It's always difficult for me to focus on intellectual things this time of year. Why? Because it's college football season.

There's perhaps nothing else in this world that reverts me back to my unsophisticated 18-year-old ways with more ease than college football. Tonight I sat around my apartment watching ESPN's 24-hour countdown to the season's kickoff (yeah, that's right, a day-long pregame show...only on ESPN) on the big TV while playing NCAA College Football on the Playstation 2 I rigged up to the tiny auxiliary set.

That's a move taken straight out of the play book from my sophomore year of college. Pretty pathetic for a 28-year-old.

I've spent most of my days this week reading every story related to Iowa Hawkeye football I could find on the internet, all while also listening to all the Hawk-related podcasts I could find (I found only two on itunes, and they're both pretty amateurish, but I'm so starved for commentary at this point I'd probably still listen if it were a couple of 12-year-olds discussing how sweet it is that Iowa wears Nike uniforms.)

The fact that I get to take the Red Line to an Iowa game this year has made me almost catatonic with excitement. I'm so pumped for this Saturday's game at Soldier Field I don't want to do anything from now until then for fear that something tragic will happen that will prevent me from being able to attend it. Like getting hit by a car, shot in the leg or being abducted and tortured by fans from opposing Big Ten schools (or worse, Nebraska fans).

So forgive me if this blog is a little less cerebral, or even sparsely updated over the next couple weeks.

I'm busy being a jock again.