IT is almost here!

Its getting to be that time of year again.  I sat on my couch this weekend and watched as colleges all over the country kicked off there football seasons.  For me this is when I know that summer has run its course, and leaves will start to fall.  Soon the sweatshirts will come out of the closet donning the names of our favorite schools.  This is the time of year I love, and it all starts with that first kickoff in the football season.  This is when I know IT is almost here. What is IT?  IT is College Basketball, and IT is ACC Basketball, and most importantly IT is DUKE Basketball to me.  I know that everyone has their loves, and mine is college basketball.  I have been a die hard Duke fan for over twenty years now and this time of year still gives me goose bumps.  All the time spent thinking of the last time you saw your team on the court.  For all but one team each year  that game is a loss, and as a die hard fan, you spend all summer going over and over a loss and counting the days until next season.  I always tell my wife at the end of each season that she now has her husband back.  She always laughs at me when I say this too her , and finally I asked her why?  She told me that she never really has me back,  Every year when the season ends, she says she compares me and my love of Duke to a marathon.  As soon as it ends I start my warm up. This consists of a couple of weeks of sulking over the seasons end and letting it soak in that  there won't be any basketball for a while.  She then says I begin to walk again by late spring.  This is a time in which I immerse myself in the www. and hit the the message boards and blogs sites hard.  I study recruiting videos like its my job and wonder how incoming as well as unsigned recruits would look and play for my Blue Devils.  By Summers end I have a good knowledge of who's coming and who's not and what they will mean to Duke. She refers to this as a steady run.  Then we come to where we are now...The change of the season, the nip in the air, and I'm about to take off!  Its almost here guys, and I know I'm not the only one out there running this marathon.  I know I'm not the only one finding it hard not to think about the first tip of the season, or the first conference game. As I sit here now I can tell that my pace is about to pick up.  I can't wait to run the race, because IT is right around the corner, and IT is going to be a great season!  Heres to everyone out there running that marathon...I hope you have a truly great upcoming season, and that IT is everything you've been running towards.