Preseason Football
Given the sorry state of the world today—murder, mayhem, and warfare all over the globe, and then, even worse, Dr. Phil on TV all the time—it’s certainly inappropriate at best to get excited by sporting events, even the Olympics, even when Michael Phelps (who he?) is swimming, right?
And if that’s so, then it’s even more despicable to be interested in sporting events that don’t mean anything, to wit, preseason football.
So, I admit it: I suck, because like it or not, I can’t help myself, I’m intrigued to follow this evening’s Steelers game, although I well know my time would be far better spent raising money for Obama’s election or planting trees to offset global warming, or even picking up dog poo in my backyard.
But instead, I’m sitting or standing in front of my computer, “watching” the game on NFL.com, trying to get a sense from it whether Pittsburgh has any chance of being any good this year.
Roethlisberger looks sharp, and Parker is apparently all recovered from his broken leg and Santonio Holmes has already caught a touchdown pass; so frankly, I’m not terribly worried about the offense. Defense will probably, in keeping with tradition, be reasonably strong against the run, but will frustrate by allowing big plays, especially on third down.
I think it’s special teams play that will kill us—and that’s already been illustrated in tonight’s game, the Black and Gold having given up a 95-yard runback for touchdown on a kickoff—just the sort of play that has me hurling the remote across the room during the regular season.
If I were a better person, I’d commit right now to ignoring the NFL altogether and would spend my fall Sundays making the world a better place. Instead, though, weakling that I am, I’m sure I’ll be gnashing my teeth and pulling my hair out whenever Pittsburgh plays—and with any luck, that will be all the way through to February 1, 2009.
And if that’s so, then it’s even more despicable to be interested in sporting events that don’t mean anything, to wit, preseason football.
So, I admit it: I suck, because like it or not, I can’t help myself, I’m intrigued to follow this evening’s Steelers game, although I well know my time would be far better spent raising money for Obama’s election or planting trees to offset global warming, or even picking up dog poo in my backyard.
But instead, I’m sitting or standing in front of my computer, “watching” the game on NFL.com, trying to get a sense from it whether Pittsburgh has any chance of being any good this year.
Roethlisberger looks sharp, and Parker is apparently all recovered from his broken leg and Santonio Holmes has already caught a touchdown pass; so frankly, I’m not terribly worried about the offense. Defense will probably, in keeping with tradition, be reasonably strong against the run, but will frustrate by allowing big plays, especially on third down.
I think it’s special teams play that will kill us—and that’s already been illustrated in tonight’s game, the Black and Gold having given up a 95-yard runback for touchdown on a kickoff—just the sort of play that has me hurling the remote across the room during the regular season.
If I were a better person, I’d commit right now to ignoring the NFL altogether and would spend my fall Sundays making the world a better place. Instead, though, weakling that I am, I’m sure I’ll be gnashing my teeth and pulling my hair out whenever Pittsburgh plays—and with any luck, that will be all the way through to February 1, 2009.
posted by Professor Dave at 7:27 PM
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