Less than 2 months away...

Today is July 1. Meaning we're about a month away from the start of fall practice and less than two months away from real, actual, sweaty, pants-pleasing football. FOOTBAWL!!! CALLLLLLLAGGGE FOOTBAWL! Hang on, let me calm down...

AL EAST STANDINGS
Tampa Bay 51-32 --
Boston 50-36 -2.5

That ain't gonna get it done. Give me some more time...

/breathes into paper bag

OK, back to CALLLAGE FOOTBAWL. This is going to be the greatest CALLLAGE FOOTBAWL season of all time. Here's why: Unlike previous years where you had maybe one great team and a bunch of really good teams, this year there are a bunch of great teams. You could name 10 teams and still miss this year's national champion.

You've got the front-runners like Georgia, Ohio State, Oklahoma, USC and Florida who have loads of talent tons of tradition. You have upstarts like West Virginia, Texas Tech and Arizona State who have narrowed one large chasms of talent and depth and are on the cusp of breaking through with a national championship.

You have teams like BYU and Utah, who have legitimate shots at going unbeaten and maybe having an argument to play for a national title.

And the list continues: Clemson, Mizzou, Auburn and Texas all of shots at running the table for a national championship. I think this year there will be a glut of teams with legitimate claims to a spot in the BCS title game.

I don't know if a playoff would solve college football's ills. It's ridiculous that the sport with the best regular season has the most ludicrous postseason. But it might be a Catch-22. That playoff might ruin the regular season. We may never know.

But instead, we keep arguing about it to get us through to August 30 when the season begins for most teams. It's what makes our sport the best around. The Red Sox may get me through to August 30, but after that they won't get a whole lot of attention from me until the postseason.

It's because baseball's regular season is like Groundhog Day. Everyday is the same, especially for those involved in it. In CALLLAGE FOOTBAWL, every game is a must-win. If Jon Lester has a bad outing, oh well, he goes again in five days. If Sean Glennon has a bad day, we should bench his ass and put in Tyrod. Unless Tyrod has a bad day in which case we should bench his ass and put in Glennon.



Because every game your national title hopes are on the line.

And by the way: Tampa Bay, you nouveau riches pigs, today is July 1. Not September 1. Not October 1. July 1. When (if?) everyone gets healthy, you'll be back where you belong. Looking up at the word "BOSTON" in the standings.

Go Sox and go Hokies.