BUTTSCRATCHER!

It happens rather suddenly. One day, you're handling the off-season well - leafing through the sports pages, noting baseball box scores, and maybe even catching a period or two of an NBA or NHL playoff game. Then, all at once, like a tidal wave of suppressed memories and longings, that passion for college football arises and refuses to be ignored. Like an itch that must be scratched, college football has interrupted your regularly scheduled life and demands your attention.

It's been lurking beneath the surface since New Year's, but college basketball, opening day and the planning of summer vacations has done an adequate job of limiting it. Now, less than 12 weeks from the season's kickoff your resistance to the seduction of college football is futile.

Here at The Floating Lion, off-season football blogging has been nearly non-existent. Scouring the police blotters and reporting which 17-year-old kid "committed" to your school is hardly the kind of hard-hitting college football news that we relish commenting on. Still, we've silently observed as transfers, injuries and violations have helped to reshape the college football landscape and provide much-needed fodder for our addiction. Now, with the onset of preseason magazines and summer workouts, the focus of college football is back to where it should be, subjective analysis and daydreaming of 12-0.

So be sure to check back in frequently for updates and features that will help you get through the grueling homestretch before the season officially begins. Not that it ever really ended for any of us.