The NFL season opens Thursday and I am looking forward to it for one very important reason — it will mean an end to this constant chatter about the Fantasy Football draft. Who’s a steal in the second round? Do I dare take a flyer on a running back?

Once the draft happens, the Fantasy geeks tend to retreat to their own home turf and talk amongst themselves.

I remember in 1982, when a friend called me about some tips on who to pick on his “team” for something called Fantasy Football. I had been a sportswriter for about a year but that more than qualified me, at least to him, as an expert in the field. On the other hand, I asked what in the name of Pete Rozelle was Fantasy Football?

It’s now out of control and there are a lot of reasons that it bugs me, but here is the biggest: No one cares about teams anymore, just players. No one cares about the actual game, only the actual stats.

And much like hearing about someone’s latest round of golf (hole by hole, shot by shot), the rest of us are forced to hear about how Baby Got Dak is racking up the fantasy points and killing it in the AFL (Armchair Football League).

(Personal note — I laughed out load when I saw there was a league named Show Us Your TDs.)

Thursday night, the Philadelphia Eagles will meet the Atlanta Falcons amid much celebration of the start of another NFL season. Fans of both teams were be sweating out every last detail. Can the Eagles make another Super Bowl run? Are the Falcons ready to take the next step up?

Meanwhile, some guy with his hand halfway into a bowl of salsa is sweating out the PPR numbers of Julio Jones and whether he chose the right guy for his IDP or OP because he is in a flex league. (I hope y’all know I have no idea what that sentence means or whether it even makes sense.)

Let’s just say I’ve got a lot better things to fantasize about than how many points Tom Brady picked up on Sunday.