Locked In

7-28-2011
ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?! The NFL lockout is over, a few men have figured out how to share 9 billion dollars, and the gladiators of the gridiron will be patrolling the fields once again. Mark your calendars for August 11th, ladies and gentleman, because New England is hosting Jacksonville at 730 (ET) to kick off the NFL pre-season, and you better believe I'm tuning in. However, it's not because I care a lick about either of these teams (except maybe to see Tom Brady, whom I'm using one of my 2 allowed man-crushes on), but like the rest of America, I didn't know what I had until it was gone, and I'm ready to make up for lost time.

138 days. That's how long it's been since the lockout began. No free agency. No training camp. No official off-season. Now we have 2 weeks. 2 WEEKS until kickoff! From the NFL's side, they're probably frantically running around now trying to get everything in place for the start of the season. On the other hand, with 4 months of activity condensed into 14 days, it's sort of like an NFL Christmas for the fans. Or would it be more like Hanukkah...plus 6 days...? I feel like I've somehow acquired a real life version of Madden, where you would normally blow through the off-season in a matter of hours to get to the start of the new season and back to playing the games again!

Being in Korea, I've missed most of the news and drama surrounding the 4 month lockout, only catching bits and pieces online, or chatting with friends and family back home. That dull period of the year after the NBA Playoffs and long after the Super Bowl was briefly interesting again with the USA team tearing through the Women's World Cup and news of college football scandals, but now it's time to come back to my one true love. So bring on the rivalries, the trash talk, the homers and the haters, because Sunday and Monday nights are made for football, and I'm ready!


Here are a couple of videos I found today on youtube. One is a "thank you" from the players to the fans, the other is Reggie Bush + Arcade Fire.

NFL Thank you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2E1bOBXAgE

Reggie "Lift Off": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUV4YKbiVxQ