern marvel that allows one to cheer for a cadre of players who are not bound by geographical or team allegiances. It's a god's damned free for all, but tell me it doesn't make you care about almost every game played!! This contraption of the digital age, where one can assemble a roster of star players and pit them against the rosters of other 'experts', turns every Sunday into a melodrama of triumph and despair. Each touchdown, each interception, each missed field goal becomes a moment of high drama, as one’s fortunes rise and fall like the tides. Every single possession becomes provides you with a new target to root for. "I just need 5 yards from D.Henry," "Please, just get into FG range so this game goes to overtime, I'm only down by 2 points." Fantasy managers have skin in the game for almost every possession of an NFL season.
Of course, no football season is complete without the fervent loyalty to one’s own team outside of the fantasy worlds. To be a fan of a team is to partake in a grand tradition of joy and misery (mostly misery if you are a Detroit fan...but that is changing!!!). It is to invest one’s heart in the fortunes of a squad whose victories are your own and whose defeats cut to the core. Many people scoff at how vested fans are in their team. However, there is pure joy in finding common cause and rooting with many others in support of a goal. Every time your team walks on the field there is chance of hope or misery...or both! Cheering them on through thick and thin, and feeling the swell of collective pride when they triumph, is a feeling known only to those who truly understand the beauty of competition.
And, let us not forget the grand tradition of trash talk. There is a certain art to this practice, a veritable ballet of words, as fans engage in playful jabs and boastful proclamations. My team is better because 'x' your team sucks because 'y' It’s a time-honored method of testing one’s wit and engaging in good-natured ribbing. The back-and-forth between fans of rival teams adds an extra layer of enjoyment to the games, a spirited exchange that makes the victories taste sweeter and the defeats sting just a little less. There are those that say sports talk is for the lowly, I say it is a grand location to test your wit, and engage in robust argument, but you best come prepared!
So, as the new season dawns, let us all revel in the joys it brings—watching college stars shine, rooting for fantasy heroes, championing our beloved teams, and indulging in a bit of friendly banter. What ever brings you joy this season, for in this grand spectacle, there is no greater delight than the promise of 4 or 5 months brimming with excitement and the sweet, intoxicating elixir of football fervor.
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