Love it or leave it, College Football, Number One
I woke up on Saturday morning happy and refreshed from a full night’s sleep, ready to start a full day of sitting in my chair and doing absolutely nothing but watching college football. Oh sure, I might get up and move around should I need to head to the kitchen for some refreshments or snacks, and there are the bathroom breaks, but 95% of the time I had planned on butt being planted firmly in seat.
So I turned on my television and put on ESPN, and it hit me. Chris Fowler wasn’t there. Neither was Kirk Herbstreit or Lee Corso. Then I turned to the Big Ten Network and I couldn’t find Dave Revsine, Gary DiNardo, Howard Griffith, Rick Pizzo or Kyle Brady.
For the first time since September I didn’t have college football games to watch, and it hurt. A part of me felt empty inside. It kind of felt like I had just broken up with a long-time girlfriend, and I had awoken expecting to find her laying in bed next to me, but she wasn’t there and the reality of having to work to find sex again hit me like a ton of bricks.
I knew that the season had ended after watching Alabama win the national championship against a Colt “I CAN’T FEEL MY ARM” McCoy-less Texas team on Thursday night, and I was sad then. Still, I don’t think it sunk in until Saturday morning when all the usual faces weren’t there.
Sure, there was college basketball — including a whole slate of Big Ten games — on all day, and though I like college basketball, it’s just not the same to me as football. Where as I can immerse myself in every part of college football season, with basketball I tend not to really get interested until March when conference tournaments and the Big Dance come around. Now that Big Ten conference play has begun I’ll be showing more interest in games — and you’ll see some interest here on the site as well — but they just don’t have the same appeal.
It’s just not football.
The only good news was that the NFL playoffs were to begin on Saturday, so at least I’d be able to get some of my fix for the greatest game on Earth filled. Then the games actually started, and man were they horrible. Do you remember the days when NFL playoff games were exciting and actually featured good teams?
I do, and that day sure as hell wasn’t Saturday.
I’ve never really taken a side in the great SHOULD COLLEGE FOOTBALL HAVE A PLAYOFF debate, but if I was forced to make a decision based on what I saw in the NFL this weekend, let’s just say I’ll keep the bowl system. If I worked for the BCS I’d have been out in full force over the weekend with the “See! We told you playoffs suck!” agenda in full swing. I was shocked that the BCS’ Twitter account — @InsidetheBCS — remained silent throughout the weekend.
Still, it’s now Monday morning and we’re still eight long months away from the beginning of a new season. I may not be over the end of this previous season just yet, but I may as well start getting used to it.
Oh well. Guess I’ll just have to start spending time with the girlfriend and my family.
Man. It’s worse than I thought.