Country Star Darius Rucker Loves Football Season

(AP) - To hear Darius Rucker tell it, there are really only two seasons of the year - not four: "football season and waiting-for-football season." And once the football season gets under way, he is "always excited."

That should be no surprise if you remember Rucker from his Hootie and the Blowfish days. There's the lyric in "I Only Want To Be With You" when he complains that his girlfriend thinks he's "a baby 'cause the Dolphins make" him cry.

Rucker says he appreciates American football more as he gets to sample sports in other countries. He says whenever he visits a new country, he tries to check out the national sport. Now that he's been around some, he declares: "I honestly believe that football is the greatest sport in the world."