I find myself awaiting Monday coming like a kid on Christmas Eve waits for the next day to come.
The last time I saw live football was Feb. 2. In Miami. On the world's biggest stage. The Chiefs beat the 49ers that day and, as I rode the bus back to my hotel, I released a sigh of relief from what had been a long week of work. I'd be going home in the morning. But even then, the NFL Scouting Combine was just a few weeks away, the NFL Spring Meetings a few weeks after that, then the draft, then rookie minicamp, then ... well, you know.
After the combine, none of that other stuff happened. Oh, there was a draft. But it was a draft unlike any we've ever seen. Everything was done virtually.
To this point, none of what has happened in the six months since the last time I saw real football has seemed real. It's been even longer since I've seen the Steelers on the field. That came last Dec. 29 in Baltimore. Talking to players and coaches via video conference calls does not build a lot of confidence in how things might work during an actual season.
Nor does it help you believe things are all that real, especially when you're accustomed to talking to players in person.
Monday, however, it gets real. We'll be allowed inside Heinz Field to watch the Steelers. Oh, it won't be on a daily basis. There are still limits in place. And those limits mean that every news outlet in the city will only be permitted into the stadium on certain days so that other outlets also can view what's happening. But we'll take what we can get.
This is my 28th season covering the Steelers. And these six months without football marks the longest period I have gone since 1993 without having at least watched a football practice.
Needless to say, I'm fired up to get out there. Hopefully, you all will be, as well.
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