The Myth Of August
By: Jamie Samuelsen
Football is back!
It doesn't matter where you turn. There are signs everywhere that America's most popular sport is coming back to a stadium near you. The magazine rack is packed with Phil Steele, Lindy's and The Sporting News. The Big Ten coaches and players were in Chicago for the annual media day. Jim Schwartz held his first press conference Thursday morning in Allen Park in anticipation of the Lions veterans reporting Friday for the start of training camp.
Fans are excited. Players are excited. Coaches are excited. You can almost hear Hank Williams Jr. warming up the old vocal chords. Are you ready for some football???
Are you?????
Too bad. You'll have to wait.
We're in the midst of one of the most artificial sports events of the year. We're heading towards a giant mirage in the middle of a desert of sports wasteland. Other than the Tigers and a daily Penn State update – nothing is going on in sports right now. (Yes. The Olympics start on Friday. I like the Olympics. But I fear that I'm in the minority. Especially among the male folk.) So with so little else going on, football fans cling to the notion that football is back…even though it's not.
August provides daily camp updates and open practices for the die-hard fans. It provides the weekly exhibition games where the whole goal is for Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson to still be standing when the game is over. And that's about it.
You can't tell anything from these games. And you can't tell anything from these practices. They merely provide a glimpse of the real show that begins in September. It's like going to a steak house, but being forced to sit in the lobby for five weeks and only getting a side salad while waiting for the filet mignon. It's torture.
Look, I've tried. I've gone to the games and the practices and tried to glean something from watching. Here's what I figured out. I determined that Joey Harrington was MUCH better than Mike McMahon and was a sure thing as the Lions quarterback. And way back when, I determined that Luther Elliss was a can't miss star on the defensive line and would terrorize opposing quarterbacks. How did those two things turn out for Lions fans? I decided to stop drawing any conclusions about preseason football after those two gems.
I love football as much as you do. And I can't wait for the games…the games that actually count.
This isn't football. This is football conjecture and football talk and football speculation. It's fun to have that back. But until the games begin for real, it's all a big pile of nothing. August is perhaps the most overrated sports month on the calendar. The baseball pennant races are heating up and football is getting close. But don't get fooled. Football is NOT here yet. And it still won't be here for a while.
