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Can someone please explain, turn on the light bulb for me, as to why Americans love their college football?
I feel on the dumb side asking this lol. I understand if you have son, sibling, cousin, basically a relative or friend on a college team you want to support them and the team. But it seems like its just an American thing. I haven't heard of other countries putting so much emphasize on college athletes. I mean they are students too. I'm sure some of the students play sports due to scholarships and their ultimate goal might not even be sports related. I tried getting into this or even college basketball, since I do love basketball but I can't.
Most other countries are based on club systems and a professional system as opposed to a college system of sports. High level college athletics is purely an American phenomenon.
The pageantry and traditions of college football are unrivaled and unparalleled in sports. You would have to attend some of the big time college football games to get an understanding of what it's all about.
Coaching stategy, watching the coach try to get a team of flawed young guys to play as one, watching young guys make mistakes and/or mature athletically/mentally, the game inside the game that is recruiting and its results, tradition, the results of hardwork, heartbreak, passion, RIVAlRIES, tailgating, smack talk, bands, cheerleaders, crazy fans, etc.
There is also the idea that 90% of the players are giving everything they've got for the love of the game (just as most of us did as kids)...most aren't blessed with God given abilities that will put them in the NBA or NFL. That "One Shining Moment" song played after the basketball final four still brings a tear to the ol' eyes.
college football brings out the best in athletes. remember that these guys are for the most part looking to get to the NFL where they hope to make a big paycheck every game.
and then there are the rivalries that develop between colleges, that make NFL rivalries seem insignificant. why? because at the college level, you dont find athletes moving from college to college because they cant come to a deal on their contract, so a top athlete stays at the same place for four years(assuming he follows the traditional route), as opposed to signing a one year deal, then moving onto another team.
and in my opinion there are no rivalries in the NFL like there are in college, usc/ucla, arizona/asu, or the crown jewel army/navy. about the only game that people across the nation look forward to in the NFL is the super bowl, and often times that is anticlimactic. in college however, there are a lot of rivalry games that are ratings grabbers, so much so that the NCAA has helped the colleges schedule a couple of "rivalry" weeks.
in basketball maybe, but in football, nothing is bigger than the army/navy game. even usc/ucla doesnt compare.
Lol, you must not be familiar with the Red River Shootout or the Iron Bowl if USC-UCLA is the best challenger to Army-Navy you can come up with.
I understand and respect the tradition behind the two service academies, but how many people do you know that are actually interested in the game itself?
I'd say Texas-OU takes it. Stadium is almost equal mileage between the schools, cotton bowl split in half, the fair. Nothing like it.
Lol, you must not be familiar with the Red River Shootout or the Iron Bowl if USC-UCLA is the best challenger to Army-Navy you can come up with.
I understand and respect the tradition behind the two service academies, but how many people do you know that are actually interested in the game itself?
I'd say Texas-OU takes it. Stadium is almost equal mileage between the schools, cotton bowl split in half, the fair. Nothing like it.
I'd agree with this based on the things you mentioned as well as the friday night before the game and Saturday after the game. The drive to the game for both fan bases, and for Oklahoma fans, the first 60 or so miles of the drive after the game can be pretty eventful.
I'd say that as a full weekend event, nothing even comes close to that game, and most people who are not associated with the game who finally attend come away agreeing.
But as grand as that weekend is, it doesn't allow for the time honored traditions and trappings of a home game at a big time school.
So much of a home game is being on campus again for the hometown fans and for the visiting fans getting to visit the campus and see the traditions.
In college football or basketball these players play for the love of the game, none of them are paid players. They give it their all every game day in hopes of being discovered by a pro team, and only about 5% of them will make into the pros. This is football at its best, for myself, I would rather watch college football over pro football any day.
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