Game Girl

Just remember, the first weekend is always the hardest. That's why they give you the Pro Bowl, and now the Senior Bowl, as consolation prizes. They are there to help wean us off the football-watching obsession we've gotten sucked into over the past 5 months (6, if you count training camp, which I most certainly do!) It's like quitting smoking. You need one of those patch-things to help wean you off the nicotine at first. And then slowly, you can start to cope on your own.

So, unless you are a Steeler or Packer fan -- and believe me, your time is coming soon, folks -- it's time, as they say, to hang up the cleats and move on. Sunday afternoons, and evenings, and Monday nights, are football-free now, much as it pains me to say. So now, it's time to figure out your plan. Ask yourself, "Where do I go from here? How do I move on?" I'm not going to say it's easy. I'm just here to say, you can do it. You have to. You have no other choice.

Some of you will segway relatively seamlessly into college basketball, or spring training, or even the NBA (does anyone actually WATCH regular-season NBA games anymore?? I guess they do...) Some won't need any "crutch sports", you'll just go cold turkey and start doing real-life things again like going shopping or seeing a movie on a Sunday afternoon. Ugh. And some sad sacks, like me, will twist in the wind waiting for any miserable scrap of football-related information to help keep us afloat until OTA's, mini-camp and training camp start up again. It's not a pretty life, but it's the one we've got, so I guess what I'm saying is, embrace it.

This is the longest stretch, kids. The most painful one. We just have to endure for a while. Try to cope. Take a vacation or something. Replace football with other things, like, uh, well...OK, like spending quality time with people again. I know it sounds hideous, but really, what other choice do we have?

There are some bright sides to this rather dim, depressing scenario. Like not feeling that panicky feeling on Sunday morning that you won't make it home in time for the game while in line at the Home Depot. Or not spending Sunday night in agony, reading blog post after miserable blog post, after your team loses...again. Or how about this? You can now wake up on Sunday and have the WHOLE day to do whatever you want to do.

I know, I know...what you REALLY want to do is watch football. But that's not possible now, unfortunately, so it's time to move on. Pull the band-aid off quickly, it hurts less that way. It's time to cut our losses and wipe the slate clean.

Just remember, it's a process. It will get better, little by little, I promise. And before you know it, free agency will open and life will begin anew...