5 Reasons why college football is better

I want you all to think back to when you were 8 years old. It is Christmas Morning at 5 am and you are the one awake downstairs shaking all the presents to see what you can find out and constantly pestering the rest of your family to wake up because its so exciting. That is how I felt, like a kid on Christmas, when I got home from work to find out that not only was Florida losing late in the 3rd quarter to unranked Auburn, but also that USC was in a dogfight with Ty Willingham and the rest of the top 10 had already been turned upside down earlier in the day.

Thats when it hit me, I am in the minority amongst my friends when it comes to liking college football better than pro football so this blog will be devoted to explaining to you not why I think college football is better, but why it is better. Enjoy

Reason 1-The games are more fun
Its true, I understand that football is a fun sport whether it is at the Pop Warner level or the NFL but college football really is more fun. Has anyone ever heard the Patriots marching band strike up the fight song after a touchdown? Has anyone ever seen 100,000 people in Dallas all jumping up and down like at Camp Randall before a Wisconsin football game? The point is that professional football is a business and a career, and like any other job, the seriousness increases exponentially when you are working or playing to make a living and not because you want to live it up in college.
When Vince Young beat the Saints last Monday in resounding fashion he most likely went back to his house or hotel to either sleep and prepare for a film session tomorrow or rest from getting his ass kicked all over the field so he can practice on tuesday. When South Florida beat West Virginia I almost guarantee Matt Grothe did not go back to campus and sleep, my guess is he went out to celebrate and probably hooked up with a really attractive girl from school(lucky bastard). The pressure is the same, the intensity is the same, and the necessity for winning is the same at both levels and thats why some college football players will complain that college football is a fulltime job for them. I bet it is, but they also haven't actually played the game for a job so they don't really know.

Reason 2-Upsets
Last Saturday should have served as a wake up call to people living in a dreamworld where the NFL is more exciting than College Football. Florida, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Rutgers, Penn State, Texas, and Clemson all were upset in some of the most exciting and dramatical games of the year. Upsets happen in the NFL also, they just aren't as resounding as the ones in college football. When the Texans beat the Colts last year, that was an upset, but did anyone see hundreds of crazed Texans fans who had rushed the field standing behind David Carr as the useless sideline reporter asked him how he managed to beat the Colts? No! But when Rob Stone interviewed Ben Moffit how many drunken South Florida stands were standing behind him screaming at the top of their lungs and rubbing his bald head?
There is really only one way to accurately describe and convince people that college upsets are better. Next Saturday is Ohio State is getting beat by Purdue by 7 with 2 minutes to go and you don't care about either team, evaluate how excited you are to watch the next 2 minutes unfold. Then the next day when the Raiders are winning by 7 with 2 minutes to go against the Patriots and you are from Cleveland and couldn't care less who wins, tell me how excited you are. You will clearly learn that potential upsets in college get the adrenaline pumping far more than any NFL upset.

Reason 3- Mistakes
Now you must be ready to kick my ass, mistakes in college football make the game better? You must be smoking some of that stuff that Ricky Williams got on his visit to the jungles of India. But hear me out before I am stoned to death (no pun intended). People always argue that the Pro game is better because the level of talent is higher and the quality of play is better, i.e. less sloppy mistakes, less penalties, more amazing displays of athletic ability and prowess. Au Contraire my dear Watsons because this is exactly why the pro game is worse than the college game.
For example, I show the jury exhibit A, the super bowl game between the Patriots and the Panthers, the Patriots drive down the field and end up at around the 28 yard line, but for the sake of the argument lets say the drive ends at around the 32. That means that Adam Vinateri is lining up to win the Super Bowl with a 45 yard kick. Now I understand that this is real human drama, but being realistic is there any possibility that Vinateri misses that kick? My answer is no, he is a professional kicker and one of the best in the world in a neutral site with only a half-hostile crowd on turf.
Now think about last Saturday when Auburn kicker Wes Byrum is lining up for a 43 yard field goal as a redshirt freshman, in one of the more hostile environments in college football. He is young, and inexperienced and not yet equipped with the nerves and focus that it takes to make that kick 10 times out of 10. Then he not only has to make it once, but because of a timeout by Urban Meyer, he has to make it twice. That is real drama, there is no guarantee that Byrum will make this kick, I mean he has missed already from shorter distances on the season. Now what would you rather watch?
Missed tackles and bad decisions by quarterbacks and dropped passes that should have been caught are all bad football plays, but great for adding intrigue, excitement, and of course drama to a football game. How many times are punts blocked in the pros? How many times are they blocked in college? Now, after realizing "Gee whiz Mike that is very insightful, the professionals almost never block punts" think about how exciting and monumental and important a blocked punt can be to not only the scoreboard, but also momentum and energy. Now tell me you don't want more.

