Well the first week of September is upon us all, and you know what that means for all of you football-loving neophytes out there: It’s nearly time for the most elite of players in the pro leagues to get locked on the gridiron and get down to business. For me—and many other football fans out there—this denotes the marking of our most anticipated time of the year. This is a very special time when we can host football parties at our homes, while getting belligerently hammered on cheap domestic beers, and tossing crunchy chips down our gullets, as we jeer, cheer and talk smack about our favorite teams and their arch rivals. It also marks the commencement of the NCAA football season, too. That means that we fervent football fanatics get our own tastes of both worlds; the best of the two, indeed!
For those of you who are not football fans, or who think that soccer is the ‘real’ football, welcome to the USA: Where football comprises big men, kicking the crap out of each other while trying to score big plays in the endzone. I for one am very excited. But, the next few days until the official first kickoff seem like eons from the present. However, that just means that I have to exercise a little bit of patience, as I eagerly await the first whistle from the white and brown, zebra-looking referees.
Talking about the officiators, man am I sure glad that that they added that overtime rule. If you are not familiar, it stemmed from the Vikings losing by three in overtime to the Saints—who went on to win it all last year. Not that the Saints, and the iconic man under center, Drew Brees, were not deserving of such accolades. But a new OT rule in the NFL means that if a team kicks a three point field goal, they don’t win, necessarily. The other team still gets one shot at it before the final stats are tallied.
Now, if the NFL would only adopt the NCAA overtime rules, where each team gets a shot from the 20 yard line, and similarly, if the NCAA would stop being so freaking money-hungry and adopt a playoff system, we would be in for a real treat. For that matter, you would not hear me complaining about an 18 game regular NFL season. The 16 games are okay. But preseason is so boring that I have to grab the tissues to mop up the tears streaming down my face. Two games is enough. Give us more action!
PLEASE? Yeah, Goodell, I am talking to you buddy!