less than two weeks away from football

(oh, yeah. and i get to see my friends again.)

listen, there is no way that i can articulate the excitement and enthusiasm that is currently building inside of me for the college (and pro) football season to get rolling, pun intended. the braves' season is over. bobby cox is still trying to "win games", blowing out 42 year-old pitcher's elbows in the process, instead of using the last forty games as extended spring training for 2009. i am appreciative of the olympics for serving as a dramatic and, at times, compelling bridge to get me to aug. 30th (count me among the phelps fanatics). but, let me be honest. the first game of the season for alabama followed by week one of the nfl fantasy football year is what's keeping me up at night. god, i cannot wait.

also exciting is that, barring something unforeseen, come aug. 30th., i actually get to hang out with andy and kiker again. softball has given me a built-in excuse to keep track of kiker over the summer, but, as hard as it is to believe, i haven't actually kicked it with andy since before drew's baseball season began. how on earth did this happen??? i'll tell you how. andy went 9-5 on my ass (actually, i think it's something ungodly like 6-2) and took himself out of the running for easy-access, "hey, do you want to go to dreamland" spectaculars that we used to work out from time to time. and what did i do to combat that obstacle thrown in our way? um. i guess i just whined about it. fat lot of good that did me.

for my lack of effort leading up to the renewal of our gatherings come this time two weeks from yesterday, to my friends, i apologize. i hope that part of our pre-game conversation can include steps to prevent this sort of long-time absence from happening again any time soon. call me gay or sappy or whatever, but, damn, i miss you guys. it's been too long.

this serves as just another testament to the possibility that julio jones (no disrespect to bj, pictured above) is the savior of all mankind. even in the midst of two-a-days, your promise of "something better" can keep old friendships aflame.

god bless you, julio.