Monday, November 20, 2006
NFL vs. NCAA (aka BCS Apathy)
Can someone please turn down the incessant buzz that is every sports talking head in America pontificating on the latest BCS numbers and possible future permutations? Is there anything more pointless or useless? It's one prime example of why the NFL is a far superior product to its amateur counterpart.
Granted, Texas is my favorite sports team, and any Longhorns game takes precedence over anything else. But that's about it for me when it comes to college. For example, while most of the sports-viewing public was glued to their sets for the Ohio State-Michigan game, I was watching a movie (Stranger Than Fiction, by the way, which is very good). But that goes for all the other "big" college football games this year. It doesn't interest me, because they ultimately don't matter.
Bear with me here, but all those people that say because of the BCS, the regular season means more are full of crap. Look at the NFL, out of 32 teams, only 12 will make the playoffs. From week 1 on, every game has huge ramifications and heartbreaking losses will come back to haunt many teams. Additionally, by having 12 spots, it gives a team that gets off to a rough start the chance to regroup and end the season strongly enough to make a serious Super Bowl run (last year's Steelers). Teams get better and worse as the season progresses and they play the same teams as everyone else.
This is what makes the college system so perplexing. Once a team loses, their national title hopes are pretty much done and the rest of the season means little. Plus, as computers decide who should play, the stark reality of the fact that these teams have all played different opponents seems to be lost on the people making the decisions. It's such a preposterous system, that the fact that it is even utilized and accepted is hard to fathom.
Anyway, add it all up, and it's just one of the many reasons the NFL is far superior. I can watch practically any NFL game, and often do. I can barely pay attention to a college game that doesn't involve the Horns. The games are more competitive, more meaningful, the talent is better, and the playoffs are always exciting (there actually are playoff games where the eventual champion must beat everyone else). And I don't have to listen to a bunch of "experts" talk about what might happen if USC wins or loses this week. Ridiculous. Really, does anyone not a fan of one of those four or five teams really care?
Granted, Texas is my favorite sports team, and any Longhorns game takes precedence over anything else. But that's about it for me when it comes to college. For example, while most of the sports-viewing public was glued to their sets for the Ohio State-Michigan game, I was watching a movie (Stranger Than Fiction, by the way, which is very good). But that goes for all the other "big" college football games this year. It doesn't interest me, because they ultimately don't matter.
Bear with me here, but all those people that say because of the BCS, the regular season means more are full of crap. Look at the NFL, out of 32 teams, only 12 will make the playoffs. From week 1 on, every game has huge ramifications and heartbreaking losses will come back to haunt many teams. Additionally, by having 12 spots, it gives a team that gets off to a rough start the chance to regroup and end the season strongly enough to make a serious Super Bowl run (last year's Steelers). Teams get better and worse as the season progresses and they play the same teams as everyone else.
This is what makes the college system so perplexing. Once a team loses, their national title hopes are pretty much done and the rest of the season means little. Plus, as computers decide who should play, the stark reality of the fact that these teams have all played different opponents seems to be lost on the people making the decisions. It's such a preposterous system, that the fact that it is even utilized and accepted is hard to fathom.
Anyway, add it all up, and it's just one of the many reasons the NFL is far superior. I can watch practically any NFL game, and often do. I can barely pay attention to a college game that doesn't involve the Horns. The games are more competitive, more meaningful, the talent is better, and the playoffs are always exciting (there actually are playoff games where the eventual champion must beat everyone else). And I don't have to listen to a bunch of "experts" talk about what might happen if USC wins or loses this week. Ridiculous. Really, does anyone not a fan of one of those four or five teams really care?
Comments:
<< Home
I agree with you completely on the NCAA; the system is so ridiculous that it makes the final months of the season completely irrelevant to all but a couple of teams who may or may not be the best in the nation.
But the idea that the NFL is some kind of spectacular product that is always compelling? C'mon. Bores me to tears. It's so perfectly coached and executed that it's like watching robots play.
But the idea that the NFL is some kind of spectacular product that is always compelling? C'mon. Bores me to tears. It's so perfectly coached and executed that it's like watching robots play.
