Conference 7.286::sports_90

Amen, dewd....(specially the cheerleaders).

Mike JN

I find that my time has been divided about 60% - 40% with the majority being
the pro game...

My reasons:

1) Too many mismatches in college football....
2) Only 5-6 really top notch teams in college.
3) the &&(^(^(()$#$% polling system in collge.
4) No FFL for college...
5) I'm not an alumnus from a div 1 football school
6) NCAA double standards for recruiting and the $$$ made by the schools off
    of these "student" atheletes.


reasons I don't like watching the pros a lot.

1) Stupid announcers
2) No selection choice as to what game you get to watch
3) Instant replay rules (replay officials that are afraid to overturn things
	because they used to be officials)


Metz

    I agree with the majority of the base note ..... in fact, I prefer to
    watch collegiate football/basketball/hockey over their professional
    counterparts.
    
    
    Why ?
    
    Football: well stated in the base note; plus the college kids seem to
              try harder
    
    Basketball: coaching makes more impact at the college level; plus the
                college game still involves defense
    
    Hockey: faster and cleaner than the pro's
    
    
    Greg

  
>  Does anybody else feel the same way I do ? Have you been enjoying college
>  football more than pro football lately ?

    Without a doubt.  In all of sports, my favorite team is the Broncos(not
    Boise State, either), but as a whole I enjoy watching a college
    football game more than a pro game.
    
    There are many reasons I enjoy the college game better.  More
    intensity.  Wild college crowds with the band playing.  How often have
    you heard a pro announcer refer to a crowd at an NFL game as being
    'college-like?'  Constant sellouts at schools with huge stadiums such
    as Michigan, Ohio State, Nebraska, Auburn, Tennessee, Florida, and so
    on.  The 2-point conversion.  School mascots.  And how about when the
    teams take the field, storming out of a tunnel or down a ramp onto the
    field.  When you go to a major college game, this is one of the most
    electrifying moments of the game.  And a final touch is the fact that
    college games are played on Saturdays.  There's something about a
    Saturday afternoon that isn't quite there on a Sunday afternoon. (Maybe
    the fact that you have to go back to work the next day?)  Yea, I'll
    never forget my first college game back in old Archbold Stadium in
    Syracuse.  Quite a thrill.
    
    Joe

  One thing I forgot to mention in the base note and that is the running
  game. In many pro games, it's just about non existent. In college ball,
  it's still an important part of the game and I like to see games with
  a balance of run and pass.

  However, there is one big advantage that the pro's have and that's a
  real championship series so there's no argument's at the end of the 
  season.

  				Keith

    
    College all the way.  I watch maybe 95% college to 5% pro, and that
    percentage comes only from the playoffs.  While the colleges have made
    some of the same changes to the rules around the passing game that the
    pros have, I feel that they haven't prostituted the essence of the game 
    to near the same extent as the NFL.
    
    And while I would favor a playoff system, New Year's Day represents the
    biggest sports orgy of the year for me.  The Super Bowl a few weeks
    later doesn't even compare.  Whatever changes are made eventually, I
    hope the January 1 bowls are retained.
    
    glenn
    
    
    glenn
    

>5) I'm not an alumnus from a div 1 football school
    
    I often regret this.  I went to a small New England college that
    doesn't even play any football, not even div. 3.  It seems so exciting
    to with 100,000+ people in Michigan.  When I was recently in Ann Arbor,
    I made it a point to visit the stadium just to get a sense of what it's
    like in there.  I grew up on the opposite coast of my favorite team,
    saw them perhaps 3 times a year (pre-cable and all), and then endured
    not seeing them for a number of years during the early 80s because they
    weren't allowed on TV.  It's only recently that I've become
    re-interested in college football.
    
    But meanwhile, my interest in the pro's is unchanged.  I think Metz has
    hit it on the head for me.
    
    Dan

I like College Football because they play it on Saturdays.
I like Pro Football because they play it on Sundays and Monday nights,
	and even on Saturdays towards the end of the season.
I like both because sometimes either or both play on Thursdays and
	Fridays, especially Thanksgiving and the day after.

I wish they would standardize the rules. My biggest complaint with the
pro game is instant replay. My biggest complaint with the college game is
that they don't call late hits and spears a lot of the times.

TTom

    After watching UVA-GT on Saturday, the pro games on Sun/Mon seemed
    trivial and boring. I used to be a bigtime pro football freak, but in
    the last 4-5 years I've totally lost interest. College football is far
    more exciting. I think one of the reasons I like it so much is that the
    players and relative balance change rather dramatically each year. You
    can rebuild a program in 1-2 years in college. In the pros, if it's
    even possible to rebuild, it can take 4-5 years. 
    
