Summer can easily be debated to be the majority of everyone’s favorite season. For students, the obvious reason being the time off, while for adults it’s the consistently great weather and holidays that take place during summer. Summer brings a lot of things like festivals, sunburn and of course, the increase of sports excitement.
By the time summer begins, basketball and hockey will have just finished their respected seasons with the only mainstream sport still going on being baseball. I love the game of baseball, but the biggest complaint about America’s pastime today is that games are way too slow. This summer, however, we have the Olympics.
Arguably, the most popular sport in the United States is college and professional football. Football is the one sport that consistently entertains their fans; while yes, there are some bad teams, there are always a handful of games that just make the audience want to watch more and more.
What other sport in the world do fans get excited for and has mass media coverage just for the first practices of the season? With the NFL training camps in full session if the Olympics weren’t taking place right now, all sports outlets would just be covering constant information in regards to practice.
Football fans will finally get to see their favorite sport as the Green Bay Packers play the Indianapolis Colts at the NFL hall of fame game thus opening the preseason. This year's NFL hall of fame class is a five-star class from top to bottom with the likes of Ken Stabler, Marvin Harrison, Brett Favre and of course, the late great Dick Stanfel. While it's only a preseason game, it will still be watched by millions because that’s what football does to people. It brings them together.
With college and professional football set to start very soon, the question that always comes to mind is, who is likely to win the championship? Last year’s winners were the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Denver Broncos. While the Crimson Tide will still make a run for a repeat, the Broncos, in my opinion, aren’t likely due to the departure of Peyton Manning; while his performance isn’t what it used to be prior to his retirement, you cannot replace the leadership that he had.
I love the game of football very much. It sometimes is hard for me honestly to watch it, but the excitement it brings covers any sadness I may have left from no longer playing. My predictions for this season’s championship is, I believe, that the Carolina Panthers will continue their dominating performance from last season. Many of their key players were hurt last year, like Kelvin Benjamin. If their team stays healthy this year, they will be unstoppable, in my opinion. As for college football, I am going out on a limb here, and say that I believe that the Michigan Wolverines can shock the world. With the hiring of alumni Jim Harbaugh, the Wolverines have gone from jobber to contender in only one season, and I personally believe they have the talent to win it all this year but by no means will it be easy.
