More Than Ready for Some Football

Just 11 days remain until meaningful football returns to TV, and it comes just in time to end an otherwise dull span of sports on the tube.

While some might debate whether an NFL preseason game qualifies as "meaningful," there's no doubt the Aug. 8 Hall of Fame Game, which matches the Bengals and Cowboys, will draw interest and ratings.

Interest in that preseason game (and just about any other NFL preseason game that shows up on a national network in advance of the season) should outpace that for regular season games, and some post-season matchups, in every other sport.

Sports fans love football, the NFL in particular, and that passive-aggressive relationship (after all viewers sit at home with their emotions often stirred to an extreme) kicks into full gear in the next few weeks.

After the Hall of Fame Game, other NFL preseason games follow and college football season opens Sept. 2 with six games on the ESPN family of networks.

Since many fans last watched football on TV, we've filled the void with everything from reality TV (my favorites include "Cake Boss" and "Deadliest Catch") to boring baseball, imitation football -- although those CFL games on the NFL Network have been entertaining at times -- and on-air moves and news, such as "Moose" Johnson joining the NFL Network as a studio analyst. (He'll continue to work games for Fox Sports.)

Still, the real fix cannot come until the return of the NFL and college football. Especially NFL preseason games.

While my habits most certainly put me in a minority, I believe watching preseason games allows fans of a specific team to feel a bit more informed, to evaluate and watch for themselves regarding personnel changes. Although every team in the league probably knows 95 percent of its roster before camp begins -- meaning only a handful of spots are up for grabs during the preseason -- the ability for fans to watch preseason games actually shifts the information-control paradigm that leagues and teams have been honing the past few years.

In the preferred model, leagues and teams take information directly to fans. They become more transparent (in theory), using social media and websites to pass information onto fans and, in some cases, avoid the media. The approach usually generates praise from fans and dismay from the media.

With the current set of four preseason games, fans also get to see things for themselves, to watch how players develop and react. That first-hand experience, either in person or on TV allows fans to invest even more in their team. They can watch a potential diamond in the rough develop or witness an aging pro who has lost a step. Fans can often tell who has what it takes to make the team. Even if they're wrong, it fuels interest.

At the same time, college football games count from the start, and enough programs schedule quality non-conference games early in the season that numerous must-see matchups exist. In the first full weekend alone, the extensive list of at-least-interesting games includes: USC at Hawaii, Sept. 2; LSU vs. North Carolina, Sept. 4; and Boise State vs. Virginia Tech, Sept. 6.

All that action cannot start soon enough.

Until then, we'll have to make due with more previews and prognostications, including next week's Big Ten Conference media days, with coverage on the Big Ten Network.