With most of college football’s spring practices coming to a close, it’s time to look ahead to the 2009 College Football Season. The only issue is that fall practice doesn’t begin for another four months. In the meantime, we’ve got the NFL Draft, NBA Playoffs and Major League Baseball to keep us occupied until the sport that matters kicks it into high gear. The problem is, the NBA and MLB are just boring. (I usually enjoy the NFL Draft, but only because I am interested to see which round the college players I’ve watched the past few years go, and I get a few college highlights mixed in.)
Alabama’s spring practice concluded with the annual ’A-Day’, with 85,000 fans and an ESPN audience for a practice (this is down from Nick Saban’s first year when over 95k crammed in to get their first peek at their new investment). So here’s a few reasons why college football is a much more entertaining sport than the NBA or MLB:
Rivalries. What’s better than OU/Texas? Michigan/Ohio State? Georgia/Tennessee? With all due respect to the Red Sox/Yankees rivalry, nothing really comes close to any of these.
Tradition. Texas A&M’s 12th Man, Ohio State’s ‘dotting the I’, Texas Hook ‘Em and The Eyes of Texas, LSU’s Mike the Tiger, the Sooner Schooner, Colorado’s Ralphie or USC’s Trojan. Anything like this in the NBA, MLB or NFL?
Venues: The Swamp. Death Valley. The Coliseum. The Big House. The Horseshoe. We’ll call this one a push. We can’t ignore Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, Dodger Stadium, Yankee Stadium and Lambeau Field.
Recruiting. With more media coverage in the past few years, this is a year-round drama. The best teams stay in the top 10 by recruiting the best players. Every year we hear whispers of under-the-table shenanigans over blue-chip athletes.
New faces. College players only get 4-5 years, and each year we see a new set stars break onto the scene. It’s not just players–its coaches, too. We’ll all watch with interest as Lane Kiffin takes the reigns in Knoxville, and we’ll monitor the progress in places like Fayetteville, AR under Bobby Petrino and College Station, TX under Mike Sherman.
Charismatic Coaches. Bobby Bowden, Joe Paterno, Pete Carroll, Steve Spurrier and Urban Meyer.
ESPN Gameday. This is the best show on TV. The always-entertaining Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit just keep it coming as they head to the biggest game of the week.
Rabid Fan Bases. Alabama fans who show up 90k strong for a spring practice or West Virginia fans burning furniture. Tailgaiting in Baton Rouge, Clemson, SC or Athens, GA. A sold-out University of South Carolina game when the team goes winless.
It’ll be a long four months. Can we reinstate the Kickoff Classic and move it up to August 1?
