The NFL officially started last night with the Washington Redskins’ game against the New York Giants. But bigger news for fans of funny sportswriters happened Thursday. That’s right. Bigger news than even the defending Super Bowl champions kicking off the 2008 season. ESPN’s Bill Simmons (above) made is glorious return from a summer hiatus spent working on his next book. If the BS Report wasn’t enough this summer, never fear Simmons’ crazies. The NFL is back, and so is Bill.

Here are three other sportswriters worth looking into if you like sports and you like them funny.

1. Rick Reilly– Now Simmons’ biggest competitor for prominence on the espn.com home page, Reilly made the switch this summer from Sports Illustrated to “the Mag.” It may seem strange opening a new issue of SI and not seeing Reilly on the back page, but for funny stories about Charles Barkley’s golf game or the new no-sign rule at Virginia, Reilly’s your man.

2. The Boys at Deadspin – They might glean most of their content from other sources, but Deadpsin’s staff always has some of their own reporting and rip-roaring commentary. Check out their “Athlete Run-Ins” for some good laughs.

3. Paul Lukas – Page 2 on espn.com is ripe with sports hilarity, and Lukas provides a different approach to covering sports: the uniforms. Lukas’ “Uni Watch” is the place to go if you’re looking for a little humor mixed with a lot of uniform news.