My Love/Hate Relationship With NFL Preseason Football

I have a love/hate relationship with preseason NFL Football.  LOVE the fact they are playing FOOTBALL in a STADIUM.  Love the spandex, the thighs IN the spandex, and all the running around of the beautiful, athletic bods.

However, there’s the HATE side.  It looks like the team we know and love at the beginning, but then the second-stringers come in, and the third.  It begins to look like NFL Films Football Follies, with all the blooper plays—guys on the same team running into each other, and interceptions thrown so exactly to the other team, you think, “how could he not have SEEN that 270-pound defensive guy right there in his path???”

Even the first-stringers make embarrassing errors.  The offensive line had a hard time protecting QB Michael Vick, in the game Thursday night against Cleveland, of all people.  He took some very hard hits—a lot of them, actually—so many that pundits predict he won’t last more than 3 or 4 regular season games, before he is knocked useless, and they have to go to the back-up QB, Vince Young.

OR—is it just that we’re not seeing the REAL playbook, because it’s thought they HIDE it during the preseason, so they can SURPRISE the opposition when the REAL season begins.  AARRGGHH!  This is when I scream at the TV, “Make up your mind, already!  Is this a practice game or an exhibition game?”   I guess this is where my frustration lies.

One more thing—okay, San Diego, this is your last chance!  I’ve tried to love you, because you are closest to my home, and women like me have Location Loyalty. But every year starts off HORRIBLY—I know, you say SLOWLY—either way, you don’t win games till the second half of the season.  And your QB, Philip Rivers, is rated “elite” even though I think he acts like a punk.  (my mother’s word).  Shall I blame Norv Turner, the Head Coach?  The pundits seem to, and I always say football and business DO prove the trickle-down theory in one respect only:  all the good and bad moves start at the top, and trickle down to the players/employees.  So get on the stick, Norv, or I’ll be taking planes up to the Bay Area. . .even have a friend there who can get me tickets. . .consider yourself warned.

What do YOU think of preseason?  Are you even watching?  Cannot wait till September 8—won’t be long.