Thursday Night MACtion Open Thread

It’s been a long time since January, friends. Eight months. 240 days or so. Not as catchy or as lengthy as that one song from Rent, but it’s been a while since we were able to come together in a mutual love affair of MACtion and all that comprises. Tonight may be long on snoozers and short on nail-biting down to the wire action when it comes to our Mid-American Conference members, but football is like pizza. . . even when it’s terrible it’s still pretty awesome. The Toledo Rockets, Central Michigan Chippewas, and Buffalo Bulls all open their season tonight, and I couldn’t care less the quality of their storylines, strength of their opponents, or subtle storylines. Talking season is over. It’s time, finally, to lace them up and get to playing.

Soon enough, and likely sooner rather than later, the conversations about the value of football, its safety, and its hard-to-deny outcomes will hit a fever pitch more so than it already has. With every passing week it seems like the sport I’ve come to know, live, and love is one day closer to, at minimum, fundamental changes if not outright extinction. But those conversations and outcomes need to wait. Tonight is not that night.

Tonight’s a night of celebration; Of reverie; Of wild unadulterated fun; Of football. Where you see its pluses, its minuses, its celebrations, and its failures. All on display for your consumption pleasures. It’s been a long eight months but here we are again on a rocket ride for the next four until another long and bitter offseason dawns. At some point it will be the last of these of its kind. But not now. Not tonight.

Your friendly neighborhood Belters will be around this post chatting up the football action and the various games on the docket tonight in the comment section below. Join us and hang on tight!

Comment section... see you there, friends.