Happy College Football Week, Everyone

I've come to a realization at this point in my life. I find that I either really, really care about something or I don't care about it at all. It's why I'm so invested in certain TV shows and could not care less about others most. It's why I'll devour one book in three days but stop reading another one after 15 pages. And it certainly shows itself sports.

I grew up a maniacal New York Giants, New York Mets and New Jersey Devils fan. I was only slightly a New York Knicks fan and/or New Jersey Nets fan, depending. I didn't much care for basketball as a wee one. We won't discuss the whole Notre Dame football thing, but sufficed to say I've been all about Syracuse Orange football since 1996.

As I got older, I started to hone in on certain things. It was as if there was a Venn Diagram for my sports fandom life and it was getting more and more specific. The two circles seemed to be Sports Viewed and Things I'm Passionate About. At the far end of the Sports circle went hockey, baseball and pro basketball. To the overlap went college basketball, college football and pro football (and lacrosse, I s'pose). In the other circle, things like the Devils and Mets became peripheral. I root for them quietly but can't claim any kind of passionate response to their wins and losses (probably for the best where the Mets are concerned).

As for the Giants, SU basketball and SU football? I'm locked in. I'm die-hard. And, likely due to this site, even more-so on all things Syracuse than the Giants. Because, if I'm being honest, the circles really intersect at "Syracuse" and "college football" more than anything else in my rooting life.

I am, above everything, a college football fan and a Syracuse Orange fan. I could not be more excited for this week ahead. It's probably the most absurd and frustrating of all the major American sports, what with its season-ending exhibition games and dubious champion-determining systems, but, that's part of it's sick charm. Something that even those not from here can't help but appreciate:

"Simultaneously preposterous, incredibly laughable, impressive, charming, ridiculous, expensive, overpopulated, wonderful, American."

It's college football time, everyone.