Holding onto Hope

This blog post started out with good intentions. I was going to make a list of the top ten things football fans can do on Sunday afternoons this Fall if the player's union and the owners don't come to an agreement in time to play games. Here's the depressing part: I don't think they're going to get anything done. Honestly, it seems like both sides are ok with playing a very dangerous game of chicken. One that will end up in a crash that leaves nobody happy and everyone hurt.

So yeah, a top 10 list of funny things to do to pass time might be useful. Especially if that list includes seeing how many Snuggie infomercials you can watch before you cave in and buy one, and catching up on all the episodes of Fear Factor that you missed in the '90s when you were doing useful things instead.

But then I actually started typing said list. I actually put myself in the frame of mind where there was no football on Sundays, Sunday nights, Mondays, Thursdays, and whatever other nights NFL Network decides to deem an appropriate "football night." I started thinking about what it would be like if there was no breakdown of all the craziness that happened the day before on Mondays. I started wondering what it would be like if we didn't obsess over fantasy stats all throughout the week, and start mentally picking our lineups on Wednesday afternoon.

I didn't like those thoughts. Honestly, they scared me.

Sure, it might sound dumb or melodramatic, but guess what? I guarantee I'm not the only one thinking these things. You don't want the NFL to cease playing games either, because even if you're not someone who shudders at the thought of football-less Sunday afternoons, you know someone who is, and they're not gonna stop complaining about it until they hear Gus Johnson's sweet voice calling CBS's B-games.

So forgive me if I don't churn out yet another top-10 list; another distraction from a NFL-less world; an attempt in vain to do something other than think about football, or a lack thereof.

I'm not gonna think about it until I absolutely have to.