OK, so we love college football. But WHY do we still love it?
Caleb King: No longer a Bulldog. Tech: No longer the '09 ACC champ. (AJC photo by Brant Sanderlin)
The SEC’s annual Media Days — the biggest football conference needs three calendar days just to accommodate all the blather — convene Wednesday in Hoover, Ala. The ACC stages its (two-day) convocation this weekend in Pinehurst, N.C. This means we’re not that far from actually getting to watch the One True Sport, the game we Southerners know and love.
One question, though. Should we love it?
For college football, 2011 has already been an annus horribilis, which is Latin for “lousy year.” And yes, it’s only July. We’ve still got the 2011 season to go. Maybe things will get better. They could scarcely get worse. In calendar 2011 we’ve seen:
• The 2004 BCS titlist (Southern Cal) stripped of its crown, largely because of an investigation into the financial arrangements of Reggie Bush, the 2005 Heisman winner.
• The 2002 BCS titlist (Ohio State) stripped of iconic head coach Jim Tressel, who resigned after it was revealed he hadn’t reported allegations of players trading memorabilia for tattoos and had been less than forthcoming in statements to the NCAA.
• The 1998 BCS titlist (Tennessee) stripped of athletic director Mike Hamilton, who quit ahead of an NCAA hearing into basketball and baseball, yes, but also football. Which can happen when you hire Lane Kiffin.
• The 2009 ACC champion (Georgia Tech) stripped of its title because it used an ineligible player and stripped of $100,000 because its administration ticked off the NCAA.
• One of the three 2010 Big East co-champions (West Virginia) placed on two years’ NCAA probation because of a failure to monitor its coaches.
• The 2010 Music City Bowl champion (North Carolina) informed that the NCAA has levied nine violations, ranging from impermissible benefits to academic misconduct, against it.
• Both teams that played for the 2010 BCS title fall under scrutiny: Auburn because of the presence of Cam Newton, the 2010 Heisman winner whose recruitment is still apparently the center of an ongoing NCAA investigation, and Oregon because it paid a Texas man named Willie Lyles $25,000 for what it contends were “scouting services” but what Lyles says were something else.
• The Fiesta Bowl, one of the BCS flagships, lose its president and nearly lose its exalted status after it was revealed staffers had been (illegally) reimbursed for contributions to political campaigns.
• One of the 2010 Big East co-champions (West Virginia again) accepting the resignation of head coach Bill Stewart, who had become implicated in the attempt to smear Dana Holgorsen, whom the Mountaineers had just hired as Stewart’s successor-in-waiting. Quick succession, huh?
The NFL and the NBA are locked out because of money. After such a run of regrettable news, we who follow college football should be asking if this sport mightn’t be better served locking its doors and disbanding its programs. Even those among us who have long known of the seamier side to the Color & Pageantry are wondering if color and pageantry are worth all this.
College football has long been a dirty business, but it’s bigger and dirtier than ever. The strange spectacle of recruiting has become a sport unto itself. (Esteemed colleague Michael Carvell offers the best description I’ve heard: “A lot of fans would rather see their team get a big commitment than score a touchdown on Saturday.”) Assistant coaches now make more than Hall of Fame head coaches did a quarter-century ago. At least one father — an ordained minister, of all things — has been accused of trying to sell his son’s services.
And yet: For all the grime, college football is the one game for which our passion is never diminished. Look around the SEC. Notice many empty seats in those massive stadiums? Even college basketball has seen its regular season diluted because nobody can remember who’s playing from year to year, but never college football. There’s big money to be made. (Except if you’re a player and you’re looking to sell your Independence Bowl jersey. That’ll cost you four games.)
Back to the SEC. It’s the biggest, and its five consecutive BCS titles brand it as the best. It’s also, as Brett McMurphy of CBS Sports noted, the slimiest. Since 1987, no conference can match the SEC’s 13 major NCAA violations. Every SEC football program save two — LSU, which saw its last major violation in 1986, and Vanderbilt, which has never been hit with one — has been docked over that span. The (im)moral of our story: To be the best, cheat the hardest.
