September Arrives in Southwest Michigan. You Know What That Means

Let me tell you a little story. You might know the Dan Patrick Show. It's basically a "guy-talk" show masquerading under the guise of a sports talk show. And one of the things Dan and his crew, the Danettes, do is mock drafts of non-sports topics. And one time a few years back, they did a "draft" of the months of the year. October and September were the two top draft picks. While I can't fault anyone anyone for picking a fall month, I think I'd go with September first, followed by May and April, and then October. (Like any good draft nerd, I'll over-analyze this and point out October means pumpkin-spice, and you lose points in my book for that.)

On the plus side for September, for a parent, September means the kids are back in school. They need that and you need that.

Which brings us back to what the headline above is saying. As I write this, September is about to start, and to me, it means one thing, football. In this country, football is king. Baseball bills itself as our pastime, but football is king. The Western Michigan Broncos are making the trek to Ann Arbor to start the season against Michigan this Saturday. The NFL starts on Thursday night, Sept. 9th. and then the rest of the league gets going a few days later. At that point, we'll also have a couple of weeks of college football under our belts.

Football to me is like a shiny object to a baby. It gets my attention first, but the other thing that's great about September is it's the reverse of March or April. The past week has seen temperatures above 90 and September can be hot, but by the end of the month temperatures are back to where you can keep the windows open all the time and it's just gorgeous. By the end of September, you start seeing the fall colors turn.

Things to do? Put your phone down and go play a round of disc golf. Or find a corn maze and take the family there. September means a trip to the cider mill. I have my favorite one just west of Kalamazoo, and while cider has gotten pricey, it's still something you have to have, and not from the store, but getting it fresh pressed right on the spot and maybe sneak a donut or three while you're at it.

If all the surveys you read have any truth to them, then this summer was disappointing, and, of course, with Covid returning, that just adds to the stress level, so September is time to stage a comeback, and maybe start enjoying what so great about this place.

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