NFL Lockout 2011: A Requiem for an NFL Season

The tragic reality related to the events of the last few weeks has finally led to the very ominous possibility that 2011 will be devoid of an NFL season.  Well, a full one at the very least.

As billionaires continue to feud with millionaires, every day fans have the unenviable task of facing a fall and winter without the distraction of professional football.

Of course there are alternatives.

College football serves as a reasonable substitute.  In fact, many contend the college game features players who play for pride instead of overblown paychecks.

Personally, the gimmicky offenses—while entertaining—leaves a lot to be desired.  For me at least.

Due to the randomness of heredity and geographic location, I have been branded by shamrocks and a love for a pint sized green clad mascot concerned with a pot of gold.  

However, Notre Dame’s treatment of the death of one of their students along with the university’s apathetic handling of a student involved in the rape of a young woman from a neighboring school has turned my skin green for other reasons.

There’s still baseball come fall isn’t there?  By the time football rolls around, only a few teams are left in contention, usually not the ones that I follow.  The length of the season also serves to water-down the impact of each game.

Nothing like watching the boys of summer duke it out in the cold of late October and early November, each breath carries the white mist as the grip of winter looms just ahead.

In its current manifestation, professional football has a sixteen game regular season.  Each game counts.  Losing three games in a row in baseball is bad, losing three games in a row in the NFL costs jobs. 

The fall remains my favorite time of year.  The sun still shines brightly and the air has lost its heaviness and offers relief as it glides through the orange and red leaves that will become the bane of my existence in the weeks to come.

But most of all, I enjoy fall because of the NFL.

From early September through the beginning of February, it’s the only time of year that Sundays remain tolerable, excluding the Sundays before Labor Day and Memorial Day.

The dread of Sunday evenings is abated for a time until I hear the final notes of Sunday Night Football going off the air. 

The dead of winter doesn’t seem so dead as the lights of stadiums drag my attention from the 4 o’clock dark outside my windows. 

What will life be like without the NFL this season? 

At least for me? Cold, boring and dark.