I agree with you completely as well about college football. But I agree with Buck's last paragraph, too. I think the worst part, though, about college football is that the finale isn't that interesting either. I'm not going to watch a good percentage of the Bowl games. They don't mean anything either. I'll probably watch Kansas and the national championship game. I'm just not that interested otherwise.
I'm still trying to wrap my head around Buck's last paragraph. Watching robots play? Talented players and coaches are bad things? Competitive games week in and week out where every single decision matters is boring?
I don't know. Watch what happens to Peyton Manning when the Cowboys defense gets some pressure on him. Watch Chad Johnson rack up 450 receiving yards in consecutive games to break that 23-year-old record. Watch Ladainian Tomlinson rewrite the record books on his way to becoming one of the top 3 running backs in the history of the game. Watch the resurgence of the quarterback position as young QBs are guiding their teams to playoff runs. Watch young coaches like Mike Nolan, Jack Del Rio, Sean Payton, Eric Mangini, etc., take over poor teams and make them competitive
I couldn't disagree with that statement more.
I don't know. Watch what happens to Peyton Manning when the Cowboys defense gets some pressure on him. Watch Chad Johnson rack up 450 receiving yards in consecutive games to break that 23-year-old record. Watch Ladainian Tomlinson rewrite the record books on his way to becoming one of the top 3 running backs in the history of the game. Watch the resurgence of the quarterback position as young QBs are guiding their teams to playoff runs. Watch young coaches like Mike Nolan, Jack Del Rio, Sean Payton, Eric Mangini, etc., take over poor teams and make them competitive
I couldn't disagree with that statement more.
i love them both, but prefer the college game. quick hits...
1. the pageantry/emotion is completely unmatched by the pro game. period.
2. i like that differing styles exist (option, spread, etc.). sure i'll piss and moan every time we lose to a team like tech with their pop gun offense, but deep down inside i'm glad they exist. it's more interesting than seeing the same style of offense no matter what team you are watching in the nfl.
3. rivalries truly exist and matter. it pains me a lot more to lose to ou once than to lose to the redskins for the next five years. what can i say...i love to hate.
that said, i also consider the bowl season the worst part of the entire college football system. nothing says post-season football like a spirted tilt between kansas (yes, this is intentional) and utep in the who gives a crap bowl. however, there are a handful of truly good bowl games buried in there. i just wish it didn't take 40 days to get to them. and yes, i hate the subjective manner of the system and i admit that it irks the crap out of me that a team like rutgers/boise state/tcu/etc. always make it near the top, forcing us to hear about how great/underrated they are even though everybody knows they haven't beaten anybody and couldn't take the ut intramural green monkeys of 1999 (great team...f'in carswell). whew! maybe i don't like college football as much as i thought...
1. the pageantry/emotion is completely unmatched by the pro game. period.
2. i like that differing styles exist (option, spread, etc.). sure i'll piss and moan every time we lose to a team like tech with their pop gun offense, but deep down inside i'm glad they exist. it's more interesting than seeing the same style of offense no matter what team you are watching in the nfl.
3. rivalries truly exist and matter. it pains me a lot more to lose to ou once than to lose to the redskins for the next five years. what can i say...i love to hate.
that said, i also consider the bowl season the worst part of the entire college football system. nothing says post-season football like a spirted tilt between kansas (yes, this is intentional) and utep in the who gives a crap bowl. however, there are a handful of truly good bowl games buried in there. i just wish it didn't take 40 days to get to them. and yes, i hate the subjective manner of the system and i admit that it irks the crap out of me that a team like rutgers/boise state/tcu/etc. always make it near the top, forcing us to hear about how great/underrated they are even though everybody knows they haven't beaten anybody and couldn't take the ut intramural green monkeys of 1999 (great team...f'in carswell). whew! maybe i don't like college football as much as i thought...
Even with the ridiculousness of the BCS, college football is still better. The only reason the NFL even comes close to college in terms of keeping my interest in because of fantasy football. If that didn't exist, I'd pay far less attention to the NFL. And if college football had a playoff system, this wouldn't even be an argument.
I can't argue with any of James' three points. But as far as rivlaries go, the only ones I care about are the ones involving Texas. That's why you'll never catch me watching Ohio State-Michigan or Auburn-Alabama or Navy-Army (and can people get off their high horse and stop calling this the greatest rivalry in sports).
