June is a month with a special mission. It’s the calendar’s last stand before football returns. A foodie might compare it to a spoonful of sorbet that cleanses the palate prior to the arrival of the main course. It should be savored and enjoyed.
Once June 30 turns into July 1, the season changes. Sure, the temperatures are still rising, and Stadium of Fire hasn’t happened yet, but the month ushering in the coolness of the sport America loves like no other will be here.
July brings the Big 12 preseason football poll. Utah’s high school, college and professional players report to training camp. The Lions and Chargers play the first NFL preseason game and once that happens, football will take over the TV until the Super Bowl.
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It’s hard to let summer be summer when the seasonal pull to football grows stronger and stronger each year. It’s much like Harry’s fate in “A Bug’s Life” when he can’t resist flying into the electric zapper on the porch.
“No Harry, No! Don’t look at the light!” warns his friend.
“I can’t help it,” Harry says. “It’s so beautiful.”
Zap! That was it for Harry.
Football fandom isn’t so cataclysmic but it is intoxicating. If there is a report in the Deseret News, we read it. If there is a tweet on X, we click it. If there is a hot topic on “Y’s Guys,” we listen to it and when we see our friends, we talk about it.
The transfer portal has not only changed the game, but it has extended the season like nothing we have seen before. For BYU fans, it’s not just football. Kevin Young’s basketball program has also dominated the news cycle. It’s an unprecedented double-whammy.
There is still time for the other sports — baseball, softball, soccer and golf, among others, but the discussion in between the pitches, kicks and tee shots has more to do with transfers, NIL and NBA prospects than ever before.
And it’s perfectly fine.
Cougar fans have waited a long time for this. As much grumbling as there is over ticket prices and seating reconfigurations, there might as well be an abundance of eagerness and high expectation — and BYU has all of it.
There is just one thing standing in the way — June.
Fortunately, the NBA Finals and Stanley Cup Finals start this week and the U.S. Open also takes place in June to help pass the time, but the rest will be up to us. The McCanns will spend it cheering for the (first-place) Cubs, eating early sweet corn from California, barbecuing burgers and playing wiffle ball in the backyard — all while keeping an eye out for any inkling of news, especially with BYU’s quarterback situation.
Summer doesn’t officially begin until June 20, but the sport that was once relegated to the fall is free of any confinement. Football is now just as much at home in the hot months as it is during the cold ones, and if we didn’t love it so much, it could make us angry because we tend to speed through everything to get there.
But we do love it, almost as much as we love counting down to things like Independence Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s. Isn’t it interesting that all those dates are now enhanced by football — beginning with July — the celebratory month when it comes back.
Until then, let’s make the most out of June. Think of it as a cold strawberry sorbet that is going to make what’s coming next all the more enjoyable.
Dave McCann is a sportswriter and columnist for the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com
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