College Trumps Professional Football!

While sitting at your local watering hole…or at your desk pouring over popular blog sites, one of the popular topics of conversation which is sure to come up among pseudo weekend sports fans is the popularity of American Football. Of course, if your a true fan, you will advise your conversationalist to clarify which type of football. In America, we have many types of football. European Football, known by many in our country as Soccer, is an example, but is akin to watching paint dry. I’ve actually gotten more out of watching the grass grow and then mowing it than watching a soccer game.  It is extremely boring. Professional Football is a sport that many of us part-take in, only after recovering from our real passion…College Football.

The college football weekend usually starts on Friday night as we take in a local high school football game before parking the RV in our usual chosen space to set up a whole Saturday of tailgating. You see, the college football experience is an event. It is a whole Saturday of good food, an abundance of spirits, companionship with great friends or family members, and an unrivaled atmosphere of passion, pageantry and tradition once we finally arrive at game time.

For most, it is somewhat of a local event where we have an identity with the players because many are the local stars we have watched on Friday evening throughout our given state for many years. For others they may travel long distances and overcome many obstacles just to attend the game, because they are an alum of the school.  College football is different than most sports because it is regionalized.  LSU fans don’t give a hoot about a school in Arizona, while Louisville fans couldn’t care less about College Station.   In either situation, both types of fans have an identity with the school and an affection for the players. There is extreme loyalty by all parties involved concerning their chosen school. This can’t be underestimated.

Simply stated, the fans can identify with the players because many of us were in their shoes only a short time ago. We know of the hardships that a student-athlete has to face and overcome on a daily basis, and we appreciate their sacrifices.

 Compared with the self-serving, hip-hop, me-first, elitist, professional athletes we watch on Sunday, there is no comparison. We can’t identify or appreciate their lifestyle because many of them have become so spoiled in their own abundance, it is a complete turnoff to the true fans of college football. The other nauseating complexity of professional football is that there is no loyalty to the team concept. The fans can’t identify with the team, because the players constantly change from year-to-year due to free agency. The only loyalty the player knows and understands is the Benjamin’s they earn every day.  And have you watched the news lately?  Most are criminals living in their own world of spoils.  Yes, we have trouble makers in college too, but when they run afoul, they are either kicked out of their institutions or suspended immediatly from competition.  When was the last time this happened in professional football.  PAC Man Jones must have had a get out of jail free card because he used it so much the ink literally disintegrated off the paper, which is most likely why he was finally expedited from the league. 

The other turnoff in professional football is the action only intensifies during the playoffs. The regular season in most cases is a formality. In the college game, because there are only 12 games in a given season, every game matters, at least on the surface. Perhaps the greatest aspect of college football is the bowl experience. Although I think we have too many bowl games, it provides an educational opportunity for the players and a reward for all their hard work and sacrifice. It truly defines the American Holiday Season. For many of us, bowl week is the greatest three weeks on the planet every year.  The only negative in college football is the BCS controversy, which I believe I have an answer for!

Although professional football may crown a true champion as determined by the results on the field, Americans have a greater identity and appreciation towards college football as six-to-eight times a year we get to stroll down memory lane and revisit perhaps the greatest and enjoyable time in our lives…the collegiate experience.

So by the time we’ve progressed from a high school game on Friday, through a whole day of tailgating and bench jockeying on Saturday, we really don’t have much energy or emotion left to give professional football on Sunday. Besides, we can sleep and recover from our hang-overs for sixteen weeks every Sunday, only to pick up the pro game after the holiday bowl season has concluded after the New Year, and hang on to our football high for another three weeks before the reality of a long cold winter sets in.