College Football is King

Deep in the midst of bowl season one overwhelming thought pervades: Football Uber Alis!

Yes, football reigns supreme. For those of you whose cable boxes are seemingly frozen on ESPN right now, is this nirvana or what? Aside from a couple blowouts, the first half of the bowl season has been incredbily entertaining. There's been high scoring shoot-outs, huge hits, amazing plays, and all around football that's flat-out fun to watch. Games like Arizona State v. Rutgers, Nebraska v. Michigan, Oklahoma v. Oregon are the reason football is the number one sport in America. Sorry baseball, you took a backseat with the advent of television. In terms of the regular season, you and your professional basketball brethren breed about as much excitement as watching a pot of coffee brew, i.e., the enjoyment doesn't begin until it's over. Your regular season is the duldrums. I'm personally yawning right now just ruminating over the bore of it. For me, and I would viciously argue for most of America, sports would fall into the following ranks:

#1 College Football. College Football is King. What other sport could fill up stadiums like Michigan's, Tennessee's, Penn State's, and Ohio State's? All hold over 100,000 fans.

#2 Professional Football. Just look at the television revenue alone (sorry NHL) to see the NFL's grasp on America.

#3 College Basketball. Think "March Madness."

#4 - 10. Everything else. Insert your own personal preference.

Having said all that, I only hope the majority of the remaining bowl games can hold up their end of the entertainment bargain. By the time the ever-hyped, and dare I say over-hyped, Southern Cal v. Texas game comes around, anything short of a last-second-play-to-win-it-or-lose-it type scenario will be a letdown.

Speaking of Southern Cal, has ESPN jumped the gun on their "best of all time" status or what? How about you wait until after their bowl game before you start putting them head-to-head with the greatest teams in history. Accorinding to my bowl schedule, the Trojans still have one game left to play, and last time I checked, Texas wasn't all that shabby of a team. Not only is it a premature fan-poll on your website, but the debate is carried out by your analysts on your national broadcasts. Again, all of this is before they've even played for the national title. Have you paused for a moment to consider how absolutely assinine you will look if Southern Cal loses? Will you then carry out the same debate for the Longhorns? After all, if your second "best team of all time" not only doesn't win the national title, but winds up being ranked third or fourth, what would that say about the two or three teams ranked ahead of them? What would that say about you for your worthless proclamation? Now I am not saying Texas is going to win, but how about you at least wait until after the Rose Bowl before you say the '05 Trojans (who barely escaped Notre Dame - and I'm still not sure Leinart's last second touchdown shouldn't have deserved a flag thanks to the extra "help" from Reggie Bush) would line and defeat every other team ever assembled from college football history with the lone exception of the '01 Hurricanes. Let's remember the '94 Nittany Lions, the '95 Cornhuskers, and the '99 Seminoles all won their last game.

How great was it to listen to Keith Jackson last night during the Nebraska v. Michigan game? For those of us on the East Coast it is such a rare treat. Here's an idea, ESPN (and parent company Walt Disney) please please please throw lavish amounts of money at Mr. Jackson and convince him to announce your Monday Night Football games next year. What a wonderful start to each week that would be!