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.