Are you ready?

When it begins in late summer
It seems too hot
For two-a-days
For pads and helmets
For running far
For hitting hard
For jumping high
Yet they turn out
Grueling long days
Condition character
Turn talent into greatness
As the weather cools
Their true power is revealed
Friday...Saturday...Sunday
Youthful vigor yields to
Potent and refined masterful technique
Impossibly quick cuts
Perfectly executed routes
Breathtaking long, spiraling passes
Backs breaking through superhuman barriers
Walls of living steel
Lightning fast resistance
Clashing, colliding, crashing
Strategies weighed in rhythmic intervals
We watch with rapt attention
When rain turns to snow
Green grass gives way to mud and sleet
Stories are born
Legends are made
Victors emerge
Triumphs and defeats are tallied
Success fuels inspiration
Until at last, the champions are crowned
Half the year we watch
Half the year we wait
Can you feel it in the air?
This year’s time has come
It is September
And again they take the field