After almost two weeks off, I'm back from vacation and preparing for the upcoming football season.
This year, my vacation included a trip to DeLand to visit family, and a trip to Knoxville, Tenn., to visit friends and stroll the University of Tennessee campus’ once familiar streets.
Just about everyone in the area knows I'm a Tennessee grad and I love the Volunteers through thick and thin. If you cut me deep enough, I might even bleed a little Tennessee orange.
Prior to my visit last week, I hadn't been on the UT campus in almost nine years. Almost all of the familiar professors and staffers have long since retired or moved away.
It's even hard to keep track of all the coaches who have come and gone since I graduated from Tennessee a little less than 14 years ago.
While on campus, I made it a point to visit Neyland Stadium, where the Volunteers play football. The stadium seats more than 100,000 fans. When I was a freshman in the fall of 1976, the stadium capacity was 80,250.
One constant in life is change. If you doubt that, just look at how many coaching changes have taken place at Crestview High School in recent years.
Tim Hatten is Crestview High School’s third head football coach since the start of the 2010 season.
Greg Watson is the third Bulldog boys basketball coach since the end of the 2011-12 season.
And the next Crestview softball coach will be the sixth in five years.
There also have been multiple coaching changes at Baker School and Laurel Hill School.
In a world of change, it's nice to know that we can still count on football season in the fall, basketball in the winter and baseball in the spring.
Players and coaches come and go, but the games remain a constant reminder of those special times in life.
Football practice for the 2013 season officially starts in less than three weeks. The Kickoff Classics are scheduled for Aug. 23 and the regular season starts Aug. 30. Overall, it's enough to make a guy's head spin.
I know the routine, and soon I'll be gathering information for our annual preseason football publication. And in the blink of an eye, the season will be in full swing and I'll be off and running for another year.
Yes, it's that time of year again and I can forget about the changes and concentrate on the year to come.
Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Email him at randyd@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @BigRandle, or call 682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: SIDELINE OBSERVATIONS: Sports are constants in a world of change