And yet: We know all this stuff and we love it anyway. And, cognitively dissonant though we are, we’re about to get excited all over again. Heaven help us all.
By Mark Bradley
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245 comments Add your comment
RedandBlackDAWG
July 18th, 2011
2:36 pm
It is simply the game I like. There are really no more problems now than 10 years ago, just more media coverage and as long as you put on so much pressure and pay these coaches so much money, most are going to try and skirt the rules as much as necessary to keep the bucks coming.
I don’t know what the answer is, but I am sure I am not alone, in looking forward each year for my favorite team to play the game. It is football for me, and that is enough.
Old School
July 18th, 2011
2:38 pm
Good post Lowcountry Bulldawg, I have similar, great memories from growing up. There weren’t southern pro teams around to cheer for when my father and grandfather were young. It was always college football, it was what we all grew up with and what our autumn weekends were centered around. It still is today with my family, can’t wait!
USC GAMEC0CK
July 18th, 2011
2:42 pm
Frankly my dear….I CAN’T WAIT!!!
USC GAMEC0CK
July 18th, 2011
2:44 pm
The SEC cleaned up most of the “SLIME” when Lame Kiffen ran off to Southern Cal…frankly my dear…I hated to see him go.
chilidawg
July 18th, 2011
2:45 pm
Why do we love it? For the same reasons we love our country: Nostalgia and tradition. Even as we sprint towards socialism. It’s time to act, people.
Joey
July 18th, 2011
2:46 pm
Mark, when did UGA’s football program have a major violation since ‘85? I’m pretty sure that was the only time.
Mikey
July 18th, 2011
2:54 pm
I still love it, but I love it less and less every year. I preferred it when it was My Team vs. Your Team. I think the BCS has ruined it by turning it into a My Conference vs. Your Conference.
juvenal
July 18th, 2011
2:55 pm
can’t think of any one thing more constant my adult life—many other things have changed, but i still have trouble sleeping before the 1st game, that 1st opening kick-off makes my pulse pound……..
JT
July 18th, 2011
2:58 pm
Why do we still love college football? Because it’s the only football worth caring about. Broadly speaking, rivalries and passion in the NFL have largely been killed off by free agency whereas they are alive and still boiling hot in the college game. Though money and pressure it brings increasingly threatens to rip the whole thing apart.
JB
July 18th, 2011
3:02 pm
leaving early to the pro’s has really hurt the game. I would love to see some of these teams build a great team with 4 full years, like Stafford and Knowshon coming back. Dawgs would have been a different team if they would of played their senior year.
NC Dawg
July 18th, 2011
3:04 pm
Take your pick: fights, tripping in hockey, illegal, dangerous helmet hits and holding in the NFL, either “chin music” or, also dangerous, outright throwing at someone’s head in baseball, “enforcers” and extremely inept officiating in basketball, deliberately causing wrecks in NASCAR. Nobody’s really interested in the integrity of these sports. Not only that, groupies and their partakers abound in every sport. I don’t respect any professionals any more.
GT Alum
July 18th, 2011
3:05 pm
headley -
Actually, the title was stripped because an ineligible player played in the title game, not because the NCAA believes Tech tried to cover things up.
The probation and measures like that were the punitive measures for the alleged cover-up.
Paul's Finebaum
July 18th, 2011
3:06 pm
I love College Football for all the trash talking and insults college fans different teams/schools do to one another.
Also, it is so much fun to make fun of the LACK of “education” of UGA players.
ROLL !!!!!!!!!!!!
TIDE !!!!!!!!!!!!
OK, so we love college football. But WHY do we still love it? – Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) | Football
July 18th, 2011
3:06 pm
[...] Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) [...]
jay
July 18th, 2011
3:08 pm
Still,compared to professional sports, college football is virginal.
