If you can sense the extra frisson of pre-season excitement emanating from the regions of Miami and Dallas, you will be absolutely spot on. The anticipatory process is well under way and the date of July 20 is firmly in view.
Void
Sure, there is a relative void in the American sporting scene this month - only Major League Baseball is actively under way, with the likes of the Gold Cup soccer tournament, the recent NBA draft and next week's Open Championship struggling to gain much attention this week.
But that doesn't really explain the sense of eagerness to witness some proper helmet-to-helmet action (not forgetting, of course, that running backs will now be penalised if they lower their heads to hit defensive players in future).
The NFL is now unquestionably THE sport as far as much of America is concerned, hence the lack of any games serves only to increase the interest in the next one, whenever that might be. And hence the mania of the Countdown Clocks.
I'm serious. Put the phrase 'NFL countdown clock' into your favourite search engine and see how many results you get (I chalked up 152,000 on Google and 554,000 on Bing). Heck, there are even apps for your Apple and Android devices that allow you to indulge in this frenzied fiesta of expectancy.
It suggests a positive obsession with counting down to the exact moment when we can once again fully indulge our passion for NFL viewing - and woe betide any other sport that gets in the way!
Scope
It is also just the latest manifestation of the amazing scope of football and the grip it has on the country in general and the sports-loving population in particular. It's no surprise, of course, but it does help to explain why we will have a whole new sports station - Fox Sports 1 - starting next month (August 17, to be precise) as yet another testament to the power of pigskin.
For us armchair viewers, it is more wonderful fodder for our obsession, fuel for the ever-expanding living room monster that now comes in larger-than-life 3D form as well as traditional two-dimensional format.
And, if I can just look past the ever-present "countdown corner" (a special prize for any reader who can spot that oblique reference to a well-known 1970s and 80s Saturday morning TV show, by the way), I can be pretty sure I will also be swept up in the ever-gathering eagerness for July 20 to get here and for some meaningful action to ensue 15 days later.
Just don't expect me to "clock in" by downloading the app or any such similar gadget or widget.
PS: If it seems like I'm down-playing the advent of America's first new major sports channel in years, let me set the record straight.
ESPN currently brings in around $6billion a YEAR and, while Fox Sports 1 isn't going to scale those lofty heights overnight, it will be a serious player almost immediately and a full-on rival to ESPN within a few years.
The only question is likely to be - how do I now watch five major sports stations at once?!
