Are You Ready for Some Football ( I know I am!)

The day is finally upon us once again. What am I referring to, you may ask? The title of this post says it all. That's right, in less than 36 hours, the sport that I consider to be America's pasttime, will be back in full swing, when the Patriots host the Oakland Raiders. It will be exciting for me on many levels. To start, it's the official start of the 2005 football season. I haven't been a baseball guy for quite a while (about 10-15 years to be exact), have never really been into pro basketball and I'm very skeptical as to whether the NHL will recover from the damage caused by the season-long strike. Secondly, it should signal the end of the Patriots dynasty. Not to say that they have a good shot of losing to the Raiders, but I don't believe they'll make their way back to the Super Bowl. Finally, I'm looking forward to seeing the Pittsburgh Steelers in action after their almost fairy tale-like season which saw them compile a 15-1 record, only to fall one game short of the Super Bowl. I'll be able to watch the games in the comfort of my humble abode thanks to my "offseason acquisition" of DIRECTV and the subsequent purchase of their NFL Sunday Ticket package, which is especially comforting since I don't live in the Pittsburgh area. Well, as the Black Eyed Peas said on Super Bowl Sunday, "Everyone have a Happy Football!"