The interminable wait for the 2024 NFL season is almost over for Jaguars fans

Hardcore football fans are not the same as "sports fans." Sure, there may be some crossover. A hardcore football fan will often dabble in other sports. They may take in a baseball game, or watch the NBA Finals. They may or may not be able to tell you who won Wimbledon.

But, for the hardcore football fan, most of those other events are distractions. That's not to say they are unwelcome distractions... not in the least. Any distraction that can occupy their sports mind long enough to shift their focus away from the offseason is a very welcome diversion.

Because for the hardcore football fan, the offseason is torturous. An annual test of stamina and character, the football offseason is a brutal reality that no hardcore fan can either embrace or escape.

For the hardcore football fan, the offseason looks like this:

1. The Super Bowl - Early February

Simultaneously, the culmination and the sad end of the entire football season, the hardcore fan is bloated, having feasted upon all that the glorious sport of football has to offer. However, fans know that after the excitement of the big game and corresponding revelry wears off, the sad truth of their reality is waiting to look them in the eye. The diet starts Monday!

2. NFL Free Agency - Mid March

Did you know that one of the reasons restaurants give you free bread is to stimulate your appetite? Occurring only a little over a month after the Super Bowl, NFL's Free Agency Period can't come fast enough to fans who are already getting hungry for some sort of football morsel.

Especially satisfying for fans of bad teams with money to spend, the NFL's free agency period is the first in an offseason series of crumbs designed to keep you salivating for more and starving by the end.

3. College Football Spring Games - April

By this point, your hardcore football fan is already very hungry for meaningful football. Sure, free agency was nice, but there was no actual football being played. Even though spring football is pretty lame, overall, it does have some meaning, as college kids vie for starting jobs. Meager though it is, this is certainly not a course one should skip, as it's the last taste of actual football being played you're going to get for a while.

4. NFL Draft - Late April

Ah, the crowning jewel of the offseason, the NFL Draft is oddly more satisfying than spring football for most fans, perhaps because it represents hope for every fanbase. It happens around the same time as spring football, so for football fans who strictly follow the NFL, their hunger clocks are aligned with the college crowd.

Even though nary a ball is snapped, most fans are able to sup on the draft knowing it's going to be a while after this. Think of spring football and the draft as your salad before dinner. You've had the bread, but you're just getting hungrier. The salad is... okay... but, man, when's dinner?

5. NFL Organized Team Activities

Let's face it, OTA's are a big nothing-burger. No one gets anything out of them, so much so that the NFL is considering getting rid of them. The salad and the bread are wearing off already. Where's that steak?

6. NFL Training Camp

For hardcore fans, the start of training camp is the end of the fast. It's not a great meal, but by the time NFL Training camp rolls around, the hardcore fan is desperate for some football. It's been six months since real football, with only a few small morsels to sustain you.

You don't get much from the beginning of training camp, but social media will give you the odd clip of a lineman hitting a sled or a receiver catching a long pass against air. HBO's Hard Knocks makes this course more tolerable.

7. NFL Pre-season - August

You have become irrationally ravenous. You can nearly think of nothing other than satisfying your football appetite. So, when the NFL says, "Hey we don't have your steak ready yet, but would you like to chew on this beef jerky in the meantime?" You say "YES," emphatically. Sure it's not real football, but it's similar to college's spring games, and it means a lot to the players trying to make the team. The fast is over.

Then, finally... mercifully, the season begins.

Jacksonville Jaguars players report to training camp on July 19, with actual practices set to start July 24. It may only be a bit of dried beef that tastes like shoe leather, but you're so hungry, you'll take it! Don't worry, you'll still be hungry for steak when the real season begins.

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