NFL's Version of Spring Training

As I sit here and write this I cringe just a little bit. I am not afraid of stepping on toes by comparing football to baseball, but I am working off of something that Spring training brings to baseball fans. I cringe because for me as a sports fan hope has been a scary thing.

The Vikings losing to the Falcons in the 1998 NFC Championship game took away a lot of my hope. Every offseason when the Twins fail to do anything significant (this year was better) I lose hope. But right now, as I look at a league full of hope. Let me explain.

The NFL is a league full of hope. The lowly Kansas City Chiefs have hope next year because their picks from last years draft will improve, they have a new quarterback in Matt Cassel and linebacker in Matt Vrabel (honestly, this trade might turn out awful for the Chiefs). Not to mention the Chiefs can get an impact defender with the #3 pick overall. Will the Chiefs win the Superbowl? Not likely. But they have a chance to keep compete in the AFC West and improve greatly on last season. Or so they hope.

Does hope only rest in the teams? Absolutely not. Hope rest in the players who are working out at the NFL Combine, trying to find a new home and a contract that will set up their family for generations to come.

But despite the money the teams are spending, the players signing the contracts and hope being abundant in the league's inner circles, there is no place in which hope is more prevalent in the fans.

In the AFC hope is plentiful as you look at the Jets who hope to move past their Brett Favre saga, Texan fans hope to move past the lost of Sage Rosenfels (this is a joke), Patriot followers hope and pray that the surgically repaired ACL of Tom Brady can hold up and the Titans hope that their run defense was not completely reliant on Fat Albert Haynesworth.

In the NFC Cardinals fans hope Kurt Warner will return and lead back to the Superbowl, Giants fans hope that none of their players will shoot themselves in the leg, Packers fans hope Favre stays retired and the Redskin faithful hope Albert Haynesworth is worth his $100 million...or at least 1/4 of it.

But the most hopeful of all fan bases is the Lions few. I say few because I assume most fans have quit on the worst team in history. The Lions fans can hope for a win, maybe even two. But most of all they hope they don't use the number one pick overall on a receiver.

As we move into the NFL's Spring Training remember to have hope. Hope that next year will bring better things, hope that you can bask in the glory of your team winning on Sundays and more than anything hope that your team does not end up like the Lions of last year.

-The Kicker