Get
ready to hear this line a dozen times today…
…I cannot believe it is already August 1st!
Soon, the leaves will have that starched sound when the wind blows through the trees. The shadows are already crawling out from underneath everything and stretching farther across the neighborhood. Before long, pools will be covered and fire pits will be lit.
On August 8th, my neighborhood will see its last sunset after eight o’clock. Autumn is my favorite season, but it brings those four-thirty sunsets with it, and I freaking dread four-thirty sunsets.
Tonight, the Chicago Bears play a preseason game in Canton, Ohio. This weekend, another member of that famous 46 defense will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Remember all the football magazines that appeared every August when we were kids?
…I cannot believe it is already August 1st!
Soon, the leaves will have that starched sound when the wind blows through the trees. The shadows are already crawling out from underneath everything and stretching farther across the neighborhood. Before long, pools will be covered and fire pits will be lit.
On August 8th, my neighborhood will see its last sunset after eight o’clock. Autumn is my favorite season, but it brings those four-thirty sunsets with it, and I freaking dread four-thirty sunsets.
Tonight, the Chicago Bears play a preseason game in Canton, Ohio. This weekend, another member of that famous 46 defense will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Remember all the football magazines that appeared every August when we were kids?
Sports Illustrated, PRO!, Athlon, The Sporting News, Big Ten Preview and Street & Smith’s.
Those magazines were a big deal to a kid in the late 1970s. Before cable television, sports radio and the internet, they were how we prepared for football season. I studied the rosters, depth charts and schedules. I compared last year’s statistics with the predictions for the season ahead. I memorized players from teams I would barely see play and read the same pages until the covers curled and the binding began to rip apart.
There was nothing better than driving to the newsstand with my Oldman and having him hand me a sawbuck for a couple of football magazines. I had the entire football season sitting in my lap as we ran our errands.
My dad is gone and most of those magazines are gone as well. All of that has been replaced with websites. The few newsstands still around don’t carry much that ten bucks can buy.
I am not going to let this month fly by unnoticed. I am not going to reach Labor Day bitching and moaning that I pissed away the entire month of August.
I am going to enjoy the peak of construction season and the heavy humidity of late summer. I am going to enjoy the heat on my face and a cold gin and tonic in my glass.
And I am not going to fret about the White Sox losing 120 games in 2024.
Let’s get this eighth month of the year started.
Okay you Chalkheads, put a smile on your sun and spread love like a disease around your world.
