Mandatory Pre- (NFL) Season Post

Yes, I'm back in Asuncion (Paraguay). The trip was as quick (relatively speaking) and uneventful as one could hope for and it feels good to be back with my family. A few days in Seattle were fun, but...well, it's good to be back.

Hopefully I'll have a chance to get back to writing and posting soon, but with the NFL season just around the corner I'm hard-pressed to NOT have football on the mind. Walking through the Miami airport Saturday night, it was so refreshing to see football on every single television. You get down to Paraguay and there's nada...despite an overabundance of sports channels (I've got nine or eleven on my TV). People are, like, NFL what? I had to spring for the NFL package so I can stream the games on my computer in order to get ANY games with my team (at least, till the play-offs start). It's just like the MLB: though you can find the occasional game on TV, the only ones they show feature the Yankees and Orioles.

SO...I've been trying to get into my own "football shape" (mentally, anyway) the last couple weeks: watching games, reading the news, figuring out who's switched teams/coaches/whatever. Preseason can be fun for the fans, though we really shouldn't take it too seriously.

[having said that, I admit to a little glee at watching the Seahawks dominance the last couple weeks and the 49ers complete ineptitude...at least, with regard to their "first team" players]

But what's utterly tragic is seeing players go down with season-ending injuries even before the start of the regular season. Darnell Dockett's loss is going to make it very hard for the Cardinals to duplicate the same success on defense that they had last year (he's been a perennial anchor and force on their D-line), and San Bradford's injury...I mean, what terrible, terrible bad luck for that cat. He spends his first couple seasons without much help (from the rest o the team) and then goes out two years in a row with a torn ACL. And for the Rams (and their fans) it's especially devastating: their investment goes beyond the huge money and salary cap hit...they haven't bothered to sign, draft, or groom anyone as a (franchise) replacement for Bradford.

"Not again!!"

Not that I'll cry a lot of tears if the Rams' season tanks or anything: they are a division rival, after all, and still the only team that has ever beaten a Seahawks playoff at the new stadium (back in 2004). But I feel for the guy...the amount of rehab needed to come back from last year's ACL injury (and Bradford was playing excellent at the time), just to have all that work negated with what looked like a (relatively) light hit? That's tough. Injuries and dealing with injuries are part of football (even small injuries, due to the need of players to function as high-precision instruments) but Bradford's, examined in context, is especially sucky. It's unlikely he'll ever take another snap for St. Louis (can they trust him to stay healthy?), and who knows how motivated he'll be to do the rehab a second time (can he trust his own body?)?

Okay that's all I've got to say at the moment (sorry, no Blood Bowl stuff)...I'm back to my usual schedule, which means I'm running late (as usual)!