And so it begins...

The summer has traditionally been my "easy" time. Like school kids themselves, I often look forward to summer as a chance to take a break, to relax and maybe not work quite as much. While I don't go on vacation or anything, I do see it as a break in the action, a chance to catch my breath and maybe work 40 hours a week instead of 60 or 70 or 80.
My schedule revolves mostly around the whims of high schools. Being as most of the coverage I do is high school sports, I will start full-tilt to the ground with games the final week of August and with the exception of a few weeks around Thanksgiving, a few days around Christmas and New Year's and a few weeks in March, I am constantly on the move until June rolls around.
And that's all just fine. That's part of the job. I know there are much worse things I could be doing for a living. Watching sports and writing stories is pretty darn easy on the list of jobs that people can do. While I may complain a time or two about being tired, I try to restrict those complaints as much as possible.
But for me, summer was always that saving grace. Sure, there were tournaments to cover for Cal Ripken and Babe Ruth, but for the most part, I could count on having many afternoons off during the summer months. That seemed to change this year and though I don't know why, I don't know if I like that change. This summer was by far the busiest summer I've had since I started doing this job in 2003. It seemed I was always on the go, always off to one event or another. I can't put a finger on to why this summer seemed so much busier than previous ones, but it most certainly was.
Now, as the end of August has rolled around, I'm looking at a schedule with every afternoon blocked off with some sort of contest, be it football, soccer, volleyball, golf, cross country or field hockey.
That presents me with my real problem, which is the fact that the fall is also the traditional start of the television season, when new shows crop up and returning shows pop back onto the schedule. I know the television world has changed in the last few years and there are shows that I watched throughout this summer (Under the Dome, Royal Pains, Taxi Brooklyn), but for a television junkie like me, September is the big time.
So of course, the busiest time in the television world has to come at the busiest time in my work life. Thank goodness for the DVR.
This season I am saying goodbye to three shows that have been part of my life for a number of years. Parenthood, Glee and Parks and Recreation are all signing off at the end of their upcoming seasons and while I am sad to see them go, I think it will be a welcome respite for me. My problem is that once I get invested in a show, I stick with it, right to the end (which might explain why I'm the only person in the world still watching Glee as it prepares for its sixth and final season).
In addition to those three shows (two of which aren't coming back until midseason), Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, The Blacklist, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, New Girl, Modern Family, The Middle, Revenge, Nashville, Hart of Dixie and The Amazing Race are all returning this season and most of them get started at some point in September. I've already started glancing over the grid trying to figure out what to watch and how to keep myself on schedule.
Of course, that list above doesn't include my favorite show, Survivor, which is the one show that I will always watch before I go to bed on the day it airs, no matter how late I get home or how early I have to get up.
The crop of new shows looks intriguing, but I am trying not to get too bogged down in new shows. I may try Scorpion and Stalker, the latter of which I am guessing comes from my relationship with Taylor Swift, but I can't be 100 percent sure.
Whatever the case may be, if you see me out and about in the next few months and I look like one of the main characters from the Walking Dead, you might be able to figure out why. And if there's a volleyball or football or the like hurtling toward my head and I still remain oblivious, I hope you at least pull out your camera and record it for posterity sake.