And that segue's me quite nicely into this week's discussion: college vs. pro athletics. I want to submit to you 15 reasons why college sports are better, all the while avoiding the painful analysis of my 0-fer weekend picking the Final Four. You won't find an argument for talent level, there's no question the pro's have a sizable edge there, but nearly everything else leans the way of the kids.
A caveat before we begin: I'm strictly referring to football and basketball. I don't talk baseball or hockey here.
1. Tradition
The pro's have tradition, sure - franchises like the Steelers, Cowboys, and Celtics come to mind - but the richer tradition belongs to the college game. You'll find it every Fall Saturday - college football is built on tradition and campuses like Penn State, Alabama, and Notre Dame swim in it. Same goes for basketball schools like Kansas, North Carolina, and UCLA. You can't go to a game at any of those places, or dozens of others for that matter, without drinking in the tradition-laden atmosphere.
2. Pageantry
Much like tradition, the college game has loads of pageantry, defined by dictionary.com as "spectacular display; pomp". Dotting the i at Ohio State. Rock Chalk Jayhawk at Kansas. The Cameron Crazies. The Flaming Spear at the 50 at Florida State. The Rose Bowl Parade. What do the pro's have? The best they can muster is the canned, corporate, contrived pomp surrounding the Super Bowl.
3. Passionate Fans
Who sits closest to the field or court at a pro game? Big money bigwigs or celebrities, who are often there to be seen more than to see, let alone participate in the game. In college? The students, and alums who never quite let go of the attachment to their school through their team. With the level of attachment that comes with cheering for your alma mater coupled with the unbridled enthusiasm and energy of the student section, college crowds blow the pros out of the water.
4. Venues
Give me the old stadiums and arenas of the college game over the multi-million dollar, sterile venues the pros demand to be built every 25 years, often at taxpayer expense. Sure, they're usually much more cramped, uncomfortable, and it's impossible to go to the bathroom, but you're not there for comfort. You're there to make noise, and do it in close quarters with 100,000 friends. And size matters here too - only in college will you find stadiums in the six digit capacity.
5. Effort
There's something about playing for money and being under a contract that seems to take some of the competitive edge off the pros. Especially in the NBA, where you find the "construction zone effect": 2 guys doing all the work with the other 8 just standing around watching. They're unionized, what do you expect? In college, most of these guys won't ever get paid for playing sports, they're doing it strictly for love of the game, school pride, and just to win. And they give their all for it.
6. Pregame Shows
Only college football has a pregame show that's become must-see TV. I'm talking, of course, of College Gameday, the show that all others hope to match.
7. Bands
The Washington Redskins have a band, which is cute. But college sports have BANDS - sometimes of the variety that are as famous as the teams they lead cheers for. And bands, of course, are much better than piped-in music or prerecorded stadium cheers.
8. Halftime Shows
The bands are also the primary halftime entertainment, which destroys the offerings of the pro teams, most of which consist of circus acts, goofy games, and high school bands.
9. Atmosphere
A college campus is a much better pregame locale than some parking lot in the middle of New Jersey or South Philadelphia. And in some places the RV's start rolling into the stadium lots by Thursday afternoon for Saturday kickoffs - they wouldn't do that if it were a sports complex in Any City, USA. And you won't find tent villages like Paternoville or Kryzyewskiville outside of professional stadiums.
10. A Meaningful Regular Season
In college, every game truly does matter, especially in football, where one loss could spell doom for any national title hopes. Only 2 of the 120 teams (1.6%) have a title shot at the end of the year, compared with 19.1% (65 of 340) in college basketball, 37.5% (12 of 32) in the NFL, and a disgusting 53.3% (16 of 30) in the NBA. Why do they even bother with a regular season?
11. The Single Best Sporting Event in the USA
That would be the NCAA men's basketball tournament. No other event can hold a candle to the excitement, unpredictability, and interest from casual fans or non-fans that the tourney has.
12. Legends
Quick, name seven NBA coaches in under 30 seconds. Can't do it, can you? How about 10 NFL coaches? Easier, but the names don't roll off the tongue like the legends that immediately come to mind among the college ranks: Paterno, Pitino, Izzo, Bowden. Not to mention the greats of old like Hayes, Rupp, and Wooden.
13. Rules
This may be the weakest of the 15 items on the list, but as a whole the college rules of each game are just better. Clock stops for each first down - awesome, we get a longer game. Longer shot clock - sweet, more time to develop a play and get more players involved in the offense. And so on.
14. Recruiting
The draft process is largely random, you get who's available when it's your pick. But in college, you can recruit anybody, and build exactly the team you want. All you have to do is convince them to come to your place.
15. Work Stoppages
You won't find a strike in college sports.
No comments:
Post a Comment