I’m sure some of you are aware of this and some of you are not, but the official start of the 2015 football season is 10 weeks away. Until then, we have to talk about the upcoming season, while some of us, including yours truly, will watch football games of the past and NFL Network to get through what we call the “Dog Days of Summer.”
Yes baseball will help get us through some of the rough patches and we have other sporting events such as Wimbledon, NASCAR and the British Open to keep us somewhat entertained, but anyone reading this column right now longs for the start of the football season.
September 5th cannot get here soon enough.
Luckily, I have a few things to feed my need until then, and some of it will help you, too. Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney will host the media in three weeks at his home before hosting his annual media golf outing the next day. That’s always a fun time because we sit down with Coach Swinney at his home in Clemson and talk to him about anything, off the record of course. The next day we play golf and talk football with him and all the rest of his coaches about the upcoming season.
It does not end there. The following weekend, the entire TCI staff will head to Pinehurst, N.C. for the ACC’s Annual Football Kickoff event with the media. That is always a nice three-day event in which we play golf, hang out with the coaches and players from around the conference, while, again, talking football.
On July 25, my beloved Steelers begin training camp as they prepare for the NFL’s first preseason game—the Hall of Fame Game—on Aug. 9. The day before that, of course, Steelers’ great Jerome Bettis, one of my all-time favorite Steelers, will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
As for the Tigers, they will have their annual weigh in and report day on Aug. 3, and will begin training camp on Aug. 4. After that it’s football talk all the time. From mid-July through February some kind of football related item will be talked about, seen or reported on in some kind of fashion.
Now the question is what do we do for the next three weeks?
As for me, I plan to take a much needed vacation. Maybe do a few things around the house that I have been putting off and enjoy some down time with my family. Of course, I will watch a few of the old football games I have in my collection of great games and I will watch the NFL Network as often as I can.
The next 10 weeks will take a long time to get here. Time will seem as if it will come to a crawl. Don’t worry, it will only make you appreciate every second of every game once the football season kicks off.
I can’t wait until it does. Until then, maybe this game below will help you get through the rest of the off-season.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K5tpjO4zw4