The NFL has decided to whet our appetite for football by releasing the preseason schedules.  Sure, the NFL is going to have its draft later this month, but that's basically the NFL's version of a beer sampling party.  You try this and sample that, and you go home with your six-pack of assorted brews, still hungry.

Enter preseason football.  Now, this isn't the pot roast and potato Sunday dinner; it's a snack.  Preseason is like wandering in the kitchen while your woman is cooking her big Sunday dinner.  You get to stir the pot, sample the sauce, and munch on a raw carrot that hasn't yet made it in with the potatoes.  Basically, it gives you an idea of what the big dinner is gonna taste like, but you just won't know `til you sit down and eat.  

This year's schedule offers a few savory morsels.  The first being that we are facing teams that we went 4-0 against last year: Denver, New Orleans, Dallas, and Tampa Bay.  In fact, you could point back to each one of those games as the high points of last year's season.  Remember how jacked you were when we trounced Dallas to win the Governor's Cup?  How vindicating it felt to stick it to Reggie Bush?  What about those monster games Mario had against Tampa, and against Denver on Thursday night?  Now we get to relive some of that magic during this year's preseason.

The tentative schedule has us playing Denver at home on Aug 9th, away at NO on Aug 16th, away at Dallas on Aug 23rd, and finishing up with Tampa Bay at home on Aug 28th.

Of course, the game I'm looking forward to the most is the Dallas game.  Not only is it for Lone Star bragging rights, but being that it's the third game of the preseason, it makes it the most telling of all the preseason games.  

Take a look at the schedule and let us know how you think the preseason shapes up.  Until then, I'll be looking forward to that beer sampling party later this month. Cheers!