In this space, I spend a lot of time encouraging you to ‘go for it’ in the football world, to roll the dice and pursue your passions. I haven’t retreated from that position one iota, but I wanted to give you a couple downsides to such a path.

This post is maybe only half-serious, but I guess the idea is that life changes as you make football not just your passion, but your profession.

You’ll never watch SportsCenter again: In the 90s, there’s nothing I wanted to be more than Craig Kilborn or Chris Berman. Today, I can’t remember the last time I watched more than 10 minutes of SportsCenter when I wasn’t on a hotel treadmill. There are a couple reasons for this. No. 1, in the rare instances I actually watch the show, they’re trying to sell me something or be too cutesy. No. 2, in the age of the Internet, I already have all the information I need. No. 3, shows like SportsCenter have little to no application to the football business. They’re more fan-driven. I understand this, obviously, but your tastes change once you’re in the business.

You can’t talk football with anyone: I live in Greater Houston, so once someone finds out I’m in the business, the first thing they ask me is something about the Texans. Hey, they’re just trying to be friendly and congenial, and once again, I get that. The thing is, my tiny corner of the business is so all-consuming that I don’t get to really be a fan as much anymore. I can’t remember the last time I watched all four quarters of a college game, and the only NFL games I watch are Saints games (I’m not a Texans fan, which is another problem). Even when I go places like the combine or all-star games or whatever, it’s rare when I meet a client and we talk about on-field, traditional football stuff. We wind up talking about our families, our common non-football interests, or about real ‘inside football’ stuff. Again, your tastes change.

You’ll never enjoy football movies again: About this time last year, the movie ‘Draft Day’ came out. My wife, who knows I hate sports movies, nonetheless declared that we were going to go see it. Well, I humored her and agreed to go, but for one reason or another we never made it while it was in theaters. I breathed a sigh of relief, and so far, I’ve ducked renting the DVD, as well. Most people don’t believe me when I tell them I haven’t seen ‘Jerry Maguire,’ either. They think it should be the one movie that I’ve seen, if any. Once you’ve seen the inside of this business, it ruins sports movies for you because they have to make so many concessions to drama, entertainment, selling tickets, whatever.

I know these issues seem pretty small in the greater scheme of things, and heck, maybe they apply only to me. Still, you should probably get used to thinking in different terms as you move into this world in a more official capacity.