Preseason mags

As the new NFL season approaches, the magazine shelves at local supermarkets and drug stores are full of preseason prognostications, eagerly gobbled up by football junkies like myself who have been jonesing since the superbowl. Granted, you have to hit me upside the head on occasion to make me see the obvious, but I've finally come to the conclusion these magazines are a waste of time, and I know. I've wasted plenty.

All this time and I finally noticed the pattern. A major piece of these magazines is the prediction of where teams will finish the season, and some one paragraph justification for the same. Every year it's the same thing. The writers take the standings at the end of the prior season and reprint them. The only semi-original thought that goes into it is the one paragraph they write to justify why this season will look just like last season. Nobody does any real analysis. Nobody goes out on any kind of limb, and are therefore 'surprised' when some team breaks the mold. Any deviation from last season becomes the 'surprise' team of the new season. Well...duh!

Just consider this my public service announcement for the day. Don't waste your time or money like I did. Look at how last season finished and that's how this one is supposed to.