Jones'n for college football

What is it about the months of June and July that bring out the best in people?

Is it the warm, summer months with longer daylight hours? Is it the annual vacation to the lake house?

Perhaps, but for college football fans, it signals a time of year when the air is warm and the smell of freshly cut grass sets off the daily dreaming of another year of college football.

It's the time of year when you start to prepare for your game day rituals. It's the time of year when your conversations with your buddies turns to who will start at quarterback and what new aesthetics will be unveiled at your favorite stadium.

It's the time of year when the college football fan is transformed from a hibernation-like demeanor to a rousing state of consciousness.

Each year at this time, there are the standard questions. Who is returning the most talent? Can the champs repeat? Who will be the surprise team? Which team will be on their way to Boise to play in the snow in December?

Okay, the last question may not be asked everywhere, but for the true college football fan, these kinds of questions are in the craw every day until that magical day in August when the pigskin starts to fly.

How do you really know if you have the college football sickness? Do you find yourself looking at a composite schedule for the 2003 season and ultimately debating which is the better match up Buffalo vs. Colgate or Troy State vs. SE Louisiana?

Have you ever started talking to yourself on the way to work wishing you had more access to see Ivy League games on Direct TV?

Maybe you are already salivating over the Nebraska vs. USC battles in '06 and '07.

Have you ever got into an argument with your buddies about which Big Ten playing surface has the best paint on the field?

These are all signs of the disease and unfortunately, there isn't a real solid cure.

The best cure may be a scenario where your favorite team blows a 24-7 third quarter lead by fumbling twice giving the archrival a fifth consecutive win.

Another possible cure could be watching a pre-season All-American player from your team get arrested for stealing pizza from the local pizzeria because he didn't have enough money to take his date to a movie and have dinner too.

Perhaps you've been cured by sitting front row, center as your team dropped five of their last six games in 2002 capped by a loss to UCONN at home on Senior day.

Whatever your medicine should be to save yourself from this disease, even after you've taken it, chances are you'll be afflicted again when you see the calendar change into June and July.

After all, there is likely something positive that sends the affliction back into your bones.

Perhaps your team will be the team that breaks the six win barrier and heads off to the Motor City Bowl for its first bowl visit in 14 years.

Maybe you'll be a follower of a team that is treated to a New Year's Day bowl game for the first time in school history.

Heck, maybe even you'll be a fan of a team that repeats as National Champions.

Could it be that for the first time in your life, you'll get a chance to travel with your team to a place they haven't won at in 12 years and find yourself dancing on the field with the team as the ball sails through the uprights as time expires.

Golf lovers find themselves with a similar affliction. One long, straight drive is enough to bring you back over and over again.

These college football moments are enough to take the jilted fan and turn them into a believer again.

So what is in store for 2003?

You can bet there will be last second wins, games called by lightning, coaches with the newest flavor of Gatorade dumped on their heads, cheerleaders with tape on their ankles from the last fall, bands with new uniforms and a baton champion of some sort, Notre Dame home games on NBC, Notre Dame away games on every other network, blue playing surfaces with snow piled in the corners of the end zones, heart breaking losses, coaches fired in mid-season, at least one mascot fight, fans tearing down goal posts and many other annual rites of fall.

One thing is for sure. The warm months of June and July may be summer to most, but to the college football fan, it's a signal to get the hibachis ready and to start shopping for face paint.

College football is coming!