Boston fans usually greet fall with mixed emotions. As September opens, the Red Sox are usually making their final charge to the postseason while the Patriots are getting ready to start their year. The divided attention can be difficult for fans of both teams.

But this fall, the decision has been easier to make. While the Red Sox have scuffled all season, they officially booted their season away in August, when the front office's big deal with the Dodgers signaled that baseball would continue, but it wouldn't be trending toward the playoffs this year.

Now, full attention has turned to the NFL — and not just the Patriots as a team. The league has had many great games, and fantasy football has plenty of storylines, too.

Other towns may be ready for October baseball, but it's football season in New England.

The NFL saw its regular officials return on Thursday night in Baltimore, and the men in stripes showed very little rust.

That's obviously a great thing for fans of the league who had clearly become disgusted with the league's officiating in wake of the referee lockout. In just their first game back, it was clear to see that the game is in much better hands now that the regular refs are back.

Until, you know, they screw something up.

We're still a long way from losing the NHL season to a lockout, but hockey fans got their latest reminder that the lockout is very real on Thursday.

The league announced that it had canceled all of its preseason schedule on Thursday. That means the next "victim" would be regular season games. It's important to remember that there's still a long way to go before the season is lost, but Thursday's announcement reinforces how very real this work stoppage is.

Much of that anticipation stems from the continued development of Rajon Rondo into one of the game's best players. But for the Celtics to contend with this team, they're going to need the veterans — players like Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry — to turn back the clock for one more year.

With the majority of the NHL's preseason schedule already canceled, it's only a matter of time before regular-season games will be taken off the calendar as well.

The lack of negotiations between the owners and players could mean a delayed start to the season, if a season is going to happen at all. Any missed ice time — whether it be one game or 82 — is extremely bad for the league, hence the urgency to get a deal done.

At this point, fans don't care who gets the better end of the new collective bargaining agreement as long as hockey is going to be played, and played soon. If there's no hockey, the NHL can kiss its fans goodbye yet again.

The Cowboys made a stir earlier this year when they announced that wide receiver Dez Bryant would be playing under a different set of team rules this season.

Bryant had a curfew set up and his off-field entertainment choices curtailed by the team, which has been trying to find a way to keep Bryant from inhibiting himself in his free time so he can go back to being a downfield threat for Dallas during games.

But it seems a little crazy to be going to such great lengths to keep a star wide receiver in line. With so much off-field nannying coming from the coaching staff, Bryant shouldn't be surprised that he feels like he's being treated like a kid — and the Cowboys shouldn't be surprised if he keeps acting like one.

Of course, it's the O's — not the Sox — who are still in the hunt.

Improbably, Baltimore has been able to hold on all season, and enters this weekend just a game behind the first-place Yankees in the AL East. That also means that Boston can at least somewhat revenge last season's debacle by hurting the O's chances to win the division.

They may do just that this weekend, but they may not be able to totally return the favor, as Baltimore seems destined for at least a wild card spot.

If it's Thursday, it means it's time for the NFL week to begin.

Wait — what?

The NFL is giving its fans what they desparately crave in more games on more days and nights by increasing its Thursday night presence. The league is feeding the need for football with 13 Thursday night games this season.

It's obviously great news for football fans who can't get enough, but it may present some issues in terms of player safety, not to mention ripping families apart.

The Red Sox certainly don’t have much to play for the rest of the way, and moral victories really don’t have a place in professional sports, especially in a city like Boston.

However, there is the slightest consolation in the fact that Boston can throw a monkey wrench into the American League playoff race, especially when it comes to their AL East rivals. They’ve already helped continue the Rays’ freefall by beating them on Monday night. It was the first game of the final 15-game stretch of the season in which the Sox will only play the Rays, Orioles and Yankees — three teams that are still in contention for playoff spots.

It’s not the same as contending for one of those playoff spots, but at least it’s something.

Tom Brady threw for over 300 yards on Sunday, and he also threw a touchdown pass.

Those numbers aren't especially horrible, but given the lofty expectations for Brady and the rest of the Patriots offense, it certainly wasn't a great day. More importantly, the offense as a whole struggled, scoring only one touchdown in a 20-18 upset loss at the hands of the Cardinals.

It's far too early to panic about anything when it comes to the New England offense, but players will have to step up moving forward. The Pats are expected to be without tight end Aaron Hernandez for at least a month (maybe more, according to reports), and it may be on Brady to put the offense on his back.

Improving on Sunday's relatively pedestrian performance would make for a good start.

What a year it could have been for Boston sports teams.

The Red Sox started with so much promise. The Celtics were within one game of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Patriots were winning the Super Bowl down the stretch. The Bruins were defending Stanley Cup champs.

