I officially allow myself to begin getting excited for the upcoming football season each year during the second week in July -- when the annual editions of The Eyes of Texas and EA Sports NCAA Football hit the newsstands and store shelves, respectively.

So needless to say I was excited when EA Sports asked to sponsor a week's worth of posts leading up to the release of NCAA Football 2011 next Tuesday, July 13th. They weren't interested in telling us what to say, but rather in sponsoring a series of posts celebrating diehard fans of college football.

If you're like me, the annual release of EA's NCAA Football is like Christmas in July, and I'm more than happy to celebrate next week's holiday with a week-long look at what it means to be a fan of the Texas Longhorns. I'll be posting once a day between now and the release of the game next Tuesday, starting in a few minutes with the first of the series -- "Where I Come From: How I Came To Be A Diehard Longhorns Fan. From there, the series will unfold as follows:

Tuesday: All-Time Favorite Texas Teams

Wednesday: Tailgating Traditions (including a recipe for smoked brisket)

Thursday: All-Time Favorite Longhorns

Friday: Most Memorable Moments as a Longhorns Fan

Monday: Expectations for the 2010 Season

Tuesday: Christmas in July

EA Sports and I invite you to jump in the comment section of each post. I look forward to hearing all your own stories and traditions related to bleeding burnt orange.

Hook 'em.