It is that time of season when sports fans are inundated with football.

You have high school football on Friday nights, college football on Saturdays and NFL football on Sundays.

But wait.

Nowadays you pretty much have some kind of football about every day of the week.

While high school football is routinely on Friday nights, a few teams started their seasons on a Thursday—a trend that started a couple of seasons ago. I guess they could not wait to get started.

And now you also have college football and professional football on other weekday nights.

Of course, Monday Night Football is a longtime NFL staple. But nowadays they also have a game on Thursday night. This week’s regular season actually started with a game on Wednesday night.

Colleges will now play on various weekday nights, driven by televised games and, of course, money.

Many smaller colleges can get more national exposure on another night instead of facing bigger programs on Saturdays.

I have not even mentioned the younger kids. Middle school gridiron games are on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and youth league football is also on weekends in various small towns across the country.

Where, in the past, games were only shown on certain networks like CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX and ESPN, now they are on streaming networks like YouTube, the NFL Network and others. Unfortunately, you have to subscribe to some of these other channels to view games.

Once again, it is all about money.

Still, die-hard fans do not care. If they really want to watch their favorite teams many will subscribe to these streaming networks.

Not only do you have tons of games on television, but there are also all sorts of pre-game shows, post-game shows and programs during the week that cover news about injuries, trades and other information.

Then you also have shows just about fantasy football, a hobby that has really taken off throughout the years. I have been playing in one fantasy league with some former co-workers and friends for several years now. Because of my competitive nature, I love it and really get into the draft, weekly games and managing and coaching teams.

But back to the real games.

Friday nights and high school football feel special in small towns and rural communities. Friends, family and neighbors come out in their school colors to cheer for their teams. It starts on hot late-summer nights and moves into early-fall nights when it’s time for sweatshirts and jackets. Then it gets into cold weather, especially for those teams good enough to make those late runs in the playoffs.

Then, on Saturdays, many people will go to college games or watch some of the many games on TV. Locally, most fans cheer for the Wildcats of Kentucky, the Thundering Herd of Marshall or the Mountaineers of West Virginia.

Many fans like to tailgate before college games, and that has even filtered down to some high school pre-game festivities.

Most die-hard fans watch NFL games on Sunday afternoons and now on Sunday nights.

You can definitely get your belly full of football on the weekends. But now you get the appetizers during the week with other games leading up to the weekends.

You also have the college playoffs, which have added a lot to the sport. It is not quite as popular as March Madness is for basketball, but it is gaining ground.

Football now lasts until February with the big finale – the Super Bowl.

So this is the start of the season for football fans of all ages. Enjoy the next few months. I hope your favorite teams have good seasons.

Until next time.

(Kyle Lovern is a longtime journalist in the Tug Valley. He is now a retired freelance writer and columnist for the Mountain Citizen.)