But instead of championships in every sport, the Red Sox are recovering from one of their worst seasons in years, the Celtics lost both the East and Ray Allen to the Heat, the Patriots folded against the Giants (again) and the Bruins are now preparing for an NHL lockout.

Who can be blamed for all this? The man who has drawn their doom all year long, of course: Will O’Toole. Somebody has to take the heat. The NESN cartoonist obliges.

Sports fans outside of hockey may be wondering what's going on with the NHL this season. Will there be hockey? Who is at fault? Is it a strike, or are the owners locking everyone out?

The bottom line is that the NHL is in danger of having its season start late or not at all, and that's bad news for Bruins fans.

At this point, hockey fans don't care whose fault the situation is or what has to be done to get the season back on track — they just want to make sure they get hockey this year.

That's where the defending NFC North champion Green Bay Packers will welcome the hated Chicago Bears to Lambeau.

While it is only Week 2, this one is important for both teams. It's important for the Packers given their Week 1 loss to the 49ers. Meanwhile, the Bears are looking to build off of a convincing win last week against the Colts, and a win would give them some early footing in one of football's best conferences.

If the Pack is going to get in the win column on Thursday night, it certainly wouldn't hurt for Aaron Rodgers to regain his superpowers after a so-so performance last week. His fantasy owners wouldn't mind that, either.

This certainly isn't the way things were drawn up, with the 2012 campaign somehow reaching lower points than the collapse of '11. 

However, if there is one positive, it's been the play of Dustin Pedroia, especially since the All-Star break. Since returning from the disabled list on July 19, Pedroia has hit .3365 with nine home runs and 27 RBIs. In the process, he collected hit No. 1,000 and RBI No. 400 of his career. 

Just a few seasons ago, the AFC East appeared to be packed with competition.

The Dolphins surprised the Patriots with their Wildcat offense and ran off an 11-5 season. The Jets brought in big-talking Rex Ryan, who nearly validated claims of Super Bowl ability while pulling off key wins over the Pats. The Bills literally smartened up, with Harvard graduate Ryan Fitzpatrick appearing to be ready to turn around the perennial division doormats.

But that has all changed coming into 2012, as the small advantages the rest of the AFC East seemed to gain have fallen away and the Patriots stand as strong as ever. New England is so good this year, in fact, that even one loss to one of its pesky division challengers would be seen as a disappointment.

Critics of the big-money culture of college football have long decried the means that teams use to get their wins.

But few have been so blatant about the path to college football success as Notre Dame announcer Allen Pinkett, who said, "To have a successful team, you gotta have a few bad citizens … guys that were criminals."

While Pinkett can be criticized for his assessment, what's worse is that he's most likely right, and that many college football supporters — from the fans to the coaches to the university presidents — would support that approach if it guaranteed wins. Teams have found success with troublemakers on their rosters before, and if the winning keeps coming, they'll likely turn to them again.

Sunday — when 26 franchises will take the gridiron for the
first time this season — will be a true test for the replacement referees as the
NFL and NFL Referees Association are still without a new deal. Don't be
surprised to see flag after flag, butchered calls and made-up penalties once games kick off.

While NFL commissioner Roger Goodell had good things to say about the refs after Dallas defeated New York on Wednesday night, will his opinion remain positive come Monday morning?

You can only say it so many times, but time is running out in the NHL labor negotiations.

The league seems destined for yet another work stoppage, as the sides appear to be far apart on talks over a new collective bargaining agreement. The clock is ticking — seemingly faster and faster — with the Sept. 15 deadline for a new agreement. If that doesn't happen, the league will likely lock out the players and then it's anyone's bet as to when we'll see hockey again.

The Los Angeles franchise, which already had a $3 billion multiyear TV deal waiting in the wings, was salvaged from the reign of Frank McCourt this past spring thanks to a $2.15 billion bid from an ownership group including Magic Johnson. That group has immediately shown the Dodgers community that it’s interested in instant winning, making a series of movies that culminated with last month’s megadeal swap of prospects for Red Sox stars Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett and Carl Crawford.

Perhaps the biggest part of the trade with the Red Sox was not the caliber of names being acquired — the Dodgers already have a stock of All-Stars in Clayton Kershaw, Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, Hanley Ramirez and the like. But by assuming the rest of the seven-year, $154 million deal for Gonzalez, the four-year, $68 million contract for Beckett and the seven-year, $142 million pact with Crawford, the Dodgers are also saying something about their deep pockets.

With the big spending and the championship-or-bust attitude, they’re becoming the Yankees of the West Coast.

While hundreds of players packed training camps this summer with great hopes of making the cut and playing this season, the preseason has separated the true contenders from the NFL hopefuls. Rookies who were just barely picked up in the draft, free agents, veterans trying to eke out one or two more seasons and holdouts who bartered for their contracts instead of beefing up their game credibility have all taken the hits as the cuts have fallen.

In a few precious weeks, they've all become toast.