Are You Ready for Some Football?

Washington Redskins Cheerleader (Photo credit: Keith Allison)

I got home from the beach on Monday night and saw that there was a Monday Night Football game on ESPN.  It dawned on me that the NFL preseason was half over and that the regular season will be starting soon.  I suppose that I should be getting excited about the upcoming season, what with my Washington Redskins having an exciting new quarterback in Robert Griffin III, but I just can't seem to get all jazzed up as of yet.

The start of the NFL season used to be a major event for me.  I was heavily into playing Fantasy Football with my brothers and a bunch of friends.  For years we used to have a make a major night of our annual draft.  We started this before all of the online sites were available to track everything automatically.  Eventually, we moved our league over to one of the online services to make thing easier.

That particular league we played for money.  In addition to that league, I would play in an additional two or three free online leagues.  I devoured several different fantasy magazines and subscribed to a couple of fantasy football email newsletters.  If there was a game on television, even if it was just the first preseason game of the year, I was watching it.

In addition to the fantasy football, my brother and I each had accounts with an off shore sports book for the purpose of NFL Betting.  I didn't do a lot of betting on it, just a buck or two here and there. I would call a toll free number and they would fax over the current odds.  I would make my selections on the sheet and fax back.  I stopped using the service when I had a couple of bets that I thought I won had been denied with them saying I never got them in.  I cashed out a buck or two ahead of the game.

A few years ago, I got tired of our annual fantasy football ritual.  I just didn't want to devote the time, money, or energy to it any longer.  I even stopped playing in the free leagues that I was a part of.  Now, I still want to watch the Redskins play, but there have been days when I was willing to do other things instead of watching the games.  Right now, I plan on taking some Sunday's to visit my son and take him out for lunch instead of watching the games.  The days of watching every pregame show and every game on television are long gone.  I have other things to keep me occupied.