The day starts like any other weekday…alarm, shower, coffee, e-mail. It is pretty much like every other work day I have had since Jan 3rd of this year. Oh, my office is a bit warmer than most of those days and I am dressed a bit more casually than most of those days (I’m in shorts and Crocs rather than jeans and sneakers) but it is pretty normal otherwise.
Except it isn’t. Not really.
You see, IT returns today.
IT is Redskin football and there isn’t much in the world like IT.
While I know there is a lot of talk about the changes in Ashburn and new look Shanahan/McNabb lead burgundy and gold clad team, it doesn’t change how this day feels. It is like this every year.
There is hope.
There is excitement.
There are dreams.
Today the race for the Lombardi starts and there are 32 equal clubs out there (well, OK, maybe not equal because the Rams, the Raiders and the Chiefs are still the Rams, Raiders and Chiefs but you know what I mean).
This is not NCAA football where if you aren’t a Division 1 team in a BCS conference starting the season on somebody’s Top 25 you can pretty much write off any hope of a National Title. It also isn’t the English Premier League where if you aren’t Man U, Chelsea, Arsenal or Liverpool you know you are playing for 5th place before you buy that first pint with which to watch that first match (can you tell I might still have a bit of a soccer hangover after the World Cup…yes, I will up tomorrow morning at 6:30am for the EPL kickoff between Man City and Tottenham on ESPN2). Nor is this the NBA where if you aren’t the Lakers or the Celtics you are a long shot every year.
This, my friend, is the NFL where anything can happen and nearly every year something in the “anything” category usually does.
Two years ago it was Tom Terrific going down with a season ending injury of the first quarter of the first game to drag the Super Bowl favorite Patriots back to the ranks of the merely gridiron mortal.
Only months before that it was the Giants, riding a Wild Card entrance to the playoffs, beating that same All World New England team in the Super Bowl after the Pats did what was previously considered impossible and went undefeated in the regular season.
This is the NFL where the Saints can win a Super Bowl. Where an undrafted free agent QB from a small school can start for one of the premier franchises in all of sport (yeah, that hurts to write but sometimes the truth hurts).
In this league a team can go 9-7 in the regular season and play for all the marbles in the Super Bowl after hosting the NFC Championship game.
Tonight we, the fans of the Washington Redskins, get a look at the new players (hello Trent Williams, Donovan McNabb, Adam Carriker and Larry Johnson), a peek (for surely a peek is all it will be) at the schemes of Kyle Shanahan and Jim Haslett, and a chance to see a bunch of guys who will be waiting tables in a few weeks live their short dream of being a pro football player for one of the most storied franchises in the history of any professional sports league.
And I know those things are important (just not as important as they will be Sept 12) but more than any of that, we get to see IT, in burgundy and gold, for the first time in 7 and a half long months.
Revel in IT, my friends, for Redskins football is IT and IT is back.
Except it isn’t. Not really.
You see, IT returns today.
IT is Redskin football and there isn’t much in the world like IT.
While I know there is a lot of talk about the changes in Ashburn and new look Shanahan/McNabb lead burgundy and gold clad team, it doesn’t change how this day feels. It is like this every year.
There is hope.
There is excitement.
There are dreams.
Today the race for the Lombardi starts and there are 32 equal clubs out there (well, OK, maybe not equal because the Rams, the Raiders and the Chiefs are still the Rams, Raiders and Chiefs but you know what I mean).
This is not NCAA football where if you aren’t a Division 1 team in a BCS conference starting the season on somebody’s Top 25 you can pretty much write off any hope of a National Title. It also isn’t the English Premier League where if you aren’t Man U, Chelsea, Arsenal or Liverpool you know you are playing for 5th place before you buy that first pint with which to watch that first match (can you tell I might still have a bit of a soccer hangover after the World Cup…yes, I will up tomorrow morning at 6:30am for the EPL kickoff between Man City and Tottenham on ESPN2). Nor is this the NBA where if you aren’t the Lakers or the Celtics you are a long shot every year.
This, my friend, is the NFL where anything can happen and nearly every year something in the “anything” category usually does.
Two years ago it was Tom Terrific going down with a season ending injury of the first quarter of the first game to drag the Super Bowl favorite Patriots back to the ranks of the merely gridiron mortal.
Only months before that it was the Giants, riding a Wild Card entrance to the playoffs, beating that same All World New England team in the Super Bowl after the Pats did what was previously considered impossible and went undefeated in the regular season.
This is the NFL where the Saints can win a Super Bowl. Where an undrafted free agent QB from a small school can start for one of the premier franchises in all of sport (yeah, that hurts to write but sometimes the truth hurts).
In this league a team can go 9-7 in the regular season and play for all the marbles in the Super Bowl after hosting the NFC Championship game.
Tonight we, the fans of the Washington Redskins, get a look at the new players (hello Trent Williams, Donovan McNabb, Adam Carriker and Larry Johnson), a peek (for surely a peek is all it will be) at the schemes of Kyle Shanahan and Jim Haslett, and a chance to see a bunch of guys who will be waiting tables in a few weeks live their short dream of being a pro football player for one of the most storied franchises in the history of any professional sports league.
And I know those things are important (just not as important as they will be Sept 12) but more than any of that, we get to see IT, in burgundy and gold, for the first time in 7 and a half long months.
Revel in IT, my friends, for Redskins football is IT and IT is back.