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I love Pro Football
My father and many of my cousins were big pro football fans, so I grew watching it and feel I can hold my own with any guy when it comes to the NFL. I think I watch more football than even my husband, hee hee. For some reason, I have never cared about college football that much. Here is why I love the NFL and I mean no disrespect to those who like college sports.
The NFL has closer games, better athletes than college.. With all due respect, I don't get why people love college football unless you went to school there. Some of the non conference games are ridiculous. You will have a powerhouse play a weaker school and beat them 70-0. It is ridiculous. The smaller schools do it only because it is a big payout for them but embarrassing. In addition, the BCS is a load of bull. Their is not a legitimate champion in college football because the system makes it suggestive. On a college team, there are only a handful of truly great players. In the NFL, the league is stacked with great players, so when a guy makes a play it truly is special. I love the hard hits and the speed of the game. People seem to make a big deal out of close hard fought college games, but there seldom is a blowout in the NFL, so we expect close games. Just my opinion.
Re: I love Pro Football
I hear ya, but it just depends on what is important to you. Being from Houston, I do not like it when teams just up and leave for a new city (thanks, Titans) and that never happens with college since obviously it's rooted much deeper with a University tie. This also goes along with the traditions and pageantry associated with the college level, which the NFL has none, it's basically stale and boring because of this. (example, I enjoy the bands perfomances at halftime, the dotting the I of the Ohio State tuba player, the cannon blowing up every time Texas scores a TD at home, etc).
Also, the NFL is more of a "me" team, especially with players like Vick, TOwens, etc. In College it definitely has more of a team-feel and not a bunch of millionares just getting their paychecks. College players have to strive to be their best for EVERY game, especially if they want a sniff at the heisman or to get their draft stock increased. Not true with NFL since players will get paid whether they make the big plays or not.
Also the tailgating at various college stadiums is WAY better than any NFL tailgate I've been to.
These are just a few reasons why I enjoy college much better, but I have many more reasons besides just these. Of course it helps that my favorite college team is much better than my local pro team.
Oh, and just one more bone to pick with the NFL ( and I have LOTS of things that I dislike) is the way they handle the overtime. It is just completely unfair that only one team gets to put an offense on the field most of the time. First team to score wins, but the team elected to receive is almost always the one to score. Complete disadvantage to the opposing team. It's almost not even worth watching the OT at times, because it becomes predictable.
At least in college, both teams get a chance to have the ball on offense and can respond. I think this is the fair way, and if it means OT is bit longer - so what? It's not a bad thing for people like me who enjoy when games go into OT.
*coming out of lurkdom*
I'm a huge pro fan in the NFL vs. college debate, but I completely agree with you on this point. COMPLETELY. The way the NFL handles OT is blatantly unfair and such bullshit. It's one of the few things they could take notes from how college games are run.
I also am a staunch opponent of the taunting penalty, but I suppose that's another subject.
Good stuff everyone. I think it is a matter of preference really. Both have good points and bad points and it largely depends on the area you are from. I am from Tennessee and the south is a big college football base, but in other parts of the country, it is completely the opposite. I have always been a big NFL fan but I was exposed to it and actually have had more fun at pro games than college games. That's just me personally.
Concerning the "me" mentality, it depends on the individual. There are a lot of good team players etc. To address a few issues, I do agree with the overtime rule. I have always hated the NFL overtime rule and most fans do as well. Kickers, nowadays (though kicking has sucked in the playoffs, lol) are so accurate, many can make a 50 yard field goal or futher. I think you could allow both teams the ball once and if still tied go to sudden death or the first team to score six points would be fair.
Concerning taunting, the celebration rule drives me nuts. The NFL is a little too tight on their celebration rule. Fans loved the Icky Shuffle back in the day, etc. If you don't want them to dance, keep them out of the endzone. That being said, the college rule is even worse.
I also prefer two feet in bounds for a possession as opposed to one.
Someone brought up a good point about winning. I do think it matters in one's perception. The Titans caught on quickly in Nashville because they were winning and Vanderbilt rarely is very good, there isn't much atmossphere at a Vandy game or Memphis game. The Titans quickly became the passion of Middle Tennessee, while the Vols are obviously the passion of East Tennessee and the West can't decide what teams they root for lol.
Both have great passionate fans and are popular, it is just a matter of opinion. I will say this Kansas City (Chiefs) have some great tailgating. I think it depends on the city and city ordinances.
I had the pleasure of attending a game at Vanderbilt last year when Florida was visiting, so I know what you mean about there not being a tailgate scene and there most definitely more gator fans than commodore fans in the stands. You are right that it really depends on the campus, city, and amount of fan support as far as good tailgates go. But step into a tailgate scene in Madison, WI or Lincoln, NE, and the energy on gameday is just electric. Something that seems to be lacking some-what in my NFL tailgate experiences, but I admit that I have not been to many outside of Texans games.
