Welcome Back Football

Day 239:

It's late Summer now, Conor, and that means a number of things, at least where I'm concerned...  First, my very favorite season, Autumn, is just around the corner.  Next, the heat of the Summer subsides, the blue jeans come back out, and the air gets just a little drier and crisper.  And last, it's football season!!!

For me, Son, football season represents so much of my youth.  When I was a boy, as early as I can remember, I spent every Sunday in the Fall either playing pick-up football with my friends, or watching NFL football with my Dad.  So many of those moments, particularly watching the games along side your Pop-Pop while he'd scream and real at the television whenever a favorite player would break one loose for a big gain or lay a guy out with a big hit, are my fondest memories.  My first sip of beer, nachos at the ball park, you name it, it was my youth... And I loved it.

For so long I've wanted a child of my own, for so many reasons!  But this one...  Football Sunday.  It's way up there, Son.  A little guy (or gal - I wasn't particular) to sit and watch the games with.  To talk to about what's happening on the field.  To get excited with on game day.  To spend time with as I did with my Dad...  And so today, as the 2012 football pre-season kicked off, but more specifically as our very own Washington Redskins took the field, I was living in my own personal Shangri-La...

What's more, being a Redskins fan has been a painful endeavor in the last 20 or so years as they've not been very good at all...  But for the nearly 20 years prior, our Redskins were one of the most dominant teams in all of football, and I've never forgotten those days...  In fact, the year I was born, 1973, the Redskins played in the Superbowl against the undefeated Miami Dolphins!

If there's anything history teaches us, Son, it's that everything works in ebbs and flows.  What goes around, comes around...  20 years of epic football, 20 years of awful football.  Maybe, just maybe, we're on the upswing, Conor.  And if that's the case, we're gonna have some fun!

Hail to the Redskins, Conor.  Hail Victory!

I love you, Buddy.
-Dad