Top Ten Reasons College Football Is Better Than The NFL August 05, 2005 From DUMMOCRATS opinions on the Internet With August, my thoughts, and the thoughts of many of my fellow Americans, turn to football. Ah, glorious football. It's the only thing that makes the end of summer bearable. While Americans love their football, what do we love more? College football or the NFL. For me, it's a no brainer, and here's ten reasons why: 10. Every game matters. When your team loses on Sunday, it's bad, but it doesn't destroy your season. On Saturdays, however, a loss is almost always devastating. College football may not have a playoff at the end of the season, but each game does have a playoff atmosphere. 9. Location. Location. Location. With the notable exception of Green Bay, the NFL is only in big cities. It shares the scene with all of the other thousands of events going on in that city. Big time college football, on the other hand, is often played in small cities. In those cities, gameday is everything and the electric atmosphere reflects that. 8. There is no "I" in team. Sportwriters wax poetic about what a "team" the New England Patriots are. In the NFL, the team concept has become a novelty. Too many players are all about themselves (I don't necessarily blame them, but it is a fact). In college, the team is still what's most important. Players don't play for a bigger contract the next season. They play to win. 7. Permanence. NFL teams can pack up in the middle of the night and leave town. The Ohio State University will always be in Columbus. 6. One man can make a difference. In the pros, a truly great coach can maybe get a winning record out of a subpar team. Maybe. At the end of the day, the caliber of players a coach can get depends on how much money a team has to spend. In college, a great coach can inherit a bad program and make a huge difference through both recruiting and coaching. 5. Gameday. Even if you don't care about the teams, it's fun to watch ESPN's Gameday when it goes on campus. There's no pro equivalent to it, just like there's no pro analyst as cute as Kirk Herbstreit or as weird as Lee Corso. 4. Mascots & Cheerleaders. The Big Ten alone has the likes of Bucky Badger and Sparty the Spartan. The NFL has, uh, I don't think they have any. The NFL has spandex-clad skanky cheerleaders who pose in lingerie calendars. College has fresh-faced girls who still actually carry pom-pons. 3. Rivalries. The NFL does have some great rivalries like the Browns vs. the Steelers. But college football has hundreds of great games. And they make a big deal out of it. The games have names like the "Iron Bowl", the "Holy War", the "Egg Bowl" and the "Border War". Teams play for trophies like Paul Bunyan's Axe, the Golden Egg and the Indian War Drum. 2. Traditons. There's absolutely no NFL equivalent to college football traditions like dotting the "I" in Ohio State, Wisconsin's Fifth Quarter & Jump Around and Texas A&M's 12th man. Even when your team is having an off year, you can hold on to these traditions that make the games far more special than a typical Sunday matchup between, let's say, the Arizona Cardinals & Indianapolis Colts. 1. Marching Bands. Pro stadiums can pump in all the loudest, hippest tunes they want and it still won't beat hearing 120 plus geeky kids in the marching band play "On Wisconsin", "Hail to the Victors" or the Notre Dame Victory March. NFL teams don't even have songs, much less songs that are frequently played at their fans' weddings. I love pro football and I think the NFL is by far the best pro league. College football just has that little bit of extra something that makes it a whole different ballgame.