The calendar shows that it’s April, but if you live in the Northeast like I do or you’re in an area of the country that has also been experiencing this ridiculous spell of bad weather, it might as well say December or January, because that’s really how it’s felt.   

Last week, my older son Bradley had a little league baseball scrimmage and my wife and I were sitting in the bleachers bundled up while watching three flags on top of a flagpole whipping in the air from the fierce winds. Honestly, it felt like football season and a day like this past November, when it was really cold while we watched Bradley’s youth football team win the Super Bowl and Jared’s flag team wrap up its season.  

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It really doesn’t matter what the calendar says or what the weather is like outside to us, because in our house, it’s always football season. Any youth football parent should feel that way, because it’s a sport that requires a lot of passion and dedication, so having that feeling all year round is important. In our house, it’s always football season because there always seems to be something football-related going on.

Whether it’s Bradley or Jared playing, watching the New York Jets or our local high school team, or even playing Madden, football is a year-round part of our lives. Even as the little league season begins, Bradley recently participated in the USA Football New Jersey Middle School Showcase, and both of our boys will once again be taking part in the Big Daddy Youth Football Camp this June, an annual camp on Long Island that features current and former NFL players and coaches as guest instructors.  

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Bradley, now 12, loves football for a number of reasons, and he wears one of them on his jersey. He plays center, so his favorite player was former Jets center Nick Mangold and wears his number 74 each season as long as it’s available. News just broke this morning that Mangold has announced his retirement. We kind of knew it was coming because he sat out last season after being released, but now it’s reality and I’m bracing for Bradley’s reaction when he gets home from school.  

Jared will soon turn 8 and has really fallen in love with football as well. At Bradley’s little league game this past Saturday, he brought a football with him to the field and engaged in a catch with another young fan on the next field over. At one point, my wife Sheryl and I could hear Jared screaming things like, “he’s in the end zone for a touchdown!”  There was a time when we said we were a family of four, but now it’s clearly a football family of four.

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Football is going to be a big part of our house in the next couple of weeks as we get set for the NFL Draft. As Jets fans, we’re hoping they pick the right quarterback on April 26 and that he gives us plenty of thrills in the future. The boys are just starting baseball season, but the fall is already on their minds. The local high school just installed a new turf football field, so there is community pride about that, and once the calendar flips to June, the 2018 football season will really come into focus.

The kids will be going to a football camp, NFL training camps will soon be here, and then the start of the new season will be right around the corner. Then again — what new season?  It’s always football season in our house!

Peter Schwartz is a sports anchor for the CBS Sports Radio Network, FOX News Headlines 24/7 and WCBS 880 Radio in New York. His older son Bradley plays youth tackle football for the Super Bowl Champion East Meadow Rams on Long Island, while his younger son Jared plays flag football for the LSW Giants. Peter, his wife Sheryl and the boys are busy cheering on the New York Jets when they’re not at a youth football field.