The Offseason Slump

It's 1 PM on a Sunday, and for the first time since September of last year, there are no former players in horrendous suits sitting around a table analyzing an upcoming football game. It's the first weekend after the Super Bowl, and we're about as far away from the football season as it gets. To make matters worse, it's February, it's freezing, and there is about two feet of snow on the ground right now, making the thought of going outside about as appealing as the thought of spending my Sunday glued to a television that doesn't have the NFL on it.

Welcome to the worst Sunday of the year.

I know it's easy to get depressed around this time every year; not only is football over and it's right in the middle of the worst part of winter, but the professional sports calendar in general is pretty sparsely populated. Baseball season hasn't started yet, the NBA is still about two months away from games that actually matter, and hockey...well, who watches hockey? Surfing through the channels this afternoon, it's easy to get depressed.

But fear not, my fellow fans. We actually aren't as far away from football as it seems. The official start of Free Agency is right around the corner, and pretty soon the NCAA's finest will be hawking their wears at the Combine. Before you know it, teams will be signing players, making trades, and preparing for the Draft, which always comes as a most welcome break during the brutal months of the offseason. As soon as the draft is over, we have rookie mini-camps, OTAs, and then training camp gets into full swing. It's practically September already.

So let's all hunker down for just a little bit longer; football is coming back sooner than we all think. Sure, it may not be as exciting as it will be in a few months, but in February, you take what you can get.