The State of College Football

[bojanglefunk]

Does anybody else think that with all of the scandals and allegations over the last few years culminating in Penn State scandal (as well as the lesser problems at Miami, UCF, UNC, Auburn, etc.), combined with conference realignments, that the world of college football could be in a world of hurt?

To me I am becoming more and more jaded. I still enjoy watching Wake games, but I just feel so dirty about college football in general. Reminds me of the steroid era of baseball.

 

[Screamindemon3]

Does anybody else think that with all of the scandals and allegations over the last few years culminating in Penn State scandal (as well as the lesser problems at Miami, UCF, UNC, Auburn, etc.), combined with conference realignments, that the world of college football could be in a world of hurt?

To me I am becoming more and more jaded. I still enjoy watching Wake games, but I just feel so dirty about college football in general. Reminds me of the steroid era of baseball.

Aka the current era. But yeah, I agree, this is getting ridiculous.

 

[TuffaloDeac10]

What????????? No.

I love college football. It is a billionty times better than the NFL game, and I plan on quitting on the NFL after this season in order to DVR more college games and watch college games every Sunday. The coaching keeps getting better and better, there is a wide variety of offensive styles on national TV every weekend, and the game is damn near perfect. The college game has the best (i.e. most innovative) coaches and provides an infinitely greater entertainment value with better tailgating, better pre-game shows, and just more fucking games. They don't waste my time by putting the crappiest games on Monday nights in order to screw over a cable network whose business model relies on delivering NFL content to America's households.

I don't much care about the NCAA violations, because the kids ought to be getting paid anyways. I think the PSU is obviously terrible, but see it mostly as a Penn State problem at this point in time. I do think it's likely that other school's have a similar problem, and those may come out in time and will be no less terrible. But it's off the field and I see it as more of an administrative problem, in that schools are running camps without properly training all their staff on child abuse prevention. There are obvious fixes for that.

 

[ResilientDeac]

I do not think this is a state of College Football problem as it is the state of the people who are running the programs of college football problem.

 

[DemonDeac3D]

What????????? No.

I love college football. It is a billionty times better than the NFL game, and I plan on quitting on the NFL after this season in order to DVR more college games and watch college games every Sunday. The coaching keeps getting better and better, there is a wide variety of offensive styles on national TV every weekend, and the game is damn near perfect. The college game has the best (i.e. most innovative) coaches and provides an infinitely greater entertainment value with better tailgating, better pre-game shows, and just more fucking games. They don't waste my time by putting the crappiest games on Monday nights in order to screw over a cable network whose business model relies on delivering NFL content to America's households.

I don't much care about the NCAA violations, because the kids ought to be getting paid anyways. I think the PSU is obviously terrible, but see it mostly as a Penn State problem at this point in time. I do think it's likely that other school's have a similar problem, and those may come out in time and will be no less terrible. But it's off the field and I see it as more of an administrative problem, in that schools are running camps without properly training all their staff on child abuse prevention. There are obvious fixes for that.

I agree with you for the most part. EXCEPT. The PSU situation is not completely an off the field incident. It (like many of the football scandals) is a product of a college football culture that deifies winning and, as has become increasingly obvious, will go a long way to protect that culture of winning. I love college football, but there is a serious lack of perspective within institutions about how important it is. College football players should be compensated for the revenue they generate for schools. But they, and the coaches and staff members, are still student athletes and university employees. They are a part of a college/university culture whether their contributions to that culture are academic or not. No amount of football success on the field should justify the complete abandonment of moral character off of it (no matter the nature of the transgression).

 

[myDeaconmyhand]

Has Kahoji commented on the trouble at the Big East's school of salvation, UCF? You know, UCF, the school that brings more to the Big Least than Syracuse or Pitt? The school that not only jam packs it's 45 thousand seat stadium, but delivers the elusive Orlando TV market, which stretches from Tampa to Daytona.

Such a shame for the colossus of Conference USA.

 

[TuffaloDeac10]

Has Kahoji commented on the trouble at the Big East's school of salvation, UCF? You know, UCF, the school that brings more to the Big Least than Syracuse or Pitt? The school that not only jam packs it's 45 thousand seat stadium, but delivers the elusive Orlando TV market, which stretches from Tampa to Daytona.

Such a shame for the colossus of Conference USA.

Shocking that anyone would care more about NCAA violations than O'Leary killing a player in 2008.

 

[ABCDeac]

I think it is an even bet as to whether, in 20 years, there will even be major college football. Once you have the super-conferences, paid players, aid a fully castrated NCAA, you really have a semi-pro league. Throw in the scandals, the increasing information on head injuries, the HGH-shoe-about-to-drop, and I could see severe backlash in the very near future.

 

[PhilliesDeacs]

College football the sport is more popular that ever...

...which is the reason why college football the "entity" is so morally and socially corrupt. There's too much money at stake for these people to act within any sort of social boundaries.

 

[HalIncandenza]

College football the sport is more popular that ever...

...which is the reason why college football the "entity" is so morally and socially corrupt. There's too much money at stake for these people to act within any sort of social boundaries.

Exactly. When we, the fans, started taking sports wayyyyyy more seriously, we invested more money in our teams, making the people who run the teams (pro, college, whatever) more important and power/money-hungry. I don't know if the people involved are any different than your average joe, but once they get that power and start to feel a little above the law, this type of shit is what happens.

I don't necessarily blame fans, but sports, especially football, becoming as big and important as they have is not a good thing, in my opinion. Sports should be more fun than business.

ETA: I don't mean this in regards to just inherently bad behavior either. It always makes me a little sick when I see people up in arms trying to raise funds for the new mega scoreboard (replacing the last mega scoreboard installed 5 years ago) or for buying out a bad coach's contract or whatever, when that money could be put to such better use than crap like that. Perspective, people.