The main point I was trying to make is that if college football were able to institute some kind of playoff format to pick a champion, then you would have something to watch. And in many ways, it would be better. Until that time comes, though, the regular season is irrelevant unless you happen to be one of four or five pre-ordained teams with a shot at the title.
The main point I was trying to make is that if college football were able to institute some kind of playoff format to pick a champion, then you would have something to watch. And in many ways, it would be better. Until that time comes, though, the regular season is irrelevant unless you happen to be one of four or five pre-ordained teams with a shot at the title.
OK, the robots thing probably wasn't a great way to describe what I don't like about the NFL. But here are some better analogies:
The NFL is Microsoft, the NCAA is Apple.
The NFL is Sam Goody, the NCAA is a funky old used-record store.
The NFL is Bud Light, the NCAA is Shiner Bock.
Jason will immediately pounce on me, being a guy who owns a Windows computer and hates Shiner Bock, but my point is that the NFL is soulless compared to college.
No bands, no co-eds, no mascots, no pageantry. Just a bunch of sour, 40-something, Mom's-basement losers wearing team jerseys -- sprinkled in the cheap seats, above the uber-rich corporate people who can afford season tickets down low.
College is getting that way, too, but the NFL is the league that brought us the personal seat license. Places like Mile High Stadium made the NFL great; now they want sparkling, too-comfortable, antiseptic palaces.
Let's put it this way: would you rather see a Texas-OU game at the Cotton Bowl, or at the new Jerryworld? I suspect Jason would take the latter, while many of us college fans would take the former.
As much as I hate the way the NCAA's season is meaningless, the truth is, I think 99.9 percent of sporting events are so inconsequential that they're just ways to pass the time. The average NFL game is no more memorable than a roadshow performance of Les Miserables in Oklahoma City, a Nicolas Cage movie or a meal at Chili's. (And I wouldn't strenuously object to any of those three, I'm just saying.)
So let's make it fun. Let's have bourbon wafting through the student section and yelling throngs of students at the Capitol at midnight. Let's have 100,000 fans in a town of 50,000, instead of 60,000 in a town of 1 million. Let's have diplomas and class rings and fight songs and hand signals.
That's what I mean by "watching robots play."
And one more thing: when I see the Raiders fans in their face paint and gear, and the Packers fans in their cheeseheads, etc., at their ages, I am sad for humanity.
At least when college kids paint their faces and act the fool, they're in college. They're too young to know better.
Post a Comment
The NFL is Microsoft, the NCAA is Apple.
The NFL is Sam Goody, the NCAA is a funky old used-record store.
The NFL is Bud Light, the NCAA is Shiner Bock.
Jason will immediately pounce on me, being a guy who owns a Windows computer and hates Shiner Bock, but my point is that the NFL is soulless compared to college.
No bands, no co-eds, no mascots, no pageantry. Just a bunch of sour, 40-something, Mom's-basement losers wearing team jerseys -- sprinkled in the cheap seats, above the uber-rich corporate people who can afford season tickets down low.
College is getting that way, too, but the NFL is the league that brought us the personal seat license. Places like Mile High Stadium made the NFL great; now they want sparkling, too-comfortable, antiseptic palaces.
Let's put it this way: would you rather see a Texas-OU game at the Cotton Bowl, or at the new Jerryworld? I suspect Jason would take the latter, while many of us college fans would take the former.
As much as I hate the way the NCAA's season is meaningless, the truth is, I think 99.9 percent of sporting events are so inconsequential that they're just ways to pass the time. The average NFL game is no more memorable than a roadshow performance of Les Miserables in Oklahoma City, a Nicolas Cage movie or a meal at Chili's. (And I wouldn't strenuously object to any of those three, I'm just saying.)
So let's make it fun. Let's have bourbon wafting through the student section and yelling throngs of students at the Capitol at midnight. Let's have 100,000 fans in a town of 50,000, instead of 60,000 in a town of 1 million. Let's have diplomas and class rings and fight songs and hand signals.
That's what I mean by "watching robots play."
And one more thing: when I see the Raiders fans in their face paint and gear, and the Packers fans in their cheeseheads, etc., at their ages, I am sad for humanity.
At least when college kids paint their faces and act the fool, they're in college. They're too young to know better.
<< Home
