Football: The Focus

Baseball is our national pastime. Football is our nation's obsession.

The game-NFL, college, or even high school-has a knack for staying near the forefront of our collective competitive consciousness. The buildup for each season begins shortly after the lights go down in stadiums nationwide.

This is most obvious in the NFL. Once the Lombardi trophy is handed out the focus turns to free agency and the NFL Draft. The Combine quickly arrives and with it speculation of who's going where and when. While the lead-up to the NBA Draft (the second most-prominent draft in the four major sports) lasts a month at most, pro days and workouts in front of NFL decision-makers keeps us interested as the temperatures start to warm and the pollen starts to fall.

Obviously draft week is a prime example. Even with the NBA Playoffs getting underway and the post-Opening Day hangover still lingering for MLB fans, the future of NFL franchises reigns supreme. The fact that the spectacle has shifted to primetime on Thursday night furthers the phenomenon. And once the dust settles and Mr. Irrelevant finds a new home we'll all drool as we see our respective No. 1's in their new colors at OTAs and mini-camps.

In similar fashion spring football helps to satiate college fans. Storylines always abound, and with it hope for a new year. How else can you explain Alabama once again playing their spring game in front of 91,000+. You've got new quarterbacks (Georgia), players filling in major voids on both sides of the ball (Georgia Tech), and new defensive schemes (both). Along with Signing Day it's the best opportunity to get a sneak peek at the future of your program. And who among us doesn't like that?

As for the preps, it all goes down on a much smaller scale. Teams go to work under the radar as coaches examine their prospects for the summer and fall, and the players shake off the rust after a long winter. The microscope isn't there. The buildup isn't as great. But there's something about driving past a high school and seeing out of the corner of your eye kids in t-shirts, shorts, sneakers and gloves running gassers and go-routes. It reminds you that football season may seem far away, but it's never completely out of focus.

And there's nothing wrong with that.

Darnay Tripp