GEICO
July 18th, 2011
3:09 pm
RE: “WILL THIS BE ANOTHER LOSING SEASON FOR UGA?”
Did BOO Get Shot?
Hoopster
July 18th, 2011
3:09 pm
Actually GT Alum you are incorrect. Like many others have stated, Tech checked with the ACC and the NCAA and both organizations said both players were eligible to play. If you read the report and response document, this was an NCAA witch-hunt.
Fred
July 18th, 2011
3:11 pm
Unfortunately, one of the advantages of pro sports is a higher level of integrity than colleges, at least than major sports in college. For all the NFL’s issues, it does not have to pretend that its teams are anything but professional athletes–no “student-athletes” who are admitted only because of athletic ability and then take easy courses to remain eligible.
TDone
July 18th, 2011
3:14 pm
Who writes your by-lines?
sogadog
July 18th, 2011
3:15 pm
I hate to say it but it aint just college football.
GT Alum
July 18th, 2011
3:18 pm
Not sure why you’re picking on college football. Professional athletes get arrested on a regular basis, steroids in major sports as well as Olympic sports, labor disputes, players suing the league, officiating disputes, to the point that some suggest the leagues have conspiracies to help certain teams win, disputes between players and ownership or the commissioner’s office, beyond the CBA disputes. Not to mention $4 bottles of water.
Unfortunately, there’s plenty of ugliness in sports. I do sometimes wonder whether it’s worth it.
GT Alum
July 18th, 2011
3:21 pm
Hoopster -
Let me put it this way. That’s the NCAA’s reason why they’re stripping the title. Whether you put any stock in the NCAA’s penalties and reasons behind them is up to the individual.
Love is blind
July 18th, 2011
3:23 pm
Hey Mark, UGA didn’t go through an offseason of a bunch of arrests for TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS that made front page news for TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS like last year…..Did I mention to all the jerks that lambasted UGA for these arrests as sleazy criminal doings that most were for TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS. This year I guess they got their liscenses updated. Learned a little better that drinking and driving is not good (What a shock, kids drink?!!! and get in cars?!!) and put their scooters away ( except for a certain DE).
But the off-season is not over yet.
Now, all you UGA bashers who want to compare shootings, robberies,rapes, and murders to TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS and whistle about their favorite glass house school, enjoy your oral masturbation.
I’d say it was a good year thus far, Mark!
Ramblinwreck83
July 18th, 2011
3:24 pm
Realistic fan
July 18th, 2011
1:52 pm
“The arrogance is unmatched”
You have just matched it unrealistic fan.
headley lamar
July 18th, 2011
3:25 pm
Whether you put any stock in the NCAA’s penalties and reasons behind them is up to the individual.
I got 20 bucks you’d have alot more stock in their reasons if it was UGA in trouble.
Chip Folendore
July 18th, 2011
3:33 pm
My question Mark is why the investigation of Tech was never reported before day sanctions were announced?
Red Clay Hound
July 18th, 2011
3:34 pm
Man I need to take a shower after reading this article.
Uuugghh...
July 18th, 2011
3:35 pm
Why do I love college football? Let’s look at the other options:
NFL Football: WAY too many commercials–can hardly get into the game anymore. The coverage now is more about the commercials than it is the contest happening. I think now they interrupt the commercials to bring us 40 seconds of football. If you go to the game, you know what they show on the big screen during commercial time-outs? You guessed it: commercials. You can’t escape them–not even at the stadium.
NBA Basketball–Too long–way too many games. Season lasts from October to July. Wow. Also–I can not identify with a single player. Most exciting play? A Dunk. Happens 30 times a night for both teams. I don’t ever need to see another dunk…or another basketball game.
NHL Hockey–Season too long but oddly only about 8 of those games are televised. No home team anymore–apparently the NHL just does not need my interest. Hint Taken!
