My birthday is on Saturday (No need to send gifts), and when my birthday happens, it is usually a sign that football is right around the corner. When I was a kid, I would always ask for Madden for my birthday. The game typically came out right around the time of my birthday. I already played countless hours of NCAA Football by this point, so, I had to get into the professional sports groove. As an adult, there are usually countless NFL stories around the middle of August. Training camp battles, key injuries, previews for the season. That isn’t out there this season. With NBA heading into the playoffs, Stanley Cup playoffs, and baseball getting into full gear, there is not the same emotions with football. Like everything else in 2020, it is very weird.

Preseason football is something that I don’t care about. I do not schedule my days around when the Packers are playing some meaningless game. But preseason football is a sign of things to come. To not have social media content of great plays in the preseason from nobodies makes you almost think football isn’t happening. Of course, that is untrue, but there is no excitement around what should be a great year.

And there is the other part of this looming, what if a Marlins or Cardinals-like outbreak happens with football? People are trying to avoid the thought of the National Football League having to push pause on their season because they’re dealing with an outbreak. There is a thought that many football fans are not getting their hopes up and trying to take it day-by-day. That’s probably a smart practice and one we should do for so many other things in life, not just football.

NFL will be back in our lives in 27 days when the Houston Texans take on the Kansas City Chiefs. How will it look without fans? What will the game be like? Or will it even get there? What if there are outbreaks all over training camps and the NFL needs to wait to start the year. That’s the scary part, and maybe the reason no one is getting gassed up for the year. We’ve seen it happen before where sports disappear on us instantly and we do not want to deal with that depression again.

Charlie.