Are you ready for some football!!!!!!

February is always a depressing month. Not that I should complain about how cold it is in Virginia but it's cold. And for those of us that work the typical office hours, it's dark when you head to work and it's dark when you leave work. It's very depressing. Worst of all, football is over. No more arguments about BCS and who should've been in what Bowl Games. No more one-and-done excitement of the NFL playoffs. No more feel good stories about the road to Superbowl. Sure, you can catch some weird football games like the Pro Bowl but really, does anyone actually watch those? It feels strangely depressing. I wake up on Sundays and I'm confused. Lost. Unsure of myself. What am I going to do for the next 8 hours!? Panic sets in. Maybe I cry a little. Tune into NFL network for the recap of the season... god, just thinking about it makes me depressed.

But like they say, what goes down, must come up. Sun will shine. Ladies and gentlemen, football season is back. IT'S BAAAAAAAACK!!!!!! I can't tell you how excited I am. Even preseason NFL is great. Once again, football dominates the sports radio talk show. You can't go 5 minutes without some football highlights on ESPN. The magazine stands are filled with fantasy football research material. It's like once again, all is right in this world.

And then it starts. All the trash talk about who's gonna win this year. Preseason football is great for all football fans because at that point, everyone still has hopes. I mean, hell, even the Oakland Raiders can talk about "goals" and stuff. Crazy, I know. Fans who have been silent since last November start coming out and talking about how "this is our year". Cardinals fan, anywhere? Deadskins? Aaaah, it's great.

Well, college football started with a bang and it was awesome sitting around on Saturday, watching games. Now, I went to U of Richmond which is a I-AA school. So, I really don't have any college team that I cheer for. If I had to pick, it would be a Pac 10 school because I generally like Pac 10 basketball programs. However, there is one school that I do like a lot. ECU Pirates baby! Why you ask? Aside from the fact that Greenville, NC is the home to the hottest girls in this country? (Honestly, it's the best kept secret in this country but the girls are F*CKIN HOT!). Well, I used to work for an accounting firm and Greenville, NC was actually our client. So I went down there in the late 90s and early 2000s every summer/fall. We would go out to the bars where we would try to hit on college girls. Aaaah, good ol times. I remember going to the apartment of these two girls.... ooops, memory lane.

Well, Greenville, NC is a college town. Not quite like Penn State or anything but everything down there is purple and gold. And I think it was 1999... it was the fateful year in which Hurrican Floyd hits the city of Greenville. It was a devastating hurricane that flooded the whole city. Pretty much the entire city was 6 feet under water. Everything there was destroyed. I believe it was over fall break and so the students weren't on campus but those who had rooms on the 1st floor of the dorms lost all their belongings. Pictures, letters, memorabilia... all destroyed. ECU had a game scheduled against the heavily favored Miami Hurricanes. How fitting huh? They had to move the game to NC State. My buddy and I went to that game. At the end of the first half, ECU was hanging tough but of course... it's Miami. We were just hoping to keep the score respectable... but David Garrard and company had other ideas. They came back in the 2nd half, beat Miami for a BIG BIG upset. I mean this is Miami. Top 10 team in the country back then. Few notable names like Reggie Wayne (heard of him?), Clinton Portis... Maybe not App St beats Michigan type of upset but just as sweet. Not New Orleans makes it to NFC Championship sweet but definitely up there. Everyone stormed the field, tore down the goal posts (of course, ECU had to later pay NC St) and was just an incredible atmosphere. I fell in love. Sorry Don. :) Reading this article brings back memories... and tears...

I went to A LOT of games during David Garrard's stay at ECU. 3 hour drive down to Greenville was nothing. Sitting in the pouring rain against Syracuse after a 3 hr drive, just to drive back for another 3 hrs, soaking wet was nothing. Love makes you do crazy things. After he graduated, the program went downhill but it appears they are back on track. They gave VA Tech all they can handle on Saturday and believe me, ECU upsetting VA Tech would have been SWEEEEEEET.

Anyways, I digress. As I usually do when I get emotional. The NFL kicks off the season tonight between the New Orleans Saints and the defending Superbowl champion, Indianapolis colts (can I get a 30 ft catfish poboy please?). And as such, our fantasy football teams will kick off. I was gonna discuss my fantasy football teams but I got too busy talking about football in general. So maybe tomorrow. Aaaaah... it's so good to be back.