Keyboard Quarterbacks

By Mark La Monica

Get the grill out! It's time to tailgate !

Slap some bacon, eggs and sauzeech on there for the early morning session. Fire up the burgers, hot dogs and sauzeech for the late-morning session before the game.

Who cares if you're not actually at a football stadium today, it's the first NFL Sunday of the season and it requires the proper apprecation.

The first Sunday of the NFL season is the fourth best sports day of the year. It fits all the criteria for inclusion on this list:

- Occurs every year around the same time.
- Is completely worthy of all its hype.
- Gets sports fans around the country fired up.
- Has a national scope to it.
- Is considered a worthy news event for the regular front-of-the-newspaper readers.
- Every team involved has hope, excitement and a chance to win it all.

So put on that jersey of this year's big free-agent signing or top draft pick. Or maybe you like it old-school and still have the jersey from your team's 1983 Pro Bowl linebacker. Heck, even wearing a Curtis Conway No. 81 Jets jersey would be acceptable on this day.

Throw those Nerf Turbos all over the stadium parking lot or the street in front of your house. Run across your neighbor's lawn, cut around the tree, then use your dad's car as a pick to get open for the touchdown.

Football is back.  Every team has a chance to make the Super Bowl today, even the Jets. And with the salary cap era of the NFL, no one really knows who will be good enough to get to Miami in February.

Every sport's season opening deserves some pomp and even some circumstance.  Only Major League Baseball's Opening Day carries more excitement.

Today, we get nine games in the 1 p.m. slot, three at 4:15 and the Sunday Night game. Then, a Monday Night doubleheader, which is my opinion, is a complete travesty but the networks paying hundreds of millions to broadcast the games would disagree.

Every game matters in the NFL. It's not like baseball or the NBA or the NHL where a two-game losing streak is acceptable and understood.  In the NFL, a two-game losing streak can be much more brutal.

The NFL has positioned itself as a truly national sport. They've made Jaguars fans care how the Cardinals did last week. Eagles fans need to know if the Broncos won. Or whatever combination you prefer to use. The point is football fans are interested in everything NFL.

And it all begins today, the fourth best sports day of the year.