All right, football fans. The season is into its second week (thanks to NFL Network now showing Thursday night games starting at the beginning of the year) and we’ve seen some great things. The triumphant returns of Peyton Manning and Adrian Peterson. The epic 63-yard field goal made by David Akers that tied the NFL record for longest field goal. Robert Griffin III torching the Saints in his Redskin debut. Tony Gonzalez returning to Kansas City with the Falcons and scoring a touchdown. Perhaps a bittersweet bookend to his Hall of Fame career, dunking the football over the goalpost in KC — where he spent so many good years and created so many great Chiefs’ memories — for the final time. All great moments and really just the tip of the iceberg.
And then there have been things that are not so great. Going back to that Falcons/Chiefs game: Chiefs fans like our own Andy Soto were brimming with cautious excitement, ready to forget the injury-shrouded darkness of last year and storm into this season with a hard-fought victory over the Falcons. Alas, that did not happen. The Chiefs got shellacked. As did the newly-optimistic Colts with their newest golden boy, Andrew Luck. And the Dolphins. Oh, the Dolphins. 0-1 and on their way to a disappointing 6-10 or 5-11. Watching them on Hard Knocks before the season even started felt like a mini-NFL season. There was hope at the beginning of the show as camp started and by the time it was over I felt like I had weathered a year of Cam Cameron-esque proportions. So my expectations were tempered a bit, but it still hurt to see them take a drubbing at the hands of the Texans.
It’s going to be a long year. Nobody likes losing but hopefully it will be a constructive stretch of losing, where Ryan Tannehill can learn to be an NFL quarterback and the Dolphins can come back next year and be playoff contenders. Writing off an entire season with hope for next year? Yup. It’s terrible being at least one season (and more like 10+) away from doing any significant winning. But that’s where I’ve lived for a long time. That’s where a lot of fans have lived.
If anyone has any great moments to share (because I know I missed most of them) feel free in the comments. Also, feel free to vent if you have any tales of suckage due to being a fan of a certain team. Maybe if you’re a fan of a certain team like . . . the Bears? Jay Cutler being Jay Cutler! Surely there’s got to be some angst there!
If you’ve got some extra time (come on, we all know you’re not really working!) scope out the Why Your Team Sucks archive from Deadspin (After you check out all the awesome stuff here at No Coast Bias, of course!). Drew Magary levels some nice satire at all of the NFL teams. But I think the best parts are where he includes emails from fans explaining why their respective team sucks. All in good fun, so don’t get too worked up!
Onward we ride to hallowed Sunday. I’m just praying the Dolphins don’t get beat too badly.
(Images courtesy of CBS Sports; Christian Science Monitor)
