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
South Georgia Guy
July 18th, 2011
4:24 pm
If the NFL and NBA had true minor leagues college football and basketball would be cleaner games. College baseball is a much cleaner game due to the major league draft including high school players.If you are good enough at 18 and not interested in a college education you can go pro and not “fake it” for a few years in college.Yes, the level of play would decrease in college football and basketball,but I would like the players more.I believe ticket sells would not decrease.
DawginLex
July 18th, 2011
4:27 pm
Next big headline
John Jenkins tells NCAA investigators that Auburn offered him cash to sign with them.
DawginLex
July 18th, 2011
4:30 pm
http://espn.go.com/blog/pac12/post/_/id/23264/usc-rb-tyler-suspended-for-comments
Anybody want to compare reasons as to why USC’s running back was suspended versus why ours was?
RiffRaff
July 18th, 2011
4:31 pm
I think the whole NCAA probe into this is overblown and the punishment should fit the crime. Wow, $312 for some clothes and then a couple of administrators not giving the NCAA Nazi police what they felt owed to them? Silly. Give the players back the ACC Championship. They earned it.
Go Dawgs!
Mark...your byline seems incorrect
July 18th, 2011
4:32 pm
It is offensive! Please change!
tim
July 18th, 2011
4:32 pm
We love college football becausre they’re not ALL thugs YET……..
" Hot " seat
July 18th, 2011
4:42 pm
Gotta beat Boise State in the Georgia Dome with very little depth at the running back and offensive lineman positions.
*All-Involved
July 18th, 2011
4:44 pm
I can’t wait ’til *AU gets theirs. I’m ashamed to be in the same conference with those folks. They’re going to fall hard and I’m going to laugh mightily when it happens.
RiffRaff
July 18th, 2011
4:51 pm
Handful of Boise State flaws. This seems to be their consensus:
Replacing Austin Pettis and Titus Young at wide receiver
Complete lack of experience in the kicking game
Losing Bryan Harsin
A void at strong safety
Starting two newbies on the right side of the O-line
Playing in a brand new conference against brand new teams
Old Dawg
July 18th, 2011
4:55 pm
It’s ugly everywhere. A fight broke out during a high school 7-on-7 game in Chattanooga Saturday, with fans running onto the field to participate in the fracas.
My season ticket money is going to Div. III Sewanee this year. They don’t win very much, but it’s still college football at one of the oldest stadiums in the South. And they serve wine at communion every Sunday!
As bad as I hate to say it...
July 18th, 2011
4:56 pm
I dont LOVE it anymore. For 40 years college football was my passion, but money has ruined it. The NCAA props ups some schools the same way our government props up certain businesses. ESPN is the master scheduler today, and kids who arent qualified to enter a university are accepted because they run fast or catch a ball. Those kids rarely graduate, and if they dont continue to run fast, the scholarship is simply not renewed. College football has gotten ugly. I wont be arranging my Saturday’s around it anymore
Really Confused
July 18th, 2011
4:59 pm
Mark,
Let me get this straight. The NCAA says “don’t tell the coach, but also don’t play the player” …That makes no sense. He BTW wasn’t found to be ineligible. I have no idea where that crawled into your head. Ineligible by ways of perks from agents is by no means “what would be a secondary violation.” That’s a major offense. They haven’t learned anything new about his involvement since the first interview to suggest that he was ineligible. If they had enough then to rule him ineligible, they would have, but they didn’t. They have no new information 20 months later, so obviously they have no new grounds to say he was ineligible and they haven’t. Read the report dude. It basically says we didn’t find anything, we are pissed, we think that it’s because you told your coach. How do you suspend a player for the rival and post season games without telling that player or coach why? Please, Mark, tell me. Your logic is wild! Some punishment, yes, but title stripping, NO WAY.
Bob
July 18th, 2011
5:00 pm
You could hear the sphincters puckering in Columbus OH when the GT penalties were handed down. The NCAA is out to make examples of schools after they it sank in that they got flim-flammed by $Cam and the Rev Moneyman Newton.
