the.com/preseason
the dress rehearsal where starters play four minutes and ticket prices forget it's fake.
means The period of practice games and training before a sports season officially begins, when teams tune up and results don't count in the standings.
from A straightforward English compound of "pre-" (Latin prae-, "before") bolted onto "season," which came through Old French seson from Latin satio, "a sowing" — the time for planting. So buried in the word is the old farmer's calendar: "season" once meant the right moment to put seeds in the ground, and "preseason" is, fittingly, the warm-up before the real harvest. The athletic sense is a 20th-century American sports coinage.
- Stakes
- Games count for nothing in standings
- Star time
- Top players often sit out entirely
- Roster math
- Cuts loom; longshots audition for jobs
- Full price
- Tickets cost the same as real games
- Injury risk
- Careers can end in meaningless minutes
nfl preseason — 4 games before regular season starts, august-september each year
nba preseason — october games before 82-game regular season begins
premier league preseason — july-august friendlies before august league kickoff