    Chris

    I'd like both better if they did away with those inane half-time
    shows and showed us the stadium half-time shows like they used to.
    Nothing like them precision bands, the atmosphere, and of course,
    scantily clad young thangs, with nice Titles and Acquisitions (TM)
    cart-wheeling and baton twirling and marching in them cute little
    boots with the tassles on them - nubile muscles slightly rippling
    under alabaster skin, Titles straining at the taut sequined tops
    ready to burst forth in thunderous ardor - clingy skirts bouncing
    as they saunter giving glimpses of wonderously melon like buttocks
    - hair flying in the fall sky, white, evenly capped smiling faces
    with eyes that melt...oops, sorry, forgot myself there for a while.
    But heck, it's a lot better than watching Beano Cook and Mike Adamle...
    
    JD

                      JD KNOWS HALF-TIME SHOWS!!!

Mike JN

    JD be fresh back from his wedding nuptials.   JD be thinking "one
    track", baby.
    
    Bob Hunt

I never see college football because I play rugby on Saturdays.
Even though my game might not start till 4pm, the team rules
dictate that I be there at 1pm for the 1st side's game.
Thus, no college ball.

Since I've been playing rugby, even pro football has become
boring.  I get so tired of the action stopping in between
plays, and the instant reply rule really spoils the game
even further for me.

Given my 'druthers, I'd prefer to see pro football, but the
way it was before instant replay, and when there were huge
rivalries like there used to be in the 60s.....

JMHO,
'Saw

PS  I also agree with JD about the bands.  Terry Bradshaw and
Greg "Eat Your" Gumbo, turn my stomach.....

    I prefer the pro game on TV, but won't go to a game "live".
    
    I prefer the college game live.  I'd like to be able to really follow
    one team, however.  (Michigan or Purdue by choice, anti-Noter Shame if
    nothing else.)  There's something about the atmosphere at a Division 1
    game that has to be experienced to be believed.
    
    And I want to see the half-time show.  Back when I was in college, my
    ex had the binoculars for the game.  I got them for half-time.  We were
    both happy.
    
    A&W

The best way to watch either pro or college football is to simply watch
it. Put on some tunes or listen to another game on the radio where they
try to communicate to you what's happening on the field instead of
wasting air time stroking their own egos or some other part of their
personage.

TTom

    I like college better because of two things:
    
    1. The pros have made it league policy to try to make every team 8-8
       with their ludicrous scheduling (weak teams play weak teams).  
       Parity=boredom.  
    
    2. Many more toofless inbred fans with moronic team clothing in the
       pros (at least here in Seattle).  If I see one more "12th Man -
       Seahawks" bumper sticker, I'm gonna barf.  The IQ level of the
       average NFL fan rivals that of "A Current Affair" viewers.  
       Concentration of fat, loud females rivalled only at Roseann Barr
       lookalike contests.
    
    Pete

				College vs. Pro
				     50%-50%

	College:

	The enthusiam, atmosphere, and unpredictability are unmatched.  When 
	I was in high school I had the priviledge of attending a Univ. of
	Michigan game.  I happened to be the biggest one of the year Ohio State.
	There hasn't been a sporting event feeling to match that since and
	probably never will.  I'm a maze and bluer for life.

	Not all college games do have the same kind of atmosphere.  I attended
	several Western Michigan games(free to scouts) and they had a decent
	program at the time.  At least in the MAC.

	Quite a few blowouts in the college game but any team in the top 50 can
	be beaten by any other team in the top 50 on any given day.  That can
	happen in college purely on emotion.  Actually it can just be any old
	conference rival that could clear your clock.

	I'm neutral on instant reply, although it might have given the wolverines
	a couple more wins.
	
	College game familiarises me with player before they become pros.  It
	also gives me a chance to see great college players who won't become 
	pro's because of size, height for the position, not passing quarterback,
	and so on.

	Always at least three big games on a weekend I love it.
	

	Pro:

	I think the hitting definitely steps up a notch.  TV rights are messed
	up.  If you live in or near and nfl city that has a poor team you are
	generally left out to dry.
	
	ex.  Last year when the falcons didn't sell out one game we could only
	     see one game that day an AFC game.(pre TNT, eigth week ESPN).

	Enthusiam has be somewhat legislated out of the game.  With exception
	of steeler games I may becomes saturated with 3 Sunday and a Monday 
	game.

	I like the instant reply in general I would just like the reply off.
	to go ahead and make the call he sees and get it over with.


Sorry I guess I got long winded to say I love them both.  I think my remote
control would burn up if the wolverines and the steelers played on the same
day.

Is that a valid way to judge which you would rather watch?  If they were played
the same day which would you watch?

