Preseason football

I have missed football. A couple months after the Superbowl I missed it painfully, consciously. I would sit on the couch on Sunday afternoons, staring into space, longing. During the fall I would kill myself on Saturdays so long as I had my Sundays free. Curl up with a blanket and popcorn and my sweat pants and I would just revel in the sport for hours.

After a while the bite went away. Like when you lose a leg but get used to your wheelchair. OK, so I exagerate, but you know what I mean. And now, preseason has begun, and my leg is back! And I'm running and jumping and doing cartwheels.

Slowly it's all coming back. Manning Peyton audibles. JP Losman scrambles. The Bills have lost McGahee but we have the A-Train. Tony Romo is showing up to play. I remember things like fumbles in the endzone and hail mary's thrown down the field in desperation. The pressure when a quarterback is thrwing out of the end zone, when a kicker decides the score. 50-yard rushes and one-handed catches. Bad beer commercials, the referee's silly socks, the yellow flag, the crunching sound when two brick walls of human beings collide. The clean, new uniforms, the dirtier, rowdier fans. Coaches prowling the sidelines, muttering into their headsets, screaming at players and refs alike.

And the anticipation. Who will be the suprise team, what talent is yet undiscovered? What name will achieve fame and glory? Everyone is playing to earn their place; the hits are hard and the stakes are high. Every single time the ball is snapped, players jump off the line like thier livlihoods depend on it - and it does.

I am falling madly in love with football all over again.