Regarding the BCS, yes it has many warts and I could pick it apart all day about things they could improve. On my favorite sports message board, we refer to it as the MNC for "Mythical National Championship" and acknowledge that the system certainly doesn't prove which team is the best. However, it's the system we have now and sometimes it seems to work, plus since these are student-athletes the logistics of having a playoff system would be craxy-hard on their schedules. If I were a Boise State fan, I'd be much more vocal about always drawing the short straw in regards to getting an NC spot, but since my team has been fortunate to make it to 2 out of the last 5 NC games, I can't complain too much. But you better believe I was pretty PO'd about my team not going last year, when a team they did beat got in by a few tenths of a decimal system of ranks.
There are lots of good games that are scheduled between conferences that are still marquis games, but I understand about the lack of abundance of the powerhouse matchups. There's just no reason to schedule a team that could possibly whip you when you are looking to go undefeated, so that's how most of the athletic dept's think, since your best chance at a BCS bowl is to have an easy out-of-conference schedule if you are in a tough conference like SEC, B12, etc. I don't like it, but I understand why it is that way. I wish it would change, and that is most certainly something that I wish was different about the scheduling between teams. I quite enjoyed the series between Ohio State and Texas during 04/05, and hope Texas is encouraged to take the risk and schedule the big boys in the future.
As far as predictability, I find the college level to be more exciting because the playbook and types of offenses/defenses varies so much more than the NFL. Most pro teams run a similar offense every single week, and it doesn't seem to be much different from one coast to the other. However in college, you can see run-first, pass-second type of offenses in some teams like Ohio State, Alabama, etc. Then there are the air-attack teams like TTech and Hawaii.. then there are the ones who rely on trickery like Boise State. You can get completely different strategies from game-to-game on a Saturday and it just seems like on Sundays the variety is just not there.
Okay, that's enough elaboration, but I truly appreciate this discussion and I love when I find fans that are as passionate as I am about the sport, especially if they are female!
I disagree with this. I think because college teams are not stacked with lots of amazing players (I do agree college teams usually only have a handful) - that makes those great plays more special on the college field. When those plays happen, it's like you are watching that player grow into a better football player right before your eyes. With the pros, I expect those great plays.
I also agree with the pp about the tradiitions associated with college football. NFL seems to have none of that.
I will say that I enjoy college and NFL both, but I LOVE college football. There is nothing better, IMO.
I agree about the blowouts and BCS. I am not a fan as far as that goes.
However, as I said before, I love the imperfections of college football. Although, I am a KC Chiefs fan so there are about as many imperfections during a Cheifs game as there is during any given college game. LOL.
With that being said, the tailgating at Arrowhead is amazing. The tailgating traditions there are much like a college tailgate (as relative as they can be anyway).
It's obviously a personal preference, but I have enjoyed the debate anyway.
Meh, the Green Bay Packers have a pretty solid tailgating crew, better than most universities/colleges. (So does the University of Wisconsin.)
Well for such professionals who are such great athletes, yesterdays game was most definitely not "mistake-free". You'd think they would be able to hang onto the ball a little better, or protect their QB's a bit more, being as they are so polished and better prepared than college teams. ;-)
Seriously, I've seen some bad mistakes before, but Favre's last interception was an epic FAIL if I've ever seen one. He had about 10 yards of green turf in front of his face, which he should have bolted for instead of risking a pick with that throw; his should have just run the ball to get a good position for the FG and game would have been over. Instead we got another predictable OT period, which was more of a ho-hum finish to what was a pretty good battle.
I refuse to believe there are less blowouts and mistakes in the NFL. That dallas game the weekend before last was certainly proof of both blowouts and lack-luster performances being just as prevalent in the pro's as they are in college.
Favre doesn't run. He never has, and probably never will. He's just not that kind of QB. The real Epic FAIL was having 12 men on the field that forced the 3rd and 15. If Favre didn't throw the pick, they wouldn't have been any worse off. He might as well have tried.
I agree the predictable OT period was a major downer ending to an otherwise exciting game (albeit exciting due to the many Vikings mistakes).
Just to cement my point about the NFL being full of "me-first" players, here is a story about Vick admitting to not giving 100% of his ability when playing for the falcons.
This is a person who is the most important guy on the field, the center leader, and generally the most admired player by anyone who supports the team. And to admit that he was lazy, complacent, and holding back on his skills is just a complete slap in the face to those who supported him, bought tickets to the games, and even stood up for him when he was in all the legal issues. It's players like this who turn me off to the NFL and truly make me appreciate the college level even more, where players would never dream of holding back or showing laziness on the field.