Baseball–Season too long. What are they going to prove in 162 games they haven’t proven in 50? It is fun to go to the Ted…but there is a baseball game on virtually every single night from April to November. Too much. (Except for Brian Wilson. The world needs more BW!)
March Madness (NCAA BB)–I know they have a whole season before march–but they might as well not have it. I tune in for a month then tune out. Having players stay for a single year is stupid–takes away from the game. See also problem with NBA called dunk.
Golf–will never be better than Caddyshack. Plus Tiger is not on the juice anymore blowing away the field. That was fun to watch. Now you have somebody you have never heard of winning every week. Great–I guess.
NASCAR–Greedy Track Owner took away the first Atlanta race to prove that Kentucky Speedway could totally mismanage the event and put on a totally boring race that the drivers complained about. Too many cookie cutter 1.5 mile flat tracks + car of tomorrow has made most races boring. Sponsors have driven out all of the most entertainingly fiery driver conflicts and rivalries. NASCAR has literally grown itself out of being interesting. Kudos.
Soccer–You have to pay a premium to watch soccer regularly here. I do…and I do. Their method of buying and selling players is much more market based than the NFL/NBA/NHL scheme. I wish there was some sort of relegation/promotion scheme in some of these other sports that have spread themselves too thin. EPL is much more interesting to me than everything but NCAA Football.
Which reminds me, time to pick up the new NCAA Football game for PS3…it is a July ritual that lets me know the season is coming. Next, I’ll buy some overpriced magazines that give opinions about every team and I will read them all 2-3 time before the first game. Then I will over pay for a new jersey for my son and a new cap for me. Then it starts! There are just enough games to make each one count. None of the other sports are near as exciting as college football to me!
GT Alum
July 18th, 2011
3:35 pm
headley -
I honestly haven’t read the full documents and am therefore trying not to veer too far one way or the other. I wasn’t saying that so much for myself as for Hoopster and the rest that feel that this was a NCAA witch hunt.
Even having heard the highlights of both sides, I have a hard time declaring Tech’s complete innocence in this. Tech’s rebuttals could be dismissed by skeptics as sidestepping responsibility. And since I was skeptical of other schools’ dismissal of the NCAA’s claims against them, I’d be a hypocrite if I dismissed the accusations against Tech without knowing all the facts.
GT Alum
July 18th, 2011
3:36 pm
headley -
And I bet you’d be saying the accusations were a load of crap if it was UGA in trouble, so perhaps you shouldn’t cast too many stones.
MC
July 18th, 2011
3:38 pm
GT Alum maybe you need to go back and read ‘How the Case Unfolded’.
Obviously the NCAA felt that GT did everything in it’s power to impede the investigation. Just the fact that Radakovich told PJ and PJ went straight to the player tells me that GT got off lucky in actuality. And then there was the “get our stories straight” meeting with Drad, PJ, the compliance guy, AND the players. Being so sanctimonious when you get caught cheating AGAIN makes you look absolutely stupid.
techfan
July 18th, 2011
3:39 pm
You could have kept going with issues like the BCS and oversigning. College football is really just a very scummy sport at this point. Unfortunately it’s a sport I love to watch and i’m not going anywhere. It’s like being the victim in an abusive relationship.
Uuugghh...
July 18th, 2011
3:40 pm
Dude…really?
Beast from the East
July 18th, 2011
3:41 pm
“It’s like being the victim in an abusive relationship.”
LOL! Pretty funny observation, techfan.
Love is blind
July 18th, 2011
3:43 pm
Mark, It’s nice to have had a year thus far with no arrests for TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS at UGA.
Of course most of the arrests that made front page news last year were for TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS.
So, i guess they updated their liscenses, decided drinking and driving (at least getting caught for all you glass house people) was not good. And Jeez people, kids drinking and getting in cars, what a freakin shock! Adults, maybe even you reading this, do it.
Even parked their scooters, except for a certain DE.
