Michael Diton-Edwards August 13, 2026
Hello dear readers…how are you this evening? As of today, aside from the spectacle that was the Hall of Fame opening pre season game, the National Football League is officially kicking off the exhibition season for 2026 (and the game last week was sizzling, unlike most that fall flatter than Hannah Montana’s failed enhancement effort). So, friends, Happy Football!!!!!! The beast is awake and back and out of hibernation…no more merely following trolls and wannabe Schepties and having to get your news on your favorite team from the janky website that would do better to promote the local donut shop (Woodward Sports, if you know…), it is time to put eyeballs on players and get ready for the start of the real deal!!!
I so look forward to this time of year…I have to admit that I am a junkie…yes, y’all know I am a junkie for a certain actress but I am on probation from mentioning her name as my court-ordered separation agreement demands me not to elicit her name more than three times per 18-month period (yes, I got an email from the Attorney General in Orange County, CA), but I watch every single pre-season game I can. Don’t you? I mean, we just spent all summer watching the World Cup (I love it), baseball (I cannot get over the fact that the lockout/strike is looming bigger over our heads than the IRS tax deadline for a corrupt corporation that failed to withhold/report taxes since 1987), and Cornhole Championships on ESPN 81…are you not ready for NFL athletes taking the field and putting their all on the line?
Me too…I am…but…alas…
For the next three weeks you will only see a glimpse of the players that will shape the coming season of the NFL. Sorry. Fact is, the ‘players’ that will dominate the majority of rosters in the NFL during the regular season will see less action during the pre-season than the group given placebo pills for the blue pill during that trial run. It is true. The players you are watching during pre-season are more likely to end up selling used cars in Miami, managing a Burger King, or playing football in Israel or Pakistan in the hopes that the Canadian or Lingerie Football League will come calling (Diego Pavia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!).
You want to know something? I don’t get upset about that…I don’t feel cheated…on the contrary, I feel as if I am rewarded in a way. Seriously. It doesn’t matter to me that the left guard from Western Jacksonville County State in his 4th camp with a team has as much as a shot of making the roster as I do of dunking over Shaq; the fact that dude is out there, in public and on display, busting his ass to not only play, to not only get a paycheck, to not only make a roster…but dude is busting his ass to do something that so many of us don’t even have the courage to try…
That dude is busting his ass to fulfill a dream, and he is doing EVERYTHING and ANYTHING he can to make that manifested into reality. Facts! Think about it…think about how many times he was told no…how many times he was cut…how many times he had to work in his college’s cafeteria when he was a mere walk-on during his playing career, or work at a gas station on third shift while still going to classes and practices….seriously…that is a thing he went through…so while you watch the pre-season games and look for the ‘starters’ to get a series at the beginning of the game, remember this – every body, player, and soul out there beyond the known entity, they are real. They are human. They are chasing a dream. The fact that they have the willingness to persevere, to try, omg…seriously… I cannot give those players, so many of them, the respect they deserve more than this article and more than this plea to you —
If you strove to achieve as much as the players you see during the NFL preseason, you would climb another rung on that ladder of life. Please take their example as inspiration and know that as long as somebody believes in you enough to give you a shot, you should believe enough in yourself to fight like hell to get to where you want to be…if you have a ladder, there is a rung ahead of you…
Please climb…please never stop…thank you for all of the future salesmen and managers of fast food that didn’t quit…you will persevere in those roles because of your grit and determination…as for us, hopefully we are inspired by YOU.
Oh, and for what it is worth – I believe in YOU. That left guard may be destined to the waiver wire, but he gave his all…please…please…PLEASE give your all 🙂
Peace 🙂 mditon.edwards@gmail.com is my email…I invite discussion and debate, but ALWAYS value your support and dialogue 🙂 Please continue to support my platform at South Florida Tribune, https://southfloridatribune.com/category/scott/michael-edwards/, and thank you in advance for sharing with others 🙂
