August 22, 2006
NCAA v. NFL Football
Quite a while ago, Dec 2004, in fact, I told you all why I prefer NCAA football to NFL. Given that we’re coming up on my favorite season of the year again, when I wake up and spend morning, afternoon, and evening every Saturday watching college football, it’s a good time to revisit that post. And to let Ivan Maisel do it much better than I can, when his editors asked for 20 reasons. And as he puts it:
Oh, the sleepless nights of trying to face such a task. Oh, the agony.
Oh, and one other thing: Only 20 reasons? Sure you don’t want 40?
A few of my favorites:
1. Passion
The appeal of college football is rooted in the simple notion that your team represents you, your state, your alma mater, your youth. The NFL represents — what, exactly? A bunch of 25-year-old millionaires who will dump your town the minute their agent secures a better offer. There is no loyalty in the NFL. College football is all about loyalty.2. 25-year-old millionaires
Speaking of which, college football has none. What the game does have, instead, is humility. You want the bling and the talk? Have at it. We’ll stick with guys who are still happy to get their names in the paper.3. Rivalries
Army-Navy. Ohio State-Michigan. Alabama-Auburn. Texas-Oklahoma. Harvard-Yale. Williams-Amherst. No matter the division, there are rivalries that go 365-24-7. You revel in victory and agonize in defeat. What does the NFL offer in comparison? Dallas-Washington? How big can a rivalry be when they play it twice a year?…
8. Stadiums
NFL owners hold up their hometowns for state-of-the-art palaces that have as much personality as a downtown skyscraper. Give me old-school (there’s a reason that became an adjective) classics like the stadiums at Notre Dame, Ohio State or most any SEC school any day of the week.And think about this: Which sport has 16 stadiums that average more than 80,000 in attendance? The NFL has one. Which sport has four stadiums that average six figures in attendance? It ain’t the Sunday one.
…
14. JoePa
Joe Paterno has been at Penn State as assistant (beginning in 1950) and head coach (since 1966) for 56 seasons — or seven years before the dean of NFL coaches, Bill Cowher, was born.
And one of my favorites:
20. Eternal youth
How about “eternal co-eds”? I get older, but they stay the same age…
Below The Beltway linked with Football: College vs. The Pros
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[...] Brad Warbiany writes about the virtues of NCAA football vs. the NFL and points to an article by Ivan Maisel at ESPN listing the reasons why college football is better than the professional version. Maisel lists twenty reasons, but these are the ones that stand out to me after having become a college football convert on a certain Saturday in 2003 in Columbus, Ohio: 3. Rivalries [...]