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
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?
And the amazing thing is that the rivalries continue even though the players change nearly every year, and, with notable exceptions like Joe Paterno, the coaches change almost as frequently. Yeah, the Dallas-Washington rivalry exists, but can anyone honestly say that it carries the same emotion as the Ohio State-Michigan game ?
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
Before I attended that Ohio State-Iowa game in October 2003, I thought I knew football excitement from Giants Stadium. How naive I was.
Maisel’s article is only the beginning, though. ESPN.com has a series of articles on the NCAA vs. NFL argument. In response to Maisel, Len Pasquarelli comes up with his own list of 20 reasons why the NFL has the superior version of football. And there are a series of articles on the debate that can be found here.
Others may disagree, but, for me, I’d rather spend a Saturday watching college kids than a Sunday watching a bunch of pampered pros.
August 26th, 2006 at 3:59 am
[...] Football: College vs. The ProsBrad 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, … [...]