lawgator1
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I grew up in South Florida and currently reside in the Orlando area. I've got the Dolphins as the stalwart. I've got the Jags just to the north and the Bucs 90 minutes to the west. And still, I'll watch Texas-Oklahoma on television rather than go to one of those NFL games, in person.
I went last year to LSU-Florida. The level of fan excitement, and effort on the field, was over the top. I've been to the cocktail party, been to a Gator game in Auburn, and seen some games down at the Orange Bowl.
To me, college football is so much more entertaining than its big brother counterpart. Why?
For one thing, when you grow up going to your school's team, you've got automatic loyalty. For another, in the age of trades and free agency, it seems like most players are "at" your NFL team as part of a sequence in their career. I'm not delusional and I realize the top college players are eyeing and angling for a spot with big $, but there's so much less team concept at the NFL level than the college level.
But the number one reason I think college football is so superior to the NFL is the purity of the institutions behind them. I don't mean the NCAA, I mean the schools. Whose behind the NFL teams (save Green Bay)? A pure money-making outfit. Profit-driven. Success on the field is value because it means success in the bank account.
True a successful college team generates $ for the university. But its a completely different mindset, I believe, than the sole goal of an NFL franchise being to make money.
College football, while not totally pure, is much closer to the fans' vision of winning being its own reward than the pro game.
I went last year to LSU-Florida. The level of fan excitement, and effort on the field, was over the top. I've been to the cocktail party, been to a Gator game in Auburn, and seen some games down at the Orange Bowl.
To me, college football is so much more entertaining than its big brother counterpart. Why?
For one thing, when you grow up going to your school's team, you've got automatic loyalty. For another, in the age of trades and free agency, it seems like most players are "at" your NFL team as part of a sequence in their career. I'm not delusional and I realize the top college players are eyeing and angling for a spot with big $, but there's so much less team concept at the NFL level than the college level.
But the number one reason I think college football is so superior to the NFL is the purity of the institutions behind them. I don't mean the NCAA, I mean the schools. Whose behind the NFL teams (save Green Bay)? A pure money-making outfit. Profit-driven. Success on the field is value because it means success in the bank account.
True a successful college team generates $ for the university. But its a completely different mindset, I believe, than the sole goal of an NFL franchise being to make money.
College football, while not totally pure, is much closer to the fans' vision of winning being its own reward than the pro game.