The best time of the year

Is this the best time of the year, or what?

1. Football season has just started, and every team still has a statistical chance of winning it all.

2. Baseball playoffs are just around the corner.

3. The weather has cooled, and there is no better time to enjoy being outdoors.

4. The holiday season is close enough to savor the anticipation, but far enough away that we’re not sweating gifts.

Not that this time of year doesn’t have its challenges. With simultaneous football and baseball games all hitting at dinner time, it can be tough to cook and enjoy sports at the same time; and even if you solve that problem, you still have to decide which games to watch. It can be stressful, I tell you.

But that’s what the off-season is all about. No offense to basketball fans, but for me the off-season is after football ends and before baseball begins. Instead of staring at a blank screen or suffering through re-runs, I practice. On some days I switch from talking head to talking head on the cable news shows, getting my fingers built up for the game-to-game switching that comes this time of year.

At other times I heat up the grill and work on my routines: slap down a couple of burgers during the commercials, then force myself to check on them only during the ads. I figure if you’re going to burn some meat, it’s best to do it when a self-proclaimed “expert” is analyzing a candidate than when it’s fourth and goal with 35 seconds left, or in the bottom of the ninth with the winning run at the plate.

So by this time of year, I’m ready. My enthusiasm levels are sky-high and there is fresh meat in the fridge.

Now if I could only find the remote…