VININGSDAWG
July 18th, 2011
5:01 pm
DawginLex, Tell me how Auburn has cheated? The NCAA has looked for ten months and the NCAA President has even said on three different occasions that they looked at Auburn and the recruitment of Cam Newton and have found no wrongdoing. Gene Chizik is too smart to confront the NCAA Director of Enforcement without knowing the answer, and that being they are clean. The current investigation is ongoing due to Miss. St.
Auburn’s compliance department is led by Rich McGlynn is the best in the business. He was hired by Auburn directly from the NCAA where he was Asst Director of Enforcement.
I am an 85 grad of UGA and 88 grad of UGA Law. I have worked with a firm in the past that does work with NCAA compliance issues. There is nothing involving Auburn and the Cam Newton issue.
CharlieAlphaBravo
July 18th, 2011
5:03 pm
Woo!! College Football!!! It’s almost gameday, woo– Wait, what was this article about again??
tech Fan
July 18th, 2011
5:05 pm
I loved college football when “school spirit,” “student athlete,” and “amateurism” really meant something.
The sport I loved has been “prostituted” and “pimped” by the School Presidents, NCAA, AD’s, Coaches, and Agents.
“Absolute Power” corrupts “Absolutely.” $$$ is the Absolute corruptor. College Football is “Absolutely” corrupted.
Blazerdawg
July 18th, 2011
5:07 pm
Valdosta State runs this state. National Champions 2004 & 2007!
Really Confused
July 18th, 2011
5:09 pm
You should freaking apologize for your pathetic reporting. You sound like Obama telling half truths. “may have been” and “having been” ineligible are NOT the same statement!! By your logic, Ohio State and UNC should just not be allowed to field a football for the next 20 years and pay the NCAA the equivalent of our nations debt. Just way off on this one buddy. The NCAA got nothing and should go troll around other schools that actually are known for their cheating. They shouldn’t have to go far. Someone tell me how Mark Richt “pocket dials” a couple recruits every year? He does it on purpose and then reports it as a 2ndary violation because he knows nothing will happen…We’ve all seen picture of him wearing one of those stupid phone clip things on his belt…not a pocket and is a pretty good solution for that simple problem, but yet he always manages to pocket dial 1 5 star recruit every year…
tech Fan
July 18th, 2011
5:13 pm
Mark, bullseye on this article…….
BG
July 18th, 2011
5:17 pm
Cam got all the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
ncDOUBLEa
July 18th, 2011
5:21 pm
Steve Spurrier suggested the Head Coaches pay players $300 per game, but $312 in clothing for an entire season is deemed excessive.
Integral
July 18th, 2011
5:23 pm
I don’t enjoy/watch/care anywhere near as much as I used to about college football and basketball. Unreasonable game times driven by TV. Unenforced rules in basketball, i. e. traveling. One and dones. Coaches salaries have risen astronomically while the players benefit remains the scholarship.
Buckeye
July 18th, 2011
5:27 pm
Where else would Miller Lite, Bud Lite and ESPN/Sportscenter advertise on Saturdays?
Dawg Tell
July 18th, 2011
5:28 pm
Why do I love college football? It started as a kid growing up in Atlanta playing touch football in the park and on the streets.We would imitate Lenny Snow or Kim King at GT.Friends would go to Grant field on Saturdays trying to get cheap seats so we could see our heroes play.Than my older sister dated some Tech players and I was around the talk and personal contact with them.Saw the excitement on Saturdays and after the games.Read the AJC on Sunday.I could not wait to see what Furman and Jesse wrote about my Yellow Jackets.Than the big change came when some of my high school buddies went to UGA.First trip to Athens,love at first site.Became a Dawg fan in 1970.Saturdays in Athens. No words can explain it.Red and Black colors surround the fall leaves and my Dawg fans having good time at the game and afterwards. Yes college football has received a black eye,but it comes from the love of money;not the game.Hopefully kids will continue to love the game as it should be and not for the almighty dollar.
bucket
July 18th, 2011
5:34 pm
@ Beast – Foley better hope the NCAA doesn’t listen to Mr. Crowder’s radio show in Miami. He was doing some of the same stuff Green and Pryor got busted for. It happens everywhere and I honestly think too much is made of players selling their own property.
ToccoaDawg
July 18th, 2011
5:38 pm
If I was a Kentucky alumni like Bradley I wouldn’t like the NCAA either
RiffRaff
July 18th, 2011
5:44 pm
Cheerleaders.
