The days are getting shorter, the blasts of humidity are followed by cool evenings, and the back-to-school sales are unavoidable. What does all of this mean? Summer is almost over, kids everywhere are dreading weekdays, and NFL football is one week away.

Friday night the final preseason games will be over and fans everywhere can stop wasting time and money on meaningless exhibition contests. And everyone can stop talking about Michael Vick as well. But we probably won't.

Here are the 12 most important questions that need to be answered in the upcoming season (we'll get to predictions next week):

Can we survive without Michael Vick?
Let's get this question out of the way right at the top. Michael Vick, the football player? I'm afraid the answer is yes, we can go on without him. Sure, he was the human highlight film, the greatest SportsCenter segment since Bo Jackson. But as a quarterback, Vick never quite measured up. He threw for 3,870 yards and 21 touchdowns in 74 career games (Peyton Manning reaches those numbers in 10 games). He led the Falcons to the playoffs twice in four years, winning just two playoff games. On the other hand, Vick the dog-murdering gambling-ring-running convict? I'm not sure we can survive without beating that topic to death (unfortunate pun unintended).

Is that a phone booth?
It was bad enough when the officials went "under the hood" to take a look at controversial replays. Now the NFL has provided a Fotomat booth for them to climb inside. It looks as if there's enough room for a Jacuzzi, big screen TV, and mini-fridge in there. The reason for the change is a good one, though-the referees will finally have HD pictures to look at. No longer will I have a better view of a play than the officials at the game have. (That is, except for those few games that CBS refuses to show in HD. But don't get me going on that.)

How much is too much?
How many times will the Tony Romo's fumbled snap that cost the Cowboys a playoff game be shown? 100? 1,000? 100,000? These are the things I think about.

Who are the musical acts for Opening Night?

John Mellencamp is the headliner for next Thursday's Colts-Saints pre-game show. Because hearing 30 seconds of "This is Our Country" every 10 minutes for the past year-and-a-half wasn't enough. Now maybe we'll get to hear the whole song! (Faith Hill, Kelly Clarkson, and Hinder are also scheduled to appear. Just in case you were wondering.)

Is there really a regular season game being played in London this year?

Bloody right! The Week 8 match-up between the Giants and Dolphins will be played in jolly old England. It will start at the very normal-sounding time of 1pm Eastern, or tea-time by British watches. My only hope is that the guest announcers for the game will be John Cleese and Hugh Laurie.

Can my prognosticating possibly get any worse?

I hope against hope that the answer to this question is no. Last season I went an incredibly bad 112-140-4 against the spread. It was the worst performance of my illustrious picking-just-for-fun-career, and a far cry from the 136-110-10 season I posted in 2003-04. Not even my 12-6 record on Monday Nights last year or my 4-0 week in round one of the playoffs kept me happy this summer.

What are the best games on the schedule in the first couple of weeks?

New Orleans at Indianapolis next Thursday is a heck of a way to kick off the new season-with last year's champs hosting last year's surprise team. (Chicago at San Diego Sunday afternoon would be the Week 1 runner-up.) In Week 2, Sunday Night's San Diego at New England tilt is one worth staying up for, as the Chargers look to avenge last year's heartbreaking playoff loss to the Patriots.

How many Bengals will be arrested this season?

Nine Cincinnati Bengals were arrested last year. That's more arrests than wins for Cincinnati (they won 8 games last season). With a new sheriff in town who's tough on crime (NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell), the boys from Cincy might want to try and walk the straight and narrow this season. The over/under on Bengals arrests is 4 this year.

Have we seen the last of Tiki Barber?

Unfortunately, no. Barber will be a weekly part of NBC's Sunday Night Football package. The former Giants running back-who told us over and over again that he was looking to get into serious journalism-has made headlines recently for ripping his former teammate, quarterback Eli Manning. Since controversy = ratings, expect more of the same from Barber and NBC.

Will there be retribution against Major League Baseball for their bizarro scheduling?

Major League Baseball announced in May that the playoff schedule would be different this year. One of the major changes was that the first game of the World Series would begin on a Wednesday, instead of a Saturday. Historically, the NFL went dark on the Sunday that matched up with Game 2 of the World Series, thus allowing baseball to have the full spotlight. And they have once again obliged, going dark on the night of what will now be Game 4. But baseball-in their grand wisdom-will now have a scheduled World Series game on a Monday, squaring off against Monday Night Football for the first time in who knows how long. Is nothing sacred anymore? I'm imploring the NFL to utilize the flex schedule and put a game up against Game 4of the World Series, just to teach Bud Selig a lesson.

Can the Colts repeat?
On one hand, the fact remains that in the last 26 years only four teams have repeated. On the other hand, the Colts once again have a pretty easy schedule (their toughest stretch comes mid-season with games at Jacksonville, at Carolina, vs. New England, and vs. San Diego, but they finish at Oakland, vs. Houston, vs. Tennessee). Plus they are still the Colts. Until someone in their division rises up, expect the Colts to once again win the South, make the playoffs, and then...who knows?

Is it all Greek to you?

This year's Super Bowl will be number 42, or XLII. We've almost reached the point of confusion with the Roman numerals. III years from now will be Super Bowl XLV, which sounds like a new rap group. And in VII years, we'll have number XLIX. Try explaining that one to the kids. I year later we'll have Super Bowl L. And before you know it we'll be looking back on games LXXXVIII, XC, XCIX, and C. There must be an easier way.