August: Football is in the Air

August has come again and Football is in the air, and it couldn't have come any faster. I can't think of a worse feeling than flipping the TV on and seeing an endless stream of baseball, tennis and golf highlights. The NFL lockout was the icing on the cake of Summer sports hell. But with the lockout getting resolved, that is all in the past, and we are just getting started with over five months of hard hitting football action.

The NFL lockout left a void in Sportscenter time for football action (other than legal matters). With the lockout ending on the verge of the season, an entire off season of trades and free agent signings have been compressed into a short week and a half. In that short amount of time two teams in particular have made moves to catch the media's attention. These teams being the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles. The Patriots acquiring two players that are notorious for drama but are being taught the "Belichick way", while the Eagles are assembling "the dream team". The actions of these two teams has single handily put Football back into the spotlight.

Fans and analysts have had the summer to speculate about the upcoming season and in August, they get to see the players hit the practice field for the first time. It's when all the speculation starts to get put into action, but at the same time no one really knows whats going to happen when the games start. Because of this balance between action and speculation, all the fans are excited about how their team will perform. During the 2008 season the Detroit Lions had the first win less season in NFL history. That next August, fans of the Detroit lions were just as excited for the upcoming season as the fans of the defending champion New Orleans Saints. They were ready to see if their team could now start the turn around and put Detroit on track to a winning season. That's the beauty of sports, no matter how rough the last season was there is always hope for next year. This hope peaks during the month of August.

Because of their high hopes for the season, trash talk between fans is highest in August. This was highlighted for me last week. While I was reading through a Big 12 blog post, there was a certain comment that caught my eye. This man was lobbying for his Oklahoma Sooners. For the most part I agreed with the comment until I read that the Oklahoma quarterback, Landry Jones, was the clear favorite for the Heisman. This Sooner Fan boy would later say "[The]Only team I would even be worried about playing would be LSU because the the title game is in their backyard but even so, no one can touch the buzz saw this year" August is great because any fan can make a comment like this and beleive it, no matter how bizzare. Oklahoma may very well have a magical year and Landry Jones may win the Heisman, but during August no one really has much of a clue, and so the Sooner Fan boy can say whatever he wants.

August may not be the month were football games dominate the weekends, but it does bring something that no other month does. The excitement for football never reaches the same level that it does during the month of August, and this is something we can all smile about.