AP photo

If you love San Diego's Antonio Gates, and you tuned into Sunday's preseason game, hoping to see Gates at his 10-catch, 2-touchdown best, you were very disappointed. The picture you see here is of Gates' only catch, as he played just one series.

This, and several other preseason factors, makes for some pretty boring viewing.

Here are the top five reasons I hate preseason NFL football.

5. Bad quarterback battles: For more than two quarters, Cleveland Browns fans were forced to watch Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson alternate possessions in an awful Browns-Kansas City contest. Cleveland should do every discerning football fan a favor and just hand the job to rookie Brady Quinn.

4. Stars with bench blisters: Not only did Chargers fans see Gates for just one series, they didn't see NFL MVP LaDainian Tomlinson at all. Of course, I understand that coaches don't want their superstars risking injury in meaningless games, but I don't have to like it.

3. Final scores of 13-10: NFL preseason games are so insignificant that coaches don't care if they win and are willing to plod along to final tallies that don't combine for 25 points. Three preseason games last weekend ended in this ridiculous score, and a fourth was 13-9. Yet I keep watching!

2. Brian St. Pierre: First, I want to know who outside of Pittsburgh has ever heard of this guy - a fifth-year backup quarterback. St. Pierre has thrown one pass in a real NFL game in four seasons, yet last weekend, fans had to suffer through a 10-23 performance by this Journeyman. Ouch.

1. Vanilla play calling: Why on earth do NFL coaches feel the need to test veteran kickers from 27 yards in games that don't count? It's fourth-and-inches from the 7, and fans are just itching for something to cheer, yet on comes the kicker, in his 10th season, who hasn't missed from inside the 30 in six years. Oh, and what's even worse, the play on third-and-inches is a straight-ahead draw.

So, I watch and wonder, will September ever come?