Reason 4- Pressure, Pressure, Pressure
I pride myself on finding new angles at which to explore topics, such as why college football is better, and because of this I am very ashamed to write this 4th reason because it is of course one of the most integral reasons why college football is better, and therefore is more played out than Brett Favre.
On a side note I blame Chris Berman entirely for getting sick of Brett Favre. I mean the guy is a great competitor, and terrific quarterback and most likely a good guy. But Chris Berman every Sunday night, keep in mind I speak of last season, ignores all of his interceptions and poor decisions and instead acts like 1 touchdown and 3 picks is ok because he is Brett Favre and everyone knows Brett only threw those interceptions because he wanted to because he has pinpoint control and has never played a bad game in his life. The way Chris Berman not-so-secretly loves him makes me think that he has rescued the Berman's cat from a tree, or sent them a Christmas card every year. Yet I digress.
The reasoning that has been beaten like a dead horse is that not every game in the NFL is so directly linked to your ability to succeed in the post season. Its true that more teams from college play in "the post season" but there are also 119 teams and I am not so sure if Miami really enjoyed playing in the MPC computers bowl last year while watching Wake Forest play Louisville in their home stadium in a BCS game. In college football, essentially one loss in a game you weren't supposed to lose and your dreams of a national title are dashed. For example, Oklahoma, If they beat Texas they will have another outside chance at the National title, but they don't play good teams the rest of the way and their loss is to Colorado, who is now at .500, thats like settling for a good looking girl because her face is really cute when there is a girl with a really cute face and a great personality who didn't get beat by Colorado who wants to go out with you.
This reasoning makes every game equally as important, where as 3 straight losses in the NFl doesn't mean a damn thing if you won the first 10 games. The college kids put more emotion and heart on the line week in and week out and play every down and game like it is the most important because technically, it is.
Put it this way, If Michigan has just Ohio State left on their schedule, and they have only lost 1 game and are already in the post season, they are not going to sit Chad Henne and Michael Hart, partly because the game is of the utmost importance, and partly because Michigan hates Ohio State like Biggie hated Tupac to use the most related analogy.
The last three weeks of the season are bad in the NFL, starters sit because their coaches don't want them to get hurt, which makes sense, but isn't fun, and the possibility of pulling a Doc Rivers and making sure that every single player who could help your team win is sitting because you want a better draft pick is not only feasible, its likely. Again, excitement and nerves run rampant in college where as in the pros its just business.

Reason 5- Rivalries, Traditions, and Characters
I start this reason with a little bit of 1 on 1, I want you to choose which rivalry you think is not only better in terms of quality of games and deeply-rooted hatred, but also for pageantry and traditions. Ready?

Ohio St. v. Michigan or Green Bay v. Minnesota?
Army v. Navy or Philadelphia v. New York?
Miami v. Florida St. or Indianapolis v. New England?
Oregon v. Cal or Denver v. Oakland?

With the exception of the 3rd choice I offered I think it is very clear that every single college rivalry is better than the professional rivalry I offered as a foil. I mean for goddsakes John Cooper got fired from Ohio State despite almost a .750 winning percentage because he was 2-10 vs. Ohio State. Likewise, people put Lloyd Carr on the hotseat even before his team decided it never liked defense anyways and wasn't going to play any of it because he is 1-5 vs. Jim Tressel, Cooper's successor who could probably get people in Columbus to hold his johnson for him while he pees.
They are just better, I don't remember the last time a professional football mascot got in a fight with another mascot like the numerous occasions in college football. Emotions run higher in college football, for chrissakes Woody Hayes tackled a Clemson player for intercepting a pass, the closest professional thing I can think of that compares is when Randall Simon mugged the Sausage at Miller Park because Simon had put money on him to win and he wasn't. Emotions make rivalries, they spawn hatred for other teams when the players probably are going to be co-employees in the professional league.

There you have it, the 5 reasons why College Football is better, yeah its corrupt and players don't have to go to class and most are of questionable moral integrity and their coaches are of even more questionable moral integrity. But put the blinders on and watch the game.

Amendent 1- College Gameday is waaaaaaaay better than listening to Michael Irvin and Tom Jackson and the 17 other former players they have on Sunday Countdown, it doesn't even compare.