The NFL schedule was just released. Mind you, it is mid-to-late April, and the football season starts in September. But that doesn't stop Vegas, the experts, the sports show talking heads, and the Average Joe fans from salivating and overanalyzing something that is so truly unknowable right out of the gate.
Already you turn on the TV and see the sports shows with point spreads on the games. Who will win? By how much? What teams have bye weeks when and how it will impact their playoff run? Who will win the AFC and the NFC? Who will take home the Lombardi Trophy?
HOLD ON! STOP!
I realize it's the job of sportscasters and the instinct of die-hard fans to dissect the newly-released NFL schedule and look into a crystal ball and find the easy games, the tough games, the trap games, etc., but we are talking about games that will not even start to be played until FIVE MONTHS FROM NOW!
A lot can happen in five months. New players will be drafted. Players will be traded. Players may get injured in the useless pre-season. Hell, a player or coach might DIE in a freak accident. There are no givens in analyzing games mid-season week-to-week, never mind in the effing SPRING! Who knows what the weather will be like the third weekend in November. That could affect the outcome of a game too.
So, calm down. Take a breath. I know it's fun to talk about football, but please don't place any bets yet. Don't start boasting about your team's anticipated victories or make a t-shirt with their projected perfect season record. It's a game. It's life. Things can turn on a dime in both of those.
So shut up and watch yourself some baseball. Or maybe pick the winner in the next round of the NFL or NHL playoffs.
Football will come.
Just let it.