Roy L.

as a former left end at the Hemlock High school back in '77 (i actually played 
43 seconds in the last game of the season and I nearly cought a TD pass....)
I'm not really what you call a football specialist. I went to see one U of M
game in Ann Arbor and one Detroit Lions(?) game in the Silverdome. The college 
game was much better than the pro one. It was band day in Ann Arbor and there 
was a hell of a show and noise thruout the whole game. People were just going 
mad screeming and shouting, the bands were blowing their horns and hitting 
their drums, it was just great. On the otherside the pro game was boring. 
The only nice thing was that someone had a bottle of booze along and we got 
quite drunk. The rest of it was just plain boredom. I only stayed one year in
the U.S. so I didn't see any live games anymore. But if I ever want to see
another one, it will be a college game......

Hugo who

    High school football, even with my old high school playing, bores me
    and I can only watch it once or twice a year.
    
    College football is a lot of fun for me because of the personal
    connection to UMass and Syracuse, the emotion, the bands, the titles
    and acquistions and so forth.  The quality of play is lower than the
    NFL but it's a lot more fun.  I can watch as a fan.
    
    Pro football is a job, both for me and for the guys on the field.  For
    me it's a challenging and part-time job, but it's still a job.  I don't
    like the fandom at pro games and probably wouldn't go to Patriots games
    if I didn't work there.  The only pro games I've been to as a fan in
    the last decade were a Patriots - Redskins game in Washington in 1981
    and the Patriots vs Jets in the Meadowlands the last couple of years. 
    I'm so used to watching us play in a particular way (ie, objectively
    and with a specific purpose in mind) I can't watch the games as a fan,
    even on TV.  I find it hard to watch any game on TV because I know more
    than the announcers do.
    
    If I'm going to watch a sport as a spectator, my favorite by far is
    college hockey.
    
    John

    I prefer the college game.  No in the grasp bs and no instant reply.  I
    cant wait for Tenn-ND at 2pm Saturday!!!  Pro Football does not get
    exiciting until the playoffs.  However, Monday nights game in a few
    weeks could match the undefeated Giants and undefeated 49ers.  Now that
    kind of matchup gives me goose bums.  The year the Patroits got
    destroyed by the Bears I was sick.  The Dolphins where the only team
    to beat the Bears that year on a excellent Monday night game.  The
    patriots go ahead and pull off the upset and spoil the showdown.  Then
    again a few years back you head the 15-1 niners vs the 14-2 Dolphins
    and the 49ers blew them out.  New Years Day is the utophia football day
    for me.  I can watch 5 or 6 games and have a little bit of cash on each 
    bowl.
    
    greg
    
    

    
    Vince Lombardi once said "Football is basically a running game."
    
    The reason I like College Football is that the running game is more
    exciting:
    
    1) Running backs get more yardage.
    2) They're in the prime of their life, and haven't been exposed to the 
       grim realities and  physical punishment that is inevitable in the
       pros.
    3) Football is still a game, rather than a job.
    
    Related to this is the opportunity of seeing new and exciting talent.
    While Barry Sanders is still awfully fun to watch, think back to what
    it was like seeing him play for Oklahoma State (if you were that
    lucky).
    
    I saw just about every game Herschel Walker played at Georgia.  He is a
    perfect example of the toll taken on a great talent by time, and the
    pros.
    
    Steve 

    
    
    	I'll take the pro game over the college game only slightly.
    I like pro football, but its gotten so that the average team still
    makes the playoffs which erks me.  They (NFL) reward mediocrity!
    Money is also beginning to drive me away from the pro game.  These
    guys simply are being paid to much, but we fans are mostly to blame
    for that.  I guess, the pro game offers the best of the best where
    as the college game, although very exciting, has to many mismatches.
    And until the college game gets a super bowl, it will be a close
    second to me.
    
    	Now, I'll take college basketball over Pro basketball any day
    of the week.  The pro game has been turned into something resembling
    the WWF where the players are bigger than the game itself.  The
    ref's stink because they cannot call the game properly because the
    meal ticked needs to play in order to fill the stadium.  Whereas
    the college game is greatest.  There is more balance in basketball
    than in football thus better competition.  The college game is much
    more exciting too.  I can turn on a pro game with 5 minutes to go
    and not missed much.  But the college game holds the line throughout.
    
    	I guess I like the idea where a coach is supposed to coach and
    not be subject to Joe Fro's 80 million dollar contract.  I also
    think the college ref's do a much better job at working the game.
    So, put me in the college corner for hoops!
    
    							bill..g.
    

    
    I'll vote for the pro game, even though I don't mind watching a good
    college match-up. Maybe it's because I'm more familiar with the pro
    names. And there are just sooo many teams to track in college. It just
    plain confuses me!!! I guess I'm not a very sophisticated fan.
    
