The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

We're in a recession,

the economy sucks.

I should be doing work,

but my mind's full of muck.

I have college essays to write,

governmental duties to perform.

The nation's healthcare system,

still hasn't been reformed.

I'm going to be a senior,

the hardest four months of my life.

But I just can't help but smile,

in the face of all this strife.

Why, why, why, why, you may ask,

well guess what, it's 'cause football's back!

Okay, so maybe those last two lines didn't rhyme, but you get the point. FOOTBALL SEASON IS HERE. This year more than ever our nation needs a pick-me-up, a stimulus package for morale and not just money. And once again, swooping in like your friendly neighborhood Spiderman is the football season.

But there is something about this season of the National Football League that seems to have me more excited than usual. Maybe it's the fact that I spent the majority of my summer in Beijing, China, where ping-pong and Olympic re-runs vie for the title of national sport. I'm not kidding about the re-runs, I'm pretty sure there is a Chinese T.V. channel dedicated to replaying the 2008 Beijing Olympics 24-hours a day. But that's besides the point, which is that I am excited to be back in the US of A and even more excited to engage in the extreme-couch-potato-ing, chips-and-salsa-consuming, watching-guys-hit-each-other-ing action that defines the daily Sunday routine of any true football fan.

Or maybe it's the fact that my beloved San Francisco 49ers actually mean something this year. With a coach who isn't afraid to drop his pants at any time, a rookie wide receiver who lives in some sort of virtual reality where he is always the number one pick in the draft, and a quarterback who is unknown even to his own fan base, it appears as if the Niners are just about ready to hit pay-dirt. But really, with Frank Gore returning for another year of ballin', Vernon Davis hoping to live up to the hype, and Patrick Willis back to put the "D" in domination, my Niners are going to "run train" this year. There is simply no other way to describe it.

Or maybe I'm so excited for football this time around because the Oakland Raiders are going to bite the dust this year. Nah it can't be that; that happens every year.

I think that in the end, the reason I'm so excited for football this year is simply because it's football, the most gloriously fun-to-watch team sport in the world. So if you would excuse me, I'm going to go play some Madden, sleep, play more Madden, lather, rinse, and repeat until September 10th, the day that marks the commencement of most wonderful time of the year.