The awesomeness that is pre-season football

There are really only two times in the year that football is watchable
-the post-season
-the pre-season

Now, the reasons for post-season football awesomeness is pretty self-evident. Anyone should be able to figure them out by themselves.

Pre-season football is another beast entirely; and that is what makes it so good.

During the regular season, a team/player plays for money. During the post-season, a team/player plays for everything.

During the pre-season, a player plays for their own job, for their roster spot. This is also the reason why the 3rd and 4th quarters are the most enjoyable parts to watch.

Some may argue that the talent level simply isn't there. That is a bullshit argument. If people only watched sports for talent, then why the hell do we have collegiate sports, or at the very least anything below division 1?

Talent doesn't mean a dime on special teams, unless you're a kick returner. It's about heart, dedication. Having a successful run coverage unit is about having a team that will run at full speed down to the other end of the field and knock out whoever has the ball, not about having the fastest people who can get down there the fastest.

But pre-season is about the rookie quarterback who didn't go to a d-1 school, so he has to prove he can play against pro-level backups, to be a backup. It's about the journeyman who wants to show he has one more year in the tank (not you, brett favre).

It's about playing the sport because you want to play the sport,

not cos you're good at it.

Truth be told, a lot of them could make more money doing other things, to stay specific to football -- coaching college and high school, but realistically, anything.

These are the real players. These are the players with guts, with heart. If only they were the ones born as physical freaks of nature, perhaps our sport would be better, or sadly perhaps they would also grow weary and play for cash.

--knuttel