Football is back, and so are the stories

Football is finally back.

All of it.

Or at least for the most part.

Practices for high schools start on Friday, which will bring a wave of new stories to bring to you.

After last season’s nearly unprecedented success it will be fun to see what comes next.

Will we have a repeat of last year, with at least one Northwest team in every championship game? All but one team in the Flathead Valley has to replace its quarterback, but there’s already more Division I recruits on the returning rosters which should make for a compelling start to the year.

Who will be the team to rise to the top? Eureka again? Back to Bigfork? Can Glacier get back over the top? Can Flathead take down the juggernaut program on the north side of town? Will Whitefish or Columbia Falls take the revamped Class A?

And while practices are just getting started in Montana, up in the NFL, they’re ready to start games. At least practice games.

The NFL preseason started Wednesday and local legend Brock Osweiler gets started with the Cleveland Browns tonight in Ohio.

That he’s starting is the big news right now, and barring a big setback in play, for the future. How long the Browns stay with him will also be interesting to watch as the team’s interests fluxuate between winning games and building for the future.

It’ll be also interesting to watch the QB battle down in Denver, with the Broncos deciding between the same two choices that aren’t Peyton Manning for a second year, albeit under a new coach.

And while the quarterback is set in Seattle, who is mad at the quarterback is apparently still the question. There have been reports of the defense hating the quarterback, then denials and non-denials, followed by what will likely be another 10-win season.

Other interesting questions to watch this year: Can anyone stop the Patriots? Which team will threaten to move to L.A. this year? Will the Jets try to go 0-16? Can the Lions somehow finish 0-17 to try to outdo their misery? Will I win the office fantasy football league for a third straight year? A few of those aren’t important questions but they are still questions.

And while practice games are going on in the NFL, Flathead grad Mike Reilly is excelling north of the border in the real games of the CFL. Reilly has led the Edmonton Eskimos to a perfect start to the season and yet again is looking like a Most Outstanding Player candidate. They play again tonight in a bid for a seventh straight win to start the season.

There are storylines everywhere.

It’s not just football. It’ll be fun to have the other sports back too.

The end of summer is wrapping up, which means I have a lot of golf to jam into a few days.

But, if it brings back football, it’s all worth it.