We have to be eased into college football, a couple of games at a time, the way you slowly enter a hot bath. The ticker across the bottom of the screen gets a lot more interesting. An hour is no longer enough for Sportscenter. What a day today is, the sun is shining a little brighter, the grass is a little greener. Everything smells like barbecue and cheap bourbon.
Today is the first day of the real year.
This year lasts only four months and seven days. It ends in Tempe. It begins today in East Lansing and Lincoln. Of course, it also the best day to be a college football fan. Ah, step and outside and breathe in this day.