DILLON, Texas, March 31 — The state of Texas does love her football, but fans and players alike are decrying this region’s experiment with a year-round football season.
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The skies were cloudy, the radiation levels moderate, and the cream of Cylon civilization was present in droves for the opening of the first Caprica City Starbucks.
Up until this season, Dillon’s beloved football team, the Panthers, played the same football schedule known throughout the United States — from the brutal heat of August practice through the fall regular season and a December playoff run. But this year, the Panthers and the teams that play them have instead had to play through a long and drawn-out season that will likely not end until mid-May.
“Last fall, things sure seemed more normal,” said Panther quarterback Matt Saracen, the team’s soft-spoken leader. “We played a game every week or two, just like last year. But the playoffs sure have gotten stretched out a lot.”
Saracen’s observations are correct. The Panthers played regular-season games through January, not winning their first playoff game until January 31. The team’s playoff run has continued into March.
“I was expecting to play basketball this spring,” said junior Tim Riggins, a star offensive player for the Panthers. “But here it is, spring, and we’re still playing football. When’s basketball season, summer?”
Although members of a Texas school athletics board, the Northern Border Council, voted to conduct the experiment as a pilot project last spring, it is Panthers Coach Eric Taylor who has to bear the brunt of a crushing schedule that leaves him only a brief summer break between seasons.
“It’s hard enough being the coach of a small town Texas football team without coaching these young men for seven straight months,” Mr. Taylor said, citing a large number of dramatic events that had occurred during this extended season, including the traumatic injury to the team’s starting quarterback, a rumored steroid scandal, and a pair of racially-tinged incidents involving coaches and students.
“It’s like a damned TV show around here,” Mr. Taylor said.
The big question now is, will the exhaustion continue for a second football season, or will the Northern Border Council opt for another year of extended, drawn-out football dramatics?
A spokesperson for N.B.C. president Kevin Reilly had no comment.
