The next great football analyst?

June, we hardly knew thee. Wait, scratch that - this was the longest month ever. June is the month that I like to refer to as the "NFL Dead Zone". That name does not refer to the zero real news that occurs during this month, although it certainly pertains.

No, June is the "Dead Zone" because it's the month where NFL experts attempt to do their best Johnny Smith impersonation and predict the future of each NFL team by metaphorically shaking each franchise's proverbial hands. (It kind of makes me wish Christopher Walken worked for ESPN - he'd put John Clayton to shame. And I think John Clayton needs that. Humility rules.) Prognostication is great and all, but one does grow tired of it - I'm so sick of hearing and using phrases like "fits the scheme", "needs to mature" and "not much in the way of news today" that it's astonishing I'm still sane.

Seriously - every month of the year has something going for it football-wise except June. Training camp and the pre-season occupy July and August; the season runs from September to February. March has free agency, April has the Draft and May has those first delicious mini-camps when you see your shiny new rookies in their shiny new duds. June? June is the Dead Zone. June drives football fans crazy - it's mostly Clayton, to be sure, but the whole nothing happening thing doesn't help. At this point, there's no cure, either.

And before you ask, no - I'm not a baseball fan until October, the hockey playoffs were boring after the Sabres were ousted and David Stern bugs me enough to scare me away from the NBA Draft (which is the only exciting part of an NBA season in these humble eyes).

But we're six short hours from exiting the Dead Zone. We are in the twilight of the NFL off-season, with Bills training camp a mere 26 days away. (Please don't remind me that that's damn close to another month - I'm riding the high of tomorrow being July the First. A reminder such as that may send me into hysterics - and I don't really feel like pulling all my hair out or running around with a chainsaw this evening.)

So good riddance, June. Bring on the first real football month.