Is it football season yet? How about now?

It's that time of year when I start to get bouncy.

In less than one month, NFL preaseason starts. Patriots Training Camp starts next week.

The fall is by far my favorite time of year. The leaves are turning in the trees. The apples are getting picked and that means that it's time for pie, cider, crisps and September's Yankee Candle of the Month - Macintosh. School's starting again for kids of all ages.

And most importantly - football starts.

It's that time of year when I debate whether or not I'll go to a hometown football game at my high school alma mater for a cheap Friday night, sitting behind the band eating a bad hot dog and drinking too-hot Swiss Miss hot chocolate. It's the time when I start stalking ESPN to find out about any last minute free agency pick-ups and disposals. It's that time when I debate whether or not the preseason games are worth watching. It's the time of year when I reminisce about my freshman year in high school when the coach saw me in gym class and wanted me to try out for the freshman football squad, only to have my parents tell me "no". It's that time of year when I remember that one of the reasons I agreed to march in the MHS Marching Band Color Guard was so I could get into the football games for free. The time of year when I want to spend my Saturday afternoons rallying some troops to play a game of Nerf touch football (I've been unsuccessful in recent years, so if you'd be interested... comment please!!!).

Football season is on the horizon.

I'm looking forward to getting together with friends, all donning our favorite Pats jerseys and yelling at our respective TVs in either joy or misery. I'm looking forward to getting chili or pulled pork or other various football foods ready in the Crock Pot before church so that my house smells like football time when I get home. I'm looking forward to waiting in anticipation for each game, hoping like every other Pats fan that maybe this year will be number 4 for Brady's Boys... and if it isn't, that at least it'll be another darn good season.

It's so close I can taste the barbeque sauce.

When Steve and I started dating, one of the first things I told him in the "getting to know each other period" was this:
"Listen... I like football. I'm a big Pats fan. Every Sunday, I watch football. A lot of times I watch multiple games in one Sunday, from 1:00 PM until well after 8:00 PM. So... I don't know if you like football or not. You can either come with me... or count me as lost for the day from September to late January."

Those of you who know us know he chose the former. When we were first dating, he wasn't a big football fan. Over the last 5 seasons, he's come to see the light of the goodness that is football. It is definitely one of the things we thoroughly enjoy doing together.

Steve & I in Disney World sporting our Pats Pride

I'm like a 5-year old at Thanksgiving who knows that in just one short month Santa will be coming. Only for me, Santa Claus isn't any taller than me and wears a blue shirt with a white collar and a pink tie every game... and his head elf wears a raggedy old hoodie with the sleeves cut off.

It's coming...

Post-Super Bowl Thoughts

I'll keep this brief because I know the majority of people who read this blog are upset, but I have a couple of thoughts after last night's game.

I have to admit that I had a bad feeling going into last night's game. For one, there were too many distractions between the Brady/Foot/Gisele crap, the Moss/Chick-Likely-Crying-Wolf crap, and Arlen Specter wanting to revisit Spygate with the NFL Commish. Add to that the ENORMOUS amount of hype surrounding this game; even as a Pats fan, if I had to hear "Perfect Pats" or see the numbers "19-0" one more time I was going to scream. To my knowledge, I was the only person I knew who wasn't stating or assuming that the Pats would win. I just never verbalized it because I'm not one to enjoy an angry mob.

Then there are all the superstitions/curses that I'm sure people could blame for the loss. I for one know I took this as a bad sign: Where was Belichick's gray hoodie last night? What the heck was that red thing? I'm surprised no one has blamed the fact that Gisele was up in the booth for Brady's average performance last night. Brady's injury 2 weeks before the big game. Brady actually making snide remarks back after Plaxico Burress predicted a 24-17 Giants victory; what happened to the no-comment Pats that Belichick had developed? People not letting others who they think are bad luck watch the game for fear that the Pats would lose. Troy Brown wasn't even suited up, just hanging out in sweats on the bench.

I'm sure I'm going to hear a lot of stuff today at work, and I'm sure you will too. It comes down to this; the beautiful thing about football is that it really is an any given Sunday game. Thanks to salary caps teams can't just buy greatness like they can in baseball. This means that the best players are spread out among all 32 teams, and you never really know who the best team is. On paper over the course of the season the Patriots were clearly the better team - but if you ask me, the Giants just wanted it more. The current New England Patriots and their fans have been spoiled and have grown to expect that when the Pats make the big game, a win WILL occur. When you have that expectation, you lose some of the heart. If you watched the "Undefeated Pats" over the course of the season, then you'll agree with me that there were some games that they probably shouldn't have won. But they did, and certainly 18-0 is nothing to scoff at.

Eli Manning had something to prove; he's not just Peyton's little brother anymore, and he played a heck of a game last night. I think that also makes them the first brother quarterbacks to win back-to-back Super Bowls, which is kind of neat. And what about Zach and Steve DeOssie - the first father-son Super Bowl winners, and ironically for the same team at that? You have to admit that those are pretty cool things. As far as I'm concerned, the Giants just played better, period. Good for them, they deserve the win.

Now... I'm ready for the excitement of next season. The impatience for August starts now.