First down!

Football season is here!

I watched the New England - Indianapolis game last night - great game, although I was hoping the Pats would win by more than 3...the spread was 3.5. I'm in a spread-based football pool (well, actually, I'm running it this year!), so this was not a 'win' in the pool sense for me. But it is a win for the Pats....or rather, a loss for the Dolts..er...Colts. I am not a Colts fan - haven't been since they left Baltimore in the middle of the night about 20 years ago. Although I do like Tony Dungy - I think he did wonders for Tampa Bay, and didn't get enough credit. Although I think Gruden is doing an awesome job with the Bucs as well.

Amazing how sports loyalties seep into one's marrow from childhood. I grew up a Washington Redskins fan. And I'm pleased this year - I can actually bring myself to cheer for them again. Last year I was in the awkward position of the team I grew up loving having a coach I despised. This year, a new coach for the Skins. Or rather, an old coach - Joe Gibbs was the coach in the 80s when I was in the prime of Skins-fandom.

Speaking of awkward positions - in college football, the FSU - Miami game is tonight. This is awkward because I dislike both teams...but they're both now in the ACC, and my college teams (Georgia Tech, and to a lesser extent, Maryland) are both ACC. The BCS makes for strange bedfellows in that I need to cheer for other ACC teams because more ACC wins improves Georgia Tech's strength of schedule.

Determining the lesser of two 'evils' is hard. I think Miami is likely to rank higher overall in the BCS, so it would help to cheer them on.

On the other hand, I've had quite enough of Hurricanes.

At any rate, with the rescheduled FSU - Miami game tonight, the Miami Dolphins game rescheduled to tomorrow, and normal schedules of college and pro ball, I will have plenty of distractions to keep my mind off the possible approach of Ivan the Terrible, and my rear in front of the TV. Might even get some stitching done between downs!