It’s 8:45 p.m. on a Tuesday in late August. I am bored. Normally, this would irritate me. But not tonight. I’m listening to the faint drone of equally bored Apple eMacs in a mostly empty office. Only the tick-tick-tickety-click of my fingers on this keyboard interrupts the quiet.

The quiet before the storm, that is.

As I said, it is Tuesday. This is the last uneventful Tuesday I’ll get to enjoy for a while. On Friday, the Crimsons will kick off their 2007 football campaign against Jerseyville. Earlier that day, the JHS soccer squad will travel to Charleston for its annual season-opening tournament. Then next week, local sports will be at full gallop: volleyball, cross country and girls’ swimming will get going. Soccer and football will not only keep going, they’ll speed up.

Illinois College will kick off its gridiron season a week from Saturday at Millikin. That’s an afternoon game in Decatur. That same evening, Jacksonville High will battle Sacred Heart-Griffin in Springfield. Yeah, I plan to see and write about both games. I drink Red Bull. I am hardcore.

You didn’t ask, but my summer’s been great. I got my butt in shape (more on that some other time), took many days of vacation and, for the most part, steered well clear of deadlines. Meanwhile, we all got pretty ambitous around here about the sports seasons to come.

If you haven’t heard yet, something truly eventful is going to happen this Friday. Sure, the release of the annual football tab is big, but there’s more: We’ll be launching a new Web site totally dedicated to local sports: MyJournalCourierVarsity. I’ll leave it to our sports editor to tell you all more about it, when he’s ready, but I can tell you this: It is intended to bring readers and fans even closer to the sports, athletes and coaches we follow. We hope that’s a good thing.

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