THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Are you ready for football? I'm sure not quite yet

Let’s go with some meaningless music to kick off a Notes and Quotes session today …

“Are you ready for some football?”

Me, neither.

Still can’t get the song out of my head — even though Hank Williams Jr. was bounced by ESPN for a reference to Hitler way back in 2011.

That tune, and Carrie Underwood’s fun opening for Sunday night games, are just about the closest I can get to enjoying collisions at the line of scrimmage in mid-August.

Still …

Once again this summer, the NFL clearly isn’t interested in my feelings — not when teams can add a couple of useless scrimmages to your pricey season-ticket package.

So …

Despite my hopeless yearly protests, the Seahawks will go ahead and host Minnesota tonight at Lumen Field.

Just like every other year, the Hawks’ three exhibitions — they host Dallas next week and then finish up at Green Bay — will feature the same concerns as always.

You don’t want anybody hurt.

Maybe a backup safety job gets decided, and …

You don’t want anybody hurt.

Did I mention not getting anybody hurt?

That’s why you’ll see the Seattle starters rarely, if at all, before the regular season opens against the Rams on Sept. 10.

ITEM: I’ve seen thousands of major league ballgames (literally, since I covered the Royals in parts of four different decades).

By sheer luck, I’ve witnessed seven no-hitters, including a perfect game.

In all that time, though, I’ve never gotten to enjoy a move I’ve dreamed about — exactly like the one Julio Rodriguez dropped on the Padres Tuesday night.

Whenever an outfielder jumps over the top of the fence, trying to prevent a home run, there’s a moment or two when you can’t tell if he caught the ball.

Not unless you see it bounce, or hit a row of seats, or something like that.

Generally, the body language of the outfielder is your first clue.

When they’ve made the catch, they leap back on the field with glove in the air.

But in the fourth inning on Tuesday, Julio went up at the 410-foot sign to try snagging a blast by Fernando Tatis Jr.

He came down, dropped his head a second, and began walking toward the infield.

Tatis was in his home run trot, between first and second.

And then …

Julio grinned and held up his glove.

The baseball was right there, gleaming in the lights.

Everyone in T-Mobile Park was stunned, including Tatis — who plays with the same sort of verve as Julio, and actually laughed at losing his homer.

Considering that it was a scoreless game at the time, J-Rod’s play was just as critical as it was dramatic.

So, now I’ve finally seen a fielder sucker everyone on a “home run” at the fence.

Gracias, Julio.

ITEM: Plenty of pro sports franchises are run by pompous fools.

Or rich characters who were simply lucky that their parents were born before they were.

A lot of these idiots eventually get run off by their peers, as we saw recently with Daniel Snyder and the Washington Commanders.

And, hey …

Remember Marge Schott, who owned the Cincinnati Reds until it was discovered that she was a full-blown Nazi, with portraits of Hitler and swastikas all over the house.

Or Donald Sterling, the goofball who turned the NBA Clippers into a laughing stock, until he was caught on tape making racist remarks.

The same sort of horrid workplace environment charges forced Suns owners Donald Sarver to sell the team earlier this year.

Unfortunately, a few of these bozos manage to stick around – like the Angelos family in Baltimore.

Father Peter ran the club into the ground and antagonized plenty of people on his watch, and now his two sons have the entire baseball community howling at them.

Why?

Well, they suspended club broadcaster Kevin Brown indefinitely for some remarks he made during a pregame show.

Taking stats directly from the Orioles’ own media notes, Brown mentioned that the club had a chance to win a series from Tampa that night — a serious turnaround, since they’d lost a lot of games to the Rays over the past few years.

Someone in the Angelos clan watched the show, and promptly demanded that Brown be yanked off the air for being negative.

Remember, he was using material provided to him BY THE CLUB.

The brouhaha has now reached the point that fans in Baltimore chanted “Free Kevin Brown” at a game this week.

Good grief, how can some of these owners be so dumb?

ITEM: Meanwhile, speaking of stupid …

And greedy …

We’re pondering, as of Wednesday evening, what will become of the invitation that Stanford and Cal await from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The fate of Wazzu and Oregon State hangs in the balance, since they could conceivably construct a new Pac-12 if Stanford and Cal stick around.

In fact, I have a fairly sound proposal that I believe would work in everyone’s favor, and keep our four schools in the Power 5 club.

We’ll share it in Friday’s Cheap Seats …

That’s assuming the two “academic giants” in the Bay Area aren’t in the ACC by then.

Fingers crossed on that.

Email: scameron@cdapress.com

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press four times each week, normally Tuesday through Friday unless, you know, stuff happens.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”

He also wants to share a thought from some other lyrics, courtesy of the Dixie Chicks: “I don’t have time to go round and round and round.”