Hey, football players report Aug. 6 and practice begins Aug. 7. You’re almost there, a place that seemed pretty far away four months ago when we entered the valley between the end of the basketball season and the Coastal Carolina game.

Now, after a string of so-so summer stories about workouts and bonding and 7-on-7, things start to change. I had an hour-long talk with Bill Stewart a few days before I left and it was remarkable entertaining and enlightening and fodder for a few upcoming stories I can’t wait to write.

Others are revving their engines as well and you’ll now begin to get a taste of the season. And when I say taste, Bob Hertzel means a taste …

That is a deeper subject than you may give it credit for being, for those who believe football is just a game also believe that Ben & Jerry’s is just an ice cream and Jimmy John’s is just a sandwich shop.

Clearly, we are not among them and we recognize the one thing we lack during the summer is the combination of camaraderie, combat and competition that is unique to football. That, of course, is the point Chef Hertzel, with the help of an intensity-inspiring sidekick, was making.

A couple of weeks ago the veteran defensive line coach Bill Kirelawich was discussing the society that is a team, which he believes is what separates football from so many other endeavors, especially sports that are individual in nature.

Kirelawich admitted that he enjoyed such games as golf and tennis, but they lacked the infrastructure that makes team sports different and that is magnified with what football teams must go through year round.

“It is,” Kirelawich said, as only he can, “like going to a movie alone.”

After giving his listener a moment to think about that and let it sink in, he continued.

“You know how it is, you really like the movie and you want to nudge the guy next to you in the ribs at the good parts, but there’s no one there. You want to talk to someone about it when it’s over, but there’s no one to talk to.”