A new season is soon upon us!

Earlier this month, I lamented about what felt like my waning interest in Penn State football. I'm pleased to discover that it wasn't a permanent loss of interest, because with August steadily coming to a close and the arrival of September right around the corner—not to mention several mornings where it actually felt cool and crisp like fall!—my yearning for college football has been resurrected in earnest!

Some might consider this next statement sacrilege, but I don't really plan to attend any games this year, and I'm kind of glad. Like I mentioned earlier, the game-day experience in Happy Valley has become too intense for me in recent years, and now that I finally have Big Ten Network, I can watch the games from the comfort of my own couch! I haven't renewed my local chapter membership yet, but I'm still giving some thought to watching a game or two from a viewing site this year. The last time I went to one must have been in 2007 (I think it was a late September game at Union Jack's in Bethesda).

People ask me all the time if Joe's gonna hang it up, because at 84, he's obviously no spring chicken anymore. (In fact, one co-worker even circulated a hilarious Onion article to that effect.) I wonder the same thing frequently (if Joe will retire anytime soon), because I had the opportunity to see him exit the stadium by one of the loading docks last season, and he was visibly more frail and deliberate than I'd ever seen him. I hate saying this, but he looked his age. He looked old. Time will obviously tell with Joe, though it's obvious the university is planning ahead for his eventual replacement (vis-à-vis the very controversial STEP program).

In any case, it's only nine days by my count that Joe leads the Penn State football team out onto the field, and I can hardly wait!