To those who know me — and even those who don’t — it’s no secret that my favorite season is football.  I mean, fall.  Did you know the song “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” was originally written about football season?  It was!  But then those greedy Christmas profiteers got their hands on it and rewrote it to be a Christmas song.  (The last three sentences may or may not be fictional.  And by “may or may not be” I mean “definitely are.”)

Chelsea football began early in August, and yea, it heralded a time of great joy.  Why?  Because the beginning of football practice is happier than a Prozac sandwich with Zoloft bread.  I visited the football field on the second day of practice to get my share of the happiness.

I’m legally required to get at least one of these shots every year.

Coach Brown the Younger must be a big fan both of footballs and of Tropicana’s orange juice packaging.

Is this a dance contest?  I’ll never tell…

Throughout the first week of practice, players had to battle high temperatures and nearly unbearable jealousy of Coach Brown the Elder’s visor.

Cal Bauer does his best imitation of a European exit sign.

Here’s a dirty little secret of Chelsea High School athletics: Gatorade cups and water bottles almost never contain Gatorade.

No one — and I mean no one — can backpedal fast enough to get away from Coach Dignan’s steely gaze.

Coach Fanning once again amuses himself by telling the players to line up alphabetically by height.