Preseason? Who cares!

Preseason? Who cares!

The NFL’s preseason is under way and while it does usher in the beginning of football season, just let me ask: Who cares!?!! To quote Allen Iverson, “We talkin’ bout practice. Not a game, not a game. Practice.”

If your roommate fires up his Xbox 360 or PS3 and plays a game of Madden 11, do you run into the living room wearing your favorite team’s jersey? Do you sit with anticipation waiting to see how your team performs? Are you emotionally invested in the game? The result of your roommate’s Madden game is just as important as the result of a preseason game.

Now, if we’re talking about the importance of training camp, that’s a little different. For those NFL junkies that watch HBO’s “Hard Knocks”, you know from watching the show that it is important time for coaches to evaluate their talent.

Hundreds of guys across the country work their tail off trying to work, scratch and claw their way into their biggest dream: to play in the NFL. There is something to be admired in that. In that sense and that sense only, preseason games are interesting. Is that enough to hold my attention? Not really. While it is cool for those involved, the eventual special teamers on my favorite team are of little concern to me. I’m not a bad fan; I’m just an adult with other things going on. It’s a little unreasonable for me to care who my team’s 8th-string linebacker is and how good he might be and his long-term potential.

Don’t take it the wrong way, this is a great time of year. As August ends, the weather slowly begins to cool, the seasons transition and the leaves begin to turn from greens to yellows to oranges to reds and browns. Football season is right around the corner, both professional and college football, and the whole nation is living and dying by the success of their fantasy football teams.

But c’mon, who really cares about preseason? Name the most memorable preseason game of all time! Which quarterback has the most all time preseason touchdowns? Who knows! Take pride in not knowing. If you do know, you might care just a little bit too much.

I have one final metaphor for you. The preseason is like pre-heating the oven to make a frozen pizza. The regular season is when you’re baking the pizza, you can smell it, you can almost taste it. The playoffs are when you get to eat the pizza, the full experience, you can feel it in your bones. The Pro Bowl is when you wake up at 5 AM to take a dump because you ate an entire pizza.

It’s that simple