In defense of the NFL...

In response to my friend's argument that college football is better:


I can't argue that college sports has that something special. Beating sc in 06 was one of the best sporting events I've ever been to.

But I don't buy that NFLers only play for the money. You're telling me that guys like Peyton or Brees only care about their paycheck? I don't think so. They care about being great. They are the best in the world at what they do. I think the fact that they are paid in addition to their love for the game makes them excel far more. There are always a handful of bad seeds, mostly diva WRs, that ruin the image of the NFL for some but the game is bigger than them.

NFL surpasses college football in so many ways. The NFL game itself is better. The speed and strength of the game is far superior. Reggie bushleague used to run circles around slow, pudgy college kids - he can't turn the corner in the NFL. The strategy is also much more complex - and therefore much more interesting.

As for dedication/passion - the great ones eat and sleep the game. College kids don't know true dedication until the NFL. As for the fans, obviously we as alumni are completely diehards for our school. Putting that aside, most NFL teams truly represent their city. (Its part of the reason why it doesn't work here in LA - half the city are transplants from NY or wherever. And most LA fans aren't real sports fans.) But ask fans in Dallas or Philadelphia, etc, and you'll get
all the dedication/passion you want.

And I think the story lines of players in the NFL are much more compelling. College kids rotate in and out of school so much that its about the coaches a lot of the time. Pete carroll and nick saban think they're bigger than the game. And sometimes they are.

The NFL system is better. The way they determine a champion is the best in sports while college football is clearly the worst in all of sports. Aside from it being settled on the field, there are more teams in the NFL have a chance to win it all. In college, only a handful, usually anointed in the rankings during the preseason, have even a chance to get all the votes they need to make the final game. Shoot, only a handful of the top teams get most of the talent. Can the rest of the pac-10 combined even touch sc in the number of great recruits? NFL talent is spread out fairly.

The only reason the Huskies felt that way after sc was because they have zero chance of winning a championship this year or probably in the next decade. So that game was their superbowl. That's not great, it actually means that the system sucks.

I'm not saying college football overall sucks. I'm just saying it sucks compared to real football. And you know that if given a choice, any college player or coach would rather be in the nfl.