But did I mention those arrests were for mostly TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS!
Now the off-season isn’t over yet, but it’s good to not have had an off-season of TRAFFIC VIOLATIONS. And all you UGA bashers that want to compare shootings, robberies, rapes, and murders to being arrested for TRAFFIC TICKETS, go look to your glass house school.
Thanks Mark, looking forward to a great year!
Curious George
July 18th, 2011
3:44 pm
Is it really fair to accuse Coach Mark Richt of cheating just because he recruits fast-running CRIMINALS who he is not able to control, make behave, force to learn the alphabet or teach any manners or respect for other human beings?
MC
July 18th, 2011
3:45 pm
Then GT Alum read ‘How the Case Unfolded’ at that should make things crystal clear to you that GT is dirty in this latest incident.
juvenal
July 18th, 2011
3:45 pm
headley, you really want the nzaa hanging out that close to athens for 4 years? don’t want them hanging around anywhere close to atl, these players all know each other…….
Heath
July 18th, 2011
3:47 pm
I’m just biding time with the SEC until Kennesaw State gets going in 2014.
I WUV FOOBAW
July 18th, 2011
3:51 pm
My states school is better than your states school and that proves my state is better than your state.
And we get to party more because it’s better.
And that means more people like us because we’re better and we get better looking girls too.
And cause I live here and cheer for my state school that means I’m the best.
Yeah!!! GO ME
UGA Fan
July 18th, 2011
3:54 pm
When are we going to quit messing around and turn this into a cam newton/auburn hate fest?
I WUV FOOBAW
July 18th, 2011
3:56 pm
I miss u mama, I’m down here in that bad place for all the cheating I did.
Signed, Bear B.
gt45
July 18th, 2011
3:57 pm
Yeah, Mark, you are a horrible anus and writer. You can’t find anything bad on UGA?
Ok, Where's my comment Bradley?
July 18th, 2011
4:01 pm
Kennesaw St….YEEHAW or as the owl goes WHO
juvenal
July 18th, 2011
4:04 pm
Mark, you, Jeff, kincade, nobody notices dez cost osu nothing! glad to see the local media so reverant to the nzaa………at least one of espnu’s commentators called it a joke.which is a bigger sham, nzaa or fifa? hate it these bozos regurgitate, er, regulate my 2 favorite sports……..
Dawg Tired
July 18th, 2011
4:08 pm
Well Mark, I must admit I have lost some zest for the sport. When you can play a player or players who are clearly ineligible under conference rules and not only receive no punishment, but actually get both the conference and the NCAA to allow the player of players to play, it is completely dumbfounding. One team ends up winning the NC and the other wins the Sugar Bowl. Yikes!
What’s the point in keeping the rules? So you later get stripped of wins, etc. Do you think Auburn fans will ever say they didn’t win the 2010 NC? Not a chance. Will OSU fans admit they lost the Sugar owl? I don’t think so. Heck, their fans actually come on here and criticize UGA’s football program. Beam me up Scotty!
GeoffDawg
July 18th, 2011
4:10 pm
That’s like asking why we love pretty girls in sun dresses. It just feels right.
…Now, why tech fans love college football, I have no idea.
ASG = JERKS
July 18th, 2011
4:13 pm
Yeah, the stuff with Cam is a bit much. The NCAA put its head in the sand there and for THE Ohio State – tech cheats and they lose their title LOL.
Integrity runs this State
July 18th, 2011
4:19 pm
`
The Georgia Southern University Eagles and the Georgia State University Panthers are currently the two best college football programs in this State.
Both teams had winning records and very few disciplinary problems, whereas 6-7 GT and 6-7 UGA appear to be getting worse (poorer quality and lower standards).
.
Stinger2
July 18th, 2011
4:21 pm
Mark: Get you facts straight. GT did not let an ineligible player participate. The report said he may have been ineligible. A big difference. You have been obviously biased in all you have written about this incident. Pitiful reporting.