EAT (ICE CREAM), DRINK AND BE MERRY

By STEVE KING

I really like this new approach to the NFL season.

For years, the NFL went right to the regular season the next week after the end of the preseason. Rush, rush, rush. Go, go, go.

Cool your jets, there, people. Why the rush?

If you’ve got something good — no, make that, great — and the NFL regular season and the playoffs to follow are truly great, then you can afford to wait on it. Absence makes the heart grow fonder — I’m a firm believer in that — so when the time is right for it to come, we’ll all be ready. We’ll be salivating. We’ll be chomping at the bit to see the key games, such as the Browns at the Kansas City Chiefs late next Sunday afternoon.

This extra week between the preseason and regular season, caused by the elimination of that maddening, useless fourth preseason game, gives everybody a chance to breathe, gather their thoughts and prepare themselves before the real important stuff commences.

Pro sports don’t do enough of that, but the NFL is doing so this time and I think it’s a great idea that should be carried forth into the years to come.

And anyway, this is Labor Day, the last week of the traditional summer season, so football — which is a fall sport, not a summer one — doesn’t need to be forced fed to us. It can wait. So can we.

As such, turn off the TV and put down the remote. Get out of the house, breathe the fresh air and do something that has nothing to do with football. It might be the last time you’ll be outside on a weekend until sometime in early February.

Take a walk with your significant other. Perhaps even hold her/his hand. Share some conversation and laughter, and dare we say even a glass of wine on the back patio. Bond for the last time for a while.

Stop somewhere and eat ice cream. I suggest Caramel Moose Tracks, but what do I know?

Read a book, perhaps something motivational and/or spiritual that touches your heart and soul.

Whatever you do, enjoy. Charge up your battery, because you-know-what will be here before you know it.

And it will be well worth the wait.