Really wish I cared about the NFL

[Brahmsian]

So far almost everyone who has agreed with op has been from Oklahoma, Alabama, or Nebraska.

All states with no NFL teams. Hmmmmm....

I, for one, did grow up in Oklahoma, who's residents you should know know tend to treat the Dallas Cowboys as if they were an Oklahoma team.

Having lived in Massachusetts, which DOES have an NFL team, for most of my adult life hasn't changed my attitude to the NFL in general or the Overhyped Bowl.

 

[WizardHawk]

I remember life in Seattle before the Seahawks and pro football wasn't anywhere near as popular as it was after they came. We didn't even have anything regional to latch onto as SF was probably the closest team and couldn't be farther away from our collective personality. We had UW football and that was all most cared about, whether they went to UW or not. So I get most of the apathy of the college fans without a NFL team in their area.

We have both now and I still prefer the college game for many of the reasons stated. Nothing like the gameday experience of a college game and every snap counts in all of your big games unlike the pros. But both versions have their upside. The chess match of the coaching staff in the pros is so much more than college because of the parity. Coaching is so much more key during a game, where coaching is much more about recruiting at the college level. 2/3 - 3/4 of college schedules are against totally sub par talent for most of the top 10 teams. More if it is an overachieving mid-major. In the pros even the scrub teams have a real legit chance of beating top teams as the disparity between them is nothing near as bad as college. I actually like the tie breaker system in the college game. The pros have made it better with giving the other team a chance back, but I still don't like the chance of ending in ties. I hate any game that wastes my time with ties. I like the two foot inbounds for a catch in the pros. Makes for some incredible catches.

I'm not a fan of 70-3 games and having to pay for so many terrible home games as a season ticket holder for UW, but I like the turnover and change that brings.

Both have gone too soft on player safety issues. Both have replay problems and both have bad officiating, but college is way worse on that one.

I don't think either is perfect, but both have their upside. If there was a team in alabama or nebraska I have no doubt many of your minds would change. Hell, look at the NBA up here. There was no lack of fan support for it when we had a team and now none of us could give a fuck about that league. Couldn't tell you more than 10 players in that whole league, but you can bet we all go back to being active with it when we get another team. Kind of how it works.

 

[Wild Turkey]

Wiz,

Great post and good points especially about the coaching differences.

 

[Wazmankg]

The regular season is what makes college football the best. The fact that every game matters, the fact that every game is do or die. The emotional attachment to every game thats what I love about college football. Face it the NFL playoffs are entertaining but the regular season is as boring as it gets.

I guess it depends upon why you watch the game. I love football and watch it for the pure enjoyment of the game itself and it doesn't get any better than watching the best in the world go all out against each other every week. There's nothing boring about that to me. There are way too many physical mismatches in the college game, especially during the non-conference portion of their schedule and even, to a lesser extent, the conference portion. Watching games where one team is simple "bigger/stronger/faster" and rolls all over it's less physically gifted opponents is not the least bit entertaining to me, whether that game "matters" or not and there are far too many games like that in CFB.... and I don't even want to get started on the whole "beauty contest" that decides who's worthy of playing in their fake championship game by deeming one school's schedule less worthy than another's even though they have few if any common opponents. What a sham.

 

[Wazmankg]

I don't see how other people playing fantasy football ruins your enjoyment of the game. They have no impact on what actually happens on the field.

Yeah I don't get that at all either, but there isn't a lot of logic behind the CFB love in this thread, imo. I think NFL fans just value different things from the football viewing experience than CFB fans and never the twain shall meet. I couldn't care less about FF but it has no impact on the games themselves or my enjoyment of them.

 

[Wazmankg]

So far almost everyone who has agreed with op has been from Oklahoma, Alabama, or Nebraska.

All states with no NFL teams. Hmmmmm....

Yeah, I guess I get that. I've never lived in an area without an NFL team or where interest in a college team trumps interest in the pro team. Even here when Michigan is good, interest in them doesn't come close to interest in the Lions who are usually not good.

 

[geneh_33]

Yeah, I guess I get that. I've never lived in an area without an NFL team or where interest in a college team trumps interest in the pro team. Even here when Michigan is good, interest in them doesn't come close to interest in the Lions who are usually not good.

That's surprising. I would say just as many people down here care about Georgia as the Falcons. Definitely the Braves trump everybody down here in baseball, though.