Football Season: T - 2 and Counting!

So, what is going on in the world of Pittsburgh sports? How about them Pirates? Bwaaa haaa haaa haaa! In case you haven't been keeping track, the Bucs lost so many games that they are last place in four different divisions. They are so far back, they would have to win every game for the rest of this season and next to make the playoffs.  Is this some Curse of the Bambino thing? We let Barry Bonds get away and have sucked ever since?

Enough with the torture. Let's talk about real sports.

Ahhhhh!  Can you smell it?  Football season is finally here!  In my humble opinion, the season starts with with the annual Haj to Canton.  Hanging out at the Hall of Fame, soaking up all that atmosphere, really gets me psyched for the season.  Apparently, the Steelers agree with me.  They plan to modify their practice schedule to come hang out with me at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony.  No, seriously! I'm saving a seat for Potsie, one for Deebo, two for Big Snack, one for B-Mac.  I expect the O-line will also come to honor Coach Grimm, but I can only save so many seats, guys. You'll have to find your own!

Also, with the start of the season, I can feel the playoff beard itching to break free.  Soon, beard, soon! Your time will come!  As soon as, and I mean the very second, the Steelers make the playoffs, the beard gets to come back!  By my professional calculation, that should be by the third quarter of game seven, halftime of game eight, at the latest.  Hey, it's the beginning of the season. I am supposed to be ridiculously overconfident! The team looks great this year.  With Smith and Polamalu healthy and Farrior doing that Dorian Gray thing, the D will be on fire. If the secondary gets motivated and Special Teams comes along my plan will have a lot better chance of succeeding. Plan, you say? What plan would that be? This year, the playoff beard will be special.  I will start it when the Steelers make the playoffs, keep it growing through our Super Bowl win, carry it through the Penguins playoffs and celebrate with Vince and Stanley in the same town again. Now that, my friends, is a dream worth dreaming!

And it all starts tomorrow with the drive to Canton. For an Ohio town, those folks really do it right. The population of the town more than doubles for a few days. From what I can tell, most of the locals welcome the madness. It seems that everyone knows how big of a deal this is so they pull out all the stops.  I will miss some of the festivities but will catch the rib burnoff, the parade, the ceremony and the luncheon.  I enjoyed the speeches last year but the luncheon was the absolute coolest part.  Being a few tables away while football royalty talks about their playing days is such a high.  If you watch the session on ESPN, I'll be the guy in the Woodson jersey, with the mile wide smile.  If I get to shake hands with Coach Dad, I'll be in heaven.  I know most of the 17.43 billion Steelers fans on hand will want autographs but not me.  I just want to shake his hand and thank him for fifty years of football, the zone blitz, the best defense in the game, and just being one hell of a great guy.  The ritual of reading "T'was the Night Before Christmas" is one of my favorite stories in football.  I'd kill to sneak into the room for that some year.  Okay, maybe not actually "kill" cause Coach would have to pipe the narration into my cell and that would not be cool.  How about if I just nudge someone really hard? Maybe that would work.

Okay.  I'll get some pictures up after the event for those sad souls forced to live vicariously through me. Wow. I can't imaging how boring your life must be that you have to look to me for entertainment. Here is a day in the life: sleep, drive, work, drive, sleep, drive, work, drive, sleep, drive, cookie break, sleep, etc. Seriously folks, run now! Save yourselves!

See y'all after the induction!