Football!

The first football games that count (in the United States, that is) will be played this weekend.

Not only does UMD open defense of their NCAA Division II title Saturday, but Wisconsin high school football teams open up with a full slate of games Thursday and Friday.

We'll delve into that schedule, as well as UMD's prospects, later this week.

It's not quite as much fun as March Madness, but there is something to be said for the first week of football season.

Hope, of course, springs eternal. Everyone thinks they can be good. Everyone thinks they can do what teams like UMD, Mount Union, Sioux Falls, and the Pittsburgh Steelers did.

Win it all.

That's the goal, but only a select few will reach it.

While everyone thinks Florida is going to win the BCS title, not even that is a certainty. Teams are lined up around the country, hoping for a chance to knock them off their perch.

It's football season. Feel it.

Oh, and hockey preseason magazines should be out in the next ten days. There's that, too.