Hawkeye Football Begins This Weekend

As usual, I am in complete denial over the impending end to my favorite season of the year -- summer. Lately, even one of the few things I do look forward to about fall is becoming harder and harder to love. Between the now all-too-familiar offseason talk about illegal deflation, concussions and players taking controversial social and political stances, this weekend we finally get to start enjoying football for what it is -- a game.

The Iowa Hawkeyes have a 2:30 p.m. kickoff against Miami of Ohio University this Saturday at Kinnick Stadium, and coming off a spectacular season last year I fully expect a full and raucous crowd this weekend and for most of the games in Iowa City this year. UNI and Iowa State get their in-state rivalry battle out of the way right off the bat, playing each other Saturday night. It's going to be a great weekend for football in Iowa.

Soon the big leagues are going to start playing too, with the NFL regular season getting underway on Thursday night, September 8. I'm hoping my Chicago Bears can see significant improvement this year. But the bottom line is, it's finally time to see football on the field and not just in the negative headlines.