On a personal note, sorry for long time between updates. Closing on the sale of my house and purchase of condo and the prepping and moving and getting settled in can turn into a month long process. I'm back now and ready to express my opinions and welcome your comments as always. Please be sure to tell a friend or six, about my blog. Thanks for all your support!
So we are about 2 months into the college football season and it's already been quite a roller coaster of emotion for many of us. What I find so compelling about the college football system (although flawed in so many ways) is the way it sucks you in and forces you to develop a rooting interest, to win or lose, for teams all over the country.
As many of you know, I'm a USC alum, so yes, I follow the PAC10 conference closely, however, a game between Alabama and Tennessee can have a much greater impact on my world. This is a direct result of the system we have been dealt. College football is no longer just about winning your conference games. By mid-October, it's about hoping every team that is above you in the rankings loses.
To me, this is what's so great about Saturdays versus the NFL on Sundays. I am provided the opportunity to spread my hatred for various teams over a far greater landscape each season. As a PAC10 guy, I spend more time on Saturdays hoping Tim Tebow and the Gators lose than I do the Oregon Ducks. I was sick to my stomach last Saturday night when Alabama escaped with a win over Tennessee. I'm waiting for Colt McCoy and Longhorns to get caught looking ahead one week. Kirk Ferenz at Iowa...you're a cute little story, but please, do us all a favor and lose!
That's three conferences, with multiple teams I find myself rooting hard against. Conversly, on Sundays, during the NFL season, I really couldn't give two flips about what the Vikings or Giants are doing. Sure I'm a big Packer and Falcon fan, but I'm not making it appointment television to see if the Eagles lose a game in the NFC this week. The passion just isn't the same. In college football, every week is an elimination game (especially if you play in the Pac10 or Big10, where there is no conference championship game). This creates unbelievable angst for fans. Couple that with the need, the hope, the desire for some team across the country in a completely different conference to lose, and you can see how Saturday's can force any die hard college football fan to start drinking the hard stuff.
It's really quite simple. Once the first BCS rankings come out, all bets are off. I no longer care just about conference games or an upcoming rivalry games. I care about what the #1, #2 and #3 team in the country is doing.
Saturdays are supposed to be a day of rest for many. Yet for those of us with a team ranked in the BCS Top10, there is nothing relaxing about it. With apologies to the NFL, we'll kick our feet up and exhale on Sundays.
Gotta disagree with you about the import of each college game versus that of an individual NFL game. While there are fewer college games, it's not that many less than the 16 regular season NFL games. Granted, the top echelon college teams cannot afford to lose more than one game, while it is almost a given that the top NFL teams will lose 3 or 4. Nonetheless, as an avid Packers fan, I was in my glory watching MN lose, and then Chicago, last weekend, and I would not miss the matchup Sun. b/t GB and MN which will go a long way toward deciding the NFL North. I am quite nearly as happy when MN and Chicago lose as I am when GB wins. With all due respect, you can't be a true Packers fan and just not care about their archrivals.
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ReplyDeleteTo the comment above - What college did you attend? That will tell me a lot about why Sundays are more exciting for you than Saturdays...nothing wrong with that.
ReplyDeleteTo the comment above - ouch! Not USC! Eastern Michigan. Just kidding. UW. We had some pretty good years while Alvarez was coaching, so that's not it. Don't get me wrong, college football, for a lot of the same reasons as college basketball, has a definite excitement to it that that pros can't match. BUT, the NFL is pretty awesome in its own right, just different.
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