Bucky

Happy Birthday dude! I hope its a good one.

http://collegefootball.ap.org/poll

1. Alabama
2. Oregon
3. Ohio State
4. Notre Dame
5. Texas A&M
6. Georgia
7. Stanford
8. South Carolina
9. Florida
10. Florida State
11. Clemson
12. Kansas State
13. Louisville
14. Louisiana State
15. Oklahoma
16. Utah State
17. Northwestern
18. Boise State
19. Texas
20. Oregon State
21. San Jose State
22. Northern Illinois
23. Vanderbilt
24. Michigan
25. Nebraska
26. Kent State

It’s getting to be that time of year again. With the BCS National Championship signaling the end of the College Football Season football fans are once again cast into the over hyped and tremendously commercialized world of the NFL to get their fix. Granted it is the playoffs so it’s slightly more interesting but I still hate the professional form of the sport and I hate that it gets more attention. Each year, right around this time, I begin rattling off the reasons that I far prefer the collegiate game. Some of the largest;

-There is more diversity in game philosophy in the NCAA than in the NFL. In the NFL you might see some variation but it’s pretty minimal, there is no great divide like we see in the NCAA. A collegiate fan can watch the Service Academies or GT run the option like it’s still the Great Depression, watch Oregon with its lightning fast offense or watch a well disciplined team like K-State murder opponents with discipline and clock control. Variations even exist between conferences, just think of the differences in play between the Big Ten, Big Twelve and SEC. I don’t think that variety exists in the NFL, at least not to as great a degree.

-Teams are actually tied to their homes and fan allegiances usually mean something. How many Cowboy fans do you know that have never been to Texas? How many Steeler fans with no connection whatsoever to Pittsburgh? “Sidewalk” alumni and fans certainly exist in collegiate athletics but in the NFL they are the rule rather than the exception, it is inherent in the very nature of the league. A kid growing up in Denver has very little chance of growing up to be a Denver Bronco but he is already a native son of Colorado, whether he sees that allegiance as being with the CSU or CU. If I graduate from Illinois I am an Illini, my connection to that team is near permanent. I will never be a Chicago Bear.

The Volunteers can never pack up and leave Tennessee but the Titans sure can. College teams are tied to their colleges and the colleges to their states. When I watch Wisconsin, Illinois, or Ohio State play I can be sure that if not a majority, at least a plurality, of that team’s players are native to that state. That team actually represents Ohio. I can’t say that when I watch the New York Giants. To be short, the ties between the fans/regions and the teams are much stronger and are very real in college football. In the NFL they are, in most cases, artificial.

-College football has more passion and a better atmosphere. I always found it funny that a person would tailgate at an NFL game. Why? I tailgate, at college games, because they’re great places to reconnect with other alumni and friends. In the NFL the dude grilling next to me is just another guy from the city I happen to live in. Attending a college game can be a much larger experience than the game itself. Alumni can reminisce and parents can show their children a bit of their past and expose them to higher education.

What NFL teams have bands and actual cheerleaders rather than "dance teams" or whatever they're called? Many college football teams have larger stadiums than the Pro's and much more interesting facilities. There is also far more tradition in college ball, whether it be rolling Oak trees in toilet paper or burning a giant wooden caricature of a rival's mascot. The players play with more heart as their fellow students and hometowns are watching and they have to live and go to class at that school every single day. Most of the collegiate players, save for a few bad apples like Cam Newton, aren't playing for the money, at least not money in the here and now. Many of them will never receive payment for their performance and some are just happy to have walked on to the team. To me that is far purer than the NFL where guys hold out for better contracts or feel they can take an off year.

Rivalries also have to be mentioned. Which means more, the Dallas Cowboys vs. the Philadelphia Eagles or Auburn vs. Alabama? That illustrates the point pretty well.

-College football has a better setup than the NFL. By setup I mean the rankings, the conferences and the schedules. The NCAA may be a bit scattered but its far more entertaining. There aren't upsets in the NFL like there are in college. The difference between the AFC and NFC is meaningless while the divide between the Big Ten and the SEC often takes on shades of the Civil War. We college fans complain about conference realignment weakening that meaning but in the NFL it has long been dead. How is a team from Dallas in an Eastern Division and a team from St. Louis in a Western one? I guess Mr. Goodell knows the answer to that one.

Anyhow I guess that pretty much raps up my rant. Here’s a short outline of why I much prefer NCAA football to NFL football for those that don't want to read my spiel;

The NCAA has better (X) than the NFL
-Diversity in style of play
-More representative teams
-Actual fan allegiance to teams
-Better Atmosphere
> > +Tailgating
> > +Bands
> > +Cheerleaders
> > +Stadiums
> > +Visits/Travel Opportunities
> > +History/Tradition
> > +Rivalries
> > +Amateurism better motivates players
-Setup
> > +Rankings
> > +Regular Season Games mean more
> > +Conferences make more sense, have more meaning

All of that is not to say that I hate the NFL. I have a team I like and watch pretty devotedly, but that's just it, one team. I don't care if the Bengals are playing the Browns. I won't watch. I may look at the stats afterward to keep up with a particular player I'm interested in but you can't get me to watch a game not involving my team, while on any given Saturday I'll try to watch as many college games as possible. Maybe that's just me though.

I will say that I cannot understand why a person would prefer NFL football to the NCAA game.

What say you? I'm sure the results will be skewed given that this is a "college" site but have at it.

1. I didn't see this coming at all. I predicted an NU come from behind win by between 3-10 points. That seemed to keep with the pattern both teams had set.

2. The teams' records were deceptive and too much weight was placed in them. Yes Wisconsin was 7-5 and yes they backed into the CCG but none of those five losses were total routs. Four were by three points and one was by seven in overtime. I think this frustration played a big role in motivating the Badgers.

3. Bo Pelini cannot get his team "up" for big games...at least that's my humble opinion as an outside observer. I'm sure there are a few exceptions which I can't recall so what "big" game has he come out and dominated? This is not to say that Bielema is any better but he's been able to pull off a few signatures the past few years. Piggybacking off of this point is the issue of NU's defense which of all things I would think Bo could handle. This doesn't seem to be the case.

4. I've been pleasantly surprised with the way Huskerboarders have taken this loss. There hasn't been a whole lot of the mudslinging, whining and complaining that I halfway anticipated. Props for that.

Anyway please don't take this as gloating. I'm happy we won but it isn't nearly as satisfying as last year. I had a fear that we would win along with Georgia Tech and Kent State further frustrating the BCS. It didn't completely happen but this whole bowl season has just further illustrated the problems with the system. A 8-5 team should not attend a Rose Bowl. It does not feel right even if we won the conference. I will do no bragging about this one, even if we win...which I do want us to.

To end the long rant; My respect goes to you all for being gracious in defeat and you also have my congratulations on making it to the CCG in your second year. Now let us put this horrible abomination of a College Football Season behind us and move forward to a stronger, fully bowl eligible and scandal free Big Ten and a College Football Playoff.

On Wisconsin!

...apparently over an affair. Very interesting news. I'm not sure what to make of it.