Does anyone else suffer from the same withdrawl during the football off-season?
For me, that feeling starts just after the last NFL Conference Championship game. The realization that college ball is over, and that, after a long two-week wait, I will see the last meaningful football game until September. That starts the dread, and the heavy feeling in my stomach.
Then, during the off-season, I find myself hunting for some football related news. Or a blog posting on some event pertaining to football. Anything just to get a liitle fix. I read countless draft predictions, free-agency and trade news articles, articles about players having surgery or getting arrested, and articles about one player throwing another under the bus. How crazy is Al Davis? Who's the biggest primadonna wide receiver? Where is this big shot recruit that I've never actually seen play going to sign? Who got kicked off of the team at what school this week? Who will beat Ohio State in the NC game this year? I read them all.
Now, here's the truly sad part. I don't actually care about most of what I read. I just want to read, and occasionally comment on, something about football. And, if it were Fall, I wouldn't give most of these a second look. Of course, if it were Fall, most of these article and posting wouldn't be up because they would be replaced by articles and postings about actual games. And I know I can't be alone in feeling this way.
It is because of these reasons--and another more specific to me-- that I was so excited to hear about the AAFL. I watched NFL Europe. I'll even watch Arena football if I catch it on TV (although it's definitely not the same, and I don't follow the sport). But, of course NFL Europe was cancelled. And when I heard about the AAFL, I was excited about Spring football (real, outside, 100 yard field foorball). Not only that, but there was going to be a team in Knoxville--a team that I could actually go the the stadium and watch. My withdrawl would be soothed.
Then, as everyone already knows, the 2008 season was scrapped. Hopefully it will return for 2009. If not the AAFL, then some other Spring league. But, I can say this: I am making a personal resolve to support Spring football. I know the skill level will not match the NFL. But a league wide drop in skill should result in a similar level of competition. If nothing else, it should give us football crazies something to tide us over until the fall. And, a smaller, tighter league, supported by football freaks should actually be a lot of fun.
So, I'm watching and waiting for Spring football to come around. And when it does, I'm going to be on board--at the home games, watching when ever it's on TV, and on here posting all about it. I know that there is some value in this, and I think if enough of us get behind it, we can have something to keep that part of our brains that thrives only on football happy all year long.
We don't really want the NFL year round.
Every time we spoil ourselves and try to make something a year round occurrence, it doesn't go well. Too much beer, bad. Too much tex-mex food, bad. Too many cool cars, expensive, bad.
I am with you gunslinger. There is always that let down for me following the football season. Luckily for me I am also a baseball and basketball fan but I always look most forward to football season starting up again. I now find myself watching the NFL Network on satallite t.v. which plays some of the best games of the past which is pretty cool but there's nothing like getting the season going again. The Cowboys are holding spring training in Oxnard again this year and my brother and I are already making plans to catch a couple of workouts.
yea football the best..... but you dont want too much o####ood thing..... I use to date britney spears before she had the melt down and all she ever did is want wild sex ...day and night, night and day....after a few months I broke up with her because we didnt have anything intellectually in common...all she wanted to do was massage me with warm oil and give me happy endings....when she sensed I was growing distant she tried to revive our relationship by bringing in other women...that worked for a while but even that couldnt save our relationship...I left to spend some time alone in the desert and when I came back she had run into some very difficult emotional problems ,I blame myself for not being there.
so you see... year round football is only what you think you want , once you have it, you dont want it anymore.... go to the desert and enjoy.
Husker--I'm not lobbying for year-round NFL, just year-round football. Something not-NFL to take the edge off for people who suffer from football OCD, such as me.
hgdlljh--I look at it this way: Say the NFL is Britney (2003 Britney). It looks good, and it has all the skill and polish in the world. But when Britney's not around for half of the year, then some side action would be nice. Now the side action might not look as good as Britney '03, it might look like Britney '07, but a man could be satisfied while Britney '03 is gone. And then, when Britney '03 comes back in the Fall, all of the excitement is still there.
Hawk3333--I enjoy basketball as well (I'm not so much in to baseball), but there's just no sport that fires me up like football. Catching a few workout with your bro sounds like fun. My brother and I used to hit some UT scrimmages and Orange and White games when we were both in college.
csorear--It blows hard. I know that the physical demands of football require a long off season. But it's rough on the fans.
Last edited by gunslinger77 on April 7th at 7:16 AM.
There is a catch-22 here. The reason we like football so much is because the season is short and action packed. They leave us wanting more (The cardinal rule in entertainment).
But if we had it all of the time, it would be less special and, therefore, not as good.
So I say: Leave it alone. Who wants another baseball or basketball season where a loss means little because there are 100+ games left to go?
Fads - I can see the "too much o####ood thing" points that some are making. And I am certainly not wanting a longer NFL season. You are right that games would lose meaning--a 16-games NFL regular season is perfect (For one thing, if the season got too long, no player would make a full season without missing games for injury. And NFL careers would be shortened by years.)
What I want to see is a new spring league with all new players, just like NFL Europe was, or the USFL was and the AAFL proposed to be. Many successful players would leave for the NFL, because the NFL will forever be the prettiest girl at the dance. But that's OK. I'm not looking for NFL, I'm looking for second-rate football. Like a mid-day snack to tide me over until dinner time--an annual iambic cycle of small-time spring ball and the Fall when the big boys come to play.
History will tend to prove you, hgdlljh, and husker right, as no spring league has met with much success. It already looks bad for the AAFL. But my hopes are for a different outcome in the future. Not everyone will care about spring football. I'm just hoping that someday, enough people like me will take interest enough to actually have a sucessful league.
Last edited by gunslinger77 on April 10th at 10:33 AM.
This time of Year everything is interesting, the falcon and dolphin situations are there, Glaring at us like hungry dogs ready to eat....I miss My Foot Ball
hey im the public address announcer for the oregon outlaws football team now, season began this month and ends in june... they play in eugene,oregon....... for more info oregonoutlawsfootball.com we won the 1st game a couple of weeks ago 48-7 then won last week 66-00.......
