I think I’m one of the few who actually enjoys the NFL’s pre-season.  I’m not going to pretend that the games are exciting to watch from a competitive standpoint, because I’m not a liar.  These games are brutal.  But I do enjoy watching the roster take shape, keeping an eye on the bubble guys and studying their growth from fake week 1 to the final roster cut.  

A lot of that delight is merely the byproduct of pacing. 

The season is long in terms of months, but painfully short when you consider the 16 precious meaningful snapshots that determine how long we suffer through a Wisconsin winter.  I’m always excited when training camp rolls around each summer, but careful not to go 2009 Arkansas Razorbacks:

Pacing.  It’s all about the controlled emotional response.  I try to milk gratification from each day of the NFL calendar, for sure as the sun will rise in the east, the season will be over before we know it.

But for some reason, I can barely contain myself this year.  I know the disappointing Brewers season has a lot to do with it, but, just shy of the 3^rd preseason contest, I’m ready to light this candle for real.  A quick YouTube trip down memory lane with a couple co-workers just turned into 30 minutes, and then we come across this.  How can you not want it to be September 9^th?