    However, I lie awake nights wondering *WHY* doesn't the NFL adopt a two
    point conversion? I've just read the note discussing the DH and how the
    NL has lots more strategy involved than is the AL. If a college coach
    is  behind by 7 late in the game and they score a touchdown, now he has
    to decide to go for the win or the tie. A pro coach in the same
    situation just sends out the kicking team. No decision must be made.
    These guys are *PROS*? ... but I like it. Who's the fool here??
    
    re: .16
    
    What's so bad about 'A Current Affair'?  :-)
    
    Dave

    
    The pro game, simply because that's all I ever followed.  Growing up in
    Eastern MA, there were just too many colleges to build a loyalty for
    any one of them.  Plus Merrimack didn't have a team of its own.  We
    were a hockey school.
    
    The college seem to be far more spirited and emotional than the pros,
    but I usually don't watch the games until New Year's Day because I
    don't feel any personal involvement in the college football scene in
    general.
    
    And about the 2-point conversion:  I seem to remember the old AFL used
    it, but did it ever exist in the NFL?  I must be too young to remember.
    I'd love to see it used.  Kicking the extra point is about as
    predictable and boring as watching a pitcher trying to hit a baseball
    (big wink goes here).

    Dickster, speaking about Merrimack College football, the program is
    being canned after this season.  The unfortunate decision was made last
    winter.  The captain happened to be my kids' swimming instructor last
    year, and he was severely bummed, especially since he's a junior this
    year which left him with a tough decision- stay at MC and earn a degree
    from a top-notch school, but no football in his senior year, or
    transfer somewhere that has football, but spend junior and senior years
    getting less of an education.  He will graduate from Merrimack, which I
    feel was his best decision.
    
    And, as volatile as this conference has been lately, may I add that it
    was this kid's belief that he'd get a better education at
    Merrimack.......
    
    Hawk

I like em both.

I don't like the 2 point conversion, though. If I was a coach, I would
never attempt it unless it was the end of the game and it'd take two
points to tie. If it was the end of the game, and one point would tie
it, and two points would win it, I'd kick the PAT, and screw the critics
(because NO points is a LOSS). Look where Tennessee is with two ties and
a loss. Where do you think they'd be ranked if those two ties got
changed to losses? At 5 - 3 they wouldn't even be in the Top Twenty! And
don't ask me where they'd be if those two ties got changed to wins!
They'd still be in just about the same place...BUT... it's about five
times harder to make the two than it is the one. I personally brand a
scarlet letter `I' [ for  Idiot ] on the furrowed and greasy brow of any
gutless coach that caves in to the `go_for_the_win'  myth.

Also... (I'm not done yet)

I would like to see at least a few preseason games with NO KICKING
except for the Kickoff, and punts.

I said this once before and REK tried to leap up and crap in my
Cornflakes. Unfortunately, he tripped over his dog and knocked out one
of his teef on his walker.

I think it'd be fun to watch an entire game of running and passing.
Either put it in the endzone, or kick the damned thing away. No more
dwarf, failed jockey soccer wusses kicking three points every time you
turn around, and becoming the top scorers in Football!!!

So there!
Mike JN

    College is better.  More excitement, obviously more tradition, and
    the game is more variegated.  More classic games to boot, and what
    is sports all about but watching hoping to see a classic do-or-die
    match?  
    
    All I know is that I've watched about a_even number of NFL and NCAA
    games so far this year and have seen several classic college grid
    games (MSU-Michigan, Illini-Colorado to name a couple) where the 
    closest pro game I seed in was the disgusting display put on by the
    Vikings and Eagles.  Ugh.
    
    MrT 

    The AFL allowed the 2 point conversion, as did the USFL, as do colleges
    and high schools.  The 2 point conversion did not exist in colleges and
    high schools until the fifties or so, however.  Up until then, a pass
    or run after a TD was the same as it is now in the NFL, 1 point.
    
    The WFL counted all its TDs as 7 points.  The team scoring the TD could
    not kick an extra point.  They were required to run or pass and got a
    point if they were successful.
    
    I believe the NFL should have the 2 point conversion.  It gets shot
    down by the Competition Committee every time it gets brought up.  The
    coaches on the committee feel it would give them yet something else to
    be second guessed about.
    
    John

>    closest pro game I seed in was the disgusting display put on by the
>    Vikings and Eagles.  Ugh.

The MrT-BobHunt intrigue continues.

TTom

  With the Iowa/Ohio State, Notre Dame/Tennesse and Wash/UCLA games
  on natioanl TV, again it was much more exciting to watch college
  than pro football this weekend.

  					Keith 

That's because you didn't watch the classic: Indianapolis at New England.
Pete Axthelm proclaimed that to be the low point in Greco-Roman history.

TTom

    I've been to a Super Bowl (seeing the pitiful Donks get blown out in
    San Diego) and last weeks USC / UCLA game  -  I'll take a good college
    game any time!
    
    JK