UNC Football: 71 Days

71 days is not that long, when I sit here and think about it. I think my second-longest high school relationship lasted fewer than 71 days. There are high-profile marriages that have ended at right around that number, and even Christopher Columbus crossed the Atlantic Ocean in around ten weeks. The point, even if slightly undermined by that last fact, is that 70ish days simply isn’t that long. Sure, they may drag a bit now that the baseball season is over and we’re squarely in the desert of Tar Heel sports that accompanies the changing of the season, but two months and change is going to fly by. I mean, it’s already been 81 days since Tar Heels players and fans alike watched the UConn Huskies cut the nets in Houston after winning the national title, but it feels like only a few weeks ago we were watching college basketball.

The Carolina football team starts their 2023 season on September 2nd, at 7:30pm. There will be breakdowns and writeups galore in the coming months, as we draw closer and closer to the new season, so I’ll not go into that here. For my current purpose, it doesn’t even really matter who the first opponent is (the Gamecocks of South Carolina) or where the game is held (Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte). The most important thing for me, currently, is that there is a light at the end of this summertime lull. I’ll worry about little details like wins and losses later on, once we’ve made our way through the interminable offseason and we’re back in the comforting swing of college football.

There’s a brand new football season awaiting us, unblemished and shining with the promise that is only visible to the truly optimistic or the truly deluded, and we unfortunately won’t know the difference until the calendar turns over. There’s a ten-week wait in between here and there, though; one that can sometimes feel as large as the Atlantic Ocean. If we take it a day at a time, though, it’ll float on by with ease. After all, 71 days really isn’t that long.

Pretty soon, we’ll have Tar Heel football to look forward to once more. It’s just a matter of time.