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I hope you are “ready for some football,” because with the National Football League kicking off its 2023 regularseason Thursday night, you will have plenty of chances to watch it.

September is the time when all three levels of football collide. You have the high school season, which is entering its third week, the college football team entering itsecond full week and the NFL kicking off Week 1.

I have to admit, September has always been my favorite month, and it is not just because I was born on the final day of it. I have always liked the ninth month of the year because football ruled the airwaves.

I still enjoy September, but I am not into it as much as I used to be because there is just too much football now. There is not a day of the week that goes by now that you cannot find a game on somewhere. You can over saturate your market, and that is exactly what football has done at the college and professional levels.

It used to be that you had an entire week’s build up to the games. Your weekend was spent enjoying your favorite team on television. It was like a reward for putting in a hard week’s work. That is just not the case now.

Most of the big games are still being saved for Saturday afternoon and evenings. But a few of them are starting to be played on Thursday and Friday nights. Some of us have to work on those nights and the next morning, so staying up late to watch these games does not always fit into our schedules.

Speaking of a game that is being played on Friday night, I was none too pleased when the Michigan High School Athletic Association announced that it was having to move the state finals from Friday and Saturday to Saturday and Sunday this year to accomodate Michigan State hosting Penn State at Ford Field. I am still fuming over this one.

As college teams you can move your schedule all over the place. I and alright with that, except when it affects high school athletes, who in my opinion have no business playing on Sundays unless due to some force of nature, playoff games have to be made up in order to stay on track.

I know the teams, coaches, parents, families and community members will still made the trip to Detroit if their team is playing on Sunday. At least the MHSAA is looking to play the four games with teams that have to travel the furthest will go on Saturday, while more local teams will play on Sunday.

That probably still means a day off of school for those players who compete in Sunday just to rest up and heal. It will also push back those players who compete in winter sports from jumping right in and starting to practice for season openers which are just days later.

I guess we will just have to live with that for this year. But now that you have done it once, that does not mean it will never happen again. In fact, since there was not much push-back for the MHSAA, I would venture to say it will have again soon than later.

So now that the dog days of summer are passing us by and Labor Day has come and gone, it is time to settle in and watch a whole bunch of football.

 

Scott Novak is sports editor for Leader Publications. He can be reached at scott.novak@leaderpub.com