Or not.<\/p>\n
I am a die hard fan of The University of Notre Dame.\u00a0 I grew up in South Bend, IN just a few miles from the campus.\u00a0 I love going back there every fall and watching the football team butt heads with some of the best college teams in the country.\u00a0 I’ve been to dozens of games.\u00a0 I’ve seen some of the best games in the history of college football.\u00a0 1988 vs. Miami.\u00a0 1993 vs. Florida State.\u00a0 2005 vs. Southern Cal.\u00a0 I also went to this years season opener against Temple about a month ago.<\/p>\n
After 40+ years of being a Notre Dame fan, I’m slowly coming to a perplexing realization.\u00a0 I still love Notre Dame football…but I am not that big a fan of college football anymore.\u00a0 And there is an obvious reason for this slow but steady turn of events: \u00a0 Ice Skating!<\/p>\n
(Here is where I go on a tangent to try and explain this conundrum.) I like the NFL.\u00a0 I root for the Chicago Bears, but I can watch Green Bay play San Francisco.\u00a0 I can watch Kansas City play Miami.\u00a0 The NFL playoffs are grueling and the team that emerges as Super Bowl champ earned that puppy.<\/p>\n
On the flip side, I have far less interest in watching Alabama vs. Texas A&M.\u00a0 Or Georgia vs. LSU.\u00a0 What’s the deal?\u00a0 I realize now that my lack of appreciation comes down to one main point.\u00a0 But first let me tell you what it is not.\u00a0 It isn’t the fact that Ohio State (and most of the big boys) play a bunch of cupcakes and only have to break a sweat 2 or 3 times a year.\u00a0 It isn’t \u00a0the constant whispers that cars, and girls, and grades, and cash are distributed to so called “student-athletes” on a regular basis. \u00a0College football has its warts.\u00a0 Every sport has its warts.\u00a0 Every person has warts.\u00a0 Every industry has warts.\u00a0 I’m not expecting college football to be perfect.<\/p>\n
The real reason I don’t appreciate college football anymore is the same reason I don’t like Ice Skating…the sport is judged.\u00a0 Style points matter.\u00a0 Popularity matters.\u00a0 Perception matters.<\/p>\n
Let’s see if I have all the nuances of Ice Skating figured out.\u00a0 You can’t win if you don’t dress right.\u00a0 You can’t win if your makeup is not applied properly.\u00a0 Judges from your country give you higher marks and judges from the countries of your closest competitors give you lower marks.\u00a0 Did I miss anything?<\/p>\n
Speed Skating has 1\/1000th of the popularity that Ice Skating has.\u00a0 But in my humble opinion it is a superior sport.\u00a0 Lane change violations notwithstanding, if you cross the finish line first, you are the winner.<\/p>\n
The two biggest prizes in college football are The National Championship and The Heisman Trophy.\u00a0 Neither award is won on the field.\u00a0 Both are voted on.\u00a0 Both are out and out popularity contests.\u00a0 Good, bad, or otherwise, the NFL playoffs are determined by Won\/Loss record, then by a series of well documented tiebreakers.\u00a0 College Football has computer polls, and human polls, and a formula too complicated to take the least bit seriously.<\/p>\n
The Heisman Trophy is awarded to the most popular skill position player at a major university whose team played well for most of the season.\u00a0 Rarely.\u00a0 I mean RARELY, is it awarded to the best football player in the country.\u00a0 The voters don’t even try to hide the fact they don’t have a clue who the best football players are.\u00a0 The 24\/7 babbling about the contenders for this award has to stop.\u00a0 It is embarrassing.<\/p>\n
As just mentioned, the college football national championship is decided by the polls…not on the field.\u00a0 The best plan I can come up with to bring a level of respectability to college football is an 8 team playoff.\u00a0 Have 2 rounds of playoffs in December and the final game on New Years Day.\u00a0 If your team is crying because you were 9th or 10th and missed the playoffs, shut up.\u00a0 You obviously had a misstep somewhere along the way.<\/p>\n
College football should always end on January 1st, and whichever team emerges unscathed from a 3 week “win or go home”playoff would be an incredibly worthy champion.<\/p>\n
So my take away from this first of many rants is that there is hope that a sport I loved can make a return with some much needed changes.\u00a0 Until then, the NFL is in full swing and the NHL is starting in just a few days.<\/p>\n
Welcome to the Fall of 2013.<\/p>\n
** Insignificant Trivia Question #1 **<\/p>\n
Who won the 2007 College Football National Championship?\u00a0 And with a straight face, logically explain how they deserved to be in that game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Or not. I am a die hard fan of The University of Notre Dame.\u00a0 I grew up in South Bend, IN just a few miles from the campus.\u00a0 I love going back there every fall and watching the football team butt heads with some of the best college teams in the country.\u00a0 I’ve been to … <\/p>\n