Krause: Football season is upon us

There?s no getting around it. It?s all football, all the time. This means summer?s over, regardless of what the calendar says.Next week, we start the fall season for real with the Lynn City Soccer Tournament Tuesday and Wednesday (finals Saturday) and our first week of football games that count. The college season started two nights ago, and Ken Hill?s son — also named Ken — made his debut Thursday night for Texas A&M. Can we call him “Kenny Football?” I doubt it. Something tells me that if young Ken is anything like his dad — the former Lynn Classical star who won more than 100 Major League games — he?ll be the antithesis of Johnny. And I can only say I hope so.Speaking of Johnny Manziel, is there anything more irritating than a guy who?s never completed a pass that counts in the NFL giving the other team the digital salute? Is that not the very essence of being a punk? I suppose up to that point, the choice between Manziel and Brian Hoyer must have been a difficult one. But when Manziel pulled that stunt, it made Cleveland Browns coach Mike Pettine?s job a whole lot easier. Maturity counts, right?This year, on the North Shore, we have three new coaches: Matt Bouchard of Salem, Shawn Theriault of Danvers; and Brian St. Pierre of St. John?s Prep.Each has a different task ahead.Bouchard hopes to find a way to return Salem to the football prominence it enjoyed during the Ken Perrone era. He was on that 1994 team that overcame the mid-season teachers? strike that caused untold ruckus and furor to win the Northeastern Conference and go to the Super Bowl.Theriault will be trying to continue the upswing started by his predecessor, Sean Rogers. The Falcons won the Northeastern Conference/South last year. And it?s good to see Scott Wlasuk back on the sidelines. The former Peabody coach is on Theriault?s staff.And all St. Pierre has to do is continue The Prep?s legacy of excellence established first by Fred Glatz and continued by Jim O?Leary. But he certainly knows a thing or two about excellence himself. He was a quarterback on the 1997 team generally regarded as O?Leary?s best team during his 30-year tenure; was the most valuable player in the Motor City Bowl in 2002; and was on the Arizona Cardinals? Super Bowl team during his NFL career.While Brian seeks to start a fresh era at The Prep, his brother, Andrew, begins his first year as athletic director at Danvers. Andrew was a year behind Brian at The Prep.Alex Kulevich is back at Marblehead High as the interim athletic director until Mark Tarmey, who underwent surgery earlier this month after falling ill while running in July, is back on his feet. Aside from being the former AD at Marblehead, Kulevich is a former football coach at both Bishop Fenwick and for the Magicians.I?m a little surprised at how lowly regarded offensive guards are now among pro football cognoscenti. At least, that?s the feeling I get listening to all the talk about the Logan Mankins trade.Compare and contrast that to 40 years ago, when guards were worth their (considerable) weight in gold … and when the Patriots had perhaps the best one ever in John Hannah.Now, the left tackle is seen as the most important position on the offensive line, as the NFL is pass-happy and the LT protects the quarterback?s blind side. Guards are seen to be a dime a dozen, and Mankins was seen as an exorbitantly overpaid player for his position.One hopes this new “conventional” wisdom is correct. Otherwise, Tom Brady might be doing his best Ben Gazzara impersonation for the second year in a row (Google it if you don?t get the reference).If Wes Welker is looking for a little direction, he might give Gloucester?s Jim Unis a call. Unis, who is now living in Lynn, might still be playing in the NFL were it not for the three concussions he suffered within a calendar year while at Boston College. The BC medical staff shut him down … forever. And while it must have devastated Unis, he never looked back.This is a guy whose entire life