As Andy Williams would no doubt have readily agreed, this is the most wonderful time of the year. At long last, we are on the cusp. The orchestra is tuning up. The fly-by-wire cameras are being tested. Al Michaels is being carefully unfrozen in his chamber. Can you feel it? Football season is here.
I know, I know. A whole month remains until the substantial games begin. But, as in opera, the overture’s adumbrations are an integral part of the act. This is the period of chatter, and of prediction, and of optimism unsullied by fact. Here, in the antechamber, each team is still its best self — with no losses, no injuries, no boneheaded mistakes to soil its reputation. 17-0? It’s possible! Quite literally, it’s possible. In sports, imagination can be a hell of a drug.
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