NFL schedule release scheduled for 4 p.m. today

Yes, you read that right. The NFL makes a big deal not just about the release of its schedule, but of keeping the scheduled date of said schedule release a secret until days before the schedule is released. (You know, schedule is a funny sounding word if you say it over and over again).

Anyway, the league announced Monday that schedules for the 2012 season will be released at 4 p.m. today, and in yet another indicator of just how big the NFL is, the schedule release merits three-hour prime-time (on the East Coast) specials on two different cable networks--the NFL Network and ESPN. And all of this despite the fact that we already know who teams will be playing in 2012, just not the dates of said games.

Admittedly I'm curious to see the schedule seeing as a large part of my life from August to January revolves around the Seahawks' schedule, but the amount of attention this day is getting still seems a bit crazy to me. As a reminder, here are the Seahawks opponents for next season. We'll be able to fill in the dates in about four hours.

HOME
San Francisco
Arizona
St. Louis
Green Bay
Minnesota
Dallas
New England
New York Tebows, er, Jets

AWAY
San Francisco
Arizona
St. Louis
Chicago
Detroit
Carolina
Buffalo
Miami