Who's Ready for some College Football?

I am! While college basketball and pro baseball are probably my favorite two sports seasons, I find myself spending the dog days of summer daydreaming of Saturdays filled with college football. Is there anything better than the pageantry of college sports? The fans, the traditions, the uniforms (Oregon....gasp), the fight songs being played, each week's polls coming out, the big matchups each week, and the feeling of pride you have for your alma mater. Each August, every devoted college sports fan who has a dog in the fight feels like this could be their team's year. Naturally, most of us have our dreams dashed, but that feeling you get every year can't be matched.

No one knows this better than Baylor fans. Believe me, if there's a fanbase that deserves a surprisingly successful season, it's Baylor's. We go into every season with hope that we can be what Kansas was last year: a team that wasn't on anyone's radar that found themselves playing in huge games all the way to Thanksgiving. And every year, we end up disappointed. Yet every August, that feeling comes back, and we do exactly what we told ourselves we wouldn't do at the end of the previous season: we embrace it.

Honestly, with the new coaching regime, new offense, and new players, I'll be thrilled if my beloved Bears win two conference games and end up 4-8. Hey, for most of us Baylor fans, we would look at that not as a disappointment, but as a start. We're fortunate that we already have some of the aformentioned excuses built in for this year. Those excuses will go away next year, but they'll make this year's struggles not sting quite so much.

Despite all of that, I'll wake up each Saturday morning with the feeling that my Baylor Bears could pull off an upset against the likes of Wake Forest, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Texas, A&M, Tech, or whoever else we're underdogs against, and that feeling will carry me all day until kickoff. And even if it doesn't happen, I'll still get that feeling the next Saturday, and the next Saturday, and the next Saturday...and that is what makes college football so great.

Sic 'em Bears!