Between the hedges.
Randy Rhino.
Pigskin Pick in the ajc.
Vince Dooley.
Cheerleaders in sweaters.
Antics of Pepper Rodgers.
Listening to Larry Munson.
A kid named Herschel.
“The Rambling Wreck.”
More Cheerleaders.
A special jersey I got at the JV game as a kid.
Furman Bisher’
Jeff Pyburn.
Bobby Dodd Stadium.
Hotdogs and a Coke.
Did I mention Cheerleaders??
Football Bat
July 18th, 2011
5:47 pm
I think the term “cheating” is a little harsh. he didn’t cheat on a term paper or didn’t cheat on the field. I realize the definition of cheating is “to violate rules or regulations”, do you think that’s a little harsh? And I disagree w/ the assessment that it’s worse than it was in the 80’s. The internet and mobile phones allow us to see and hear just about everything now a days. But hey, that’s my opinion, and you ‘re entitled to yours.
macrotech
July 18th, 2011
5:47 pm
headley lamar, are you saying that you’re a FAN of the ncaa? Explains a lot if you are!
ToccoaDawg
July 18th, 2011
5:47 pm
RiffRaff don’t forget the cheerleaders in short skirts
RiffRaff
July 18th, 2011
5:50 pm
ToccoaDawg – Nice, I thought I was missing one more…..
goober
July 18th, 2011
5:55 pm
We’re all a bunch of whores, Bradley. We who watch it, and ye who cover it.
LawDawg
July 18th, 2011
6:00 pm
“A lot of fans would rather see their team get a big commitment than score a touchdown on Saturday.”
Not true.
Also, the Big whatever in the midwest and the Pac10 are just as slimy as the SEC, they just aren’t as good at the football part.
Timbo
July 18th, 2011
6:02 pm
Roll Tide
BCWRECK
July 18th, 2011
6:03 pm
Mark,
How did Tech cheet?
Have you ever gone 36mph in a 35 zone? That is what Tech did.
And then the cop arrested them because they didn’t look at him the right way.
Timbo
July 18th, 2011
6:04 pm
Right on RiffRaff!
Timbo
July 18th, 2011
6:07 pm
How can you not love Larry Munson. This from a diehard Tide fan.
bamaguy
July 18th, 2011
6:08 pm
tech fan: I think the demise of college football can be traced directly to ESPN and other sports stations. College football was corrupted when the institutions stood to make millions and millions from TV revenue. It is also what fuels the CEO like salaries of coaches.
When I was at Alabama in the 70’s, there was “abc Game of the Week with Keith Jackson” and radio. BIg time schools managed to break even financially so that the university didn’t have to subsidize the football program. I remember it being all over the Birmingham News in Alabama’s 1978 National Championship year when Bear Bryant turned in a couple of million dollars to the President because it was left over after all the bills were paid.
That’s what changed college football.
Timbo
July 18th, 2011
6:09 pm
Give it up Mark. You’ve been writing for the AJC for almost 30 years living in the Deep South and you dare ask the question? PUHLEEZE….
Born2Buzz
July 18th, 2011
6:11 pm
Recent email conversation with an Auburn buddy:
Me:
We (GT) wanted to be like the big boys, SEC and Big 10/12 schools, but sadly all we could do was give a guy 2 jackets worth $312. We got a slap and had to vacate the ACC title.
Auburn guy:
Don’t talk to me until you get to the $50k per player range.
Me:
I don’t think the ACC salary cap is as high as the SEC’s.
Auburn guy:
Hey, you gotta face facts. $50k is what it takes for an all SEC player. Get a few of those and you get close to a conference championship. Get a $95k DL and a $180k QB and your talking National Championship.
And you know what, no matter what the NCAA ends up doing, it was totally worth it.
LawDawg
July 18th, 2011
6:11 pm
I would also just like to point out that the commentariat does not seem to understand the meaning of the word “thug.” It is not “thuggish” to sell a jersey or take money from a booster. Arguably wrong, but not thuggish. Thuggish is usually associated with violence and the ridiculous overuse of the word on these pages has essentially stripped it of all meaning and leaves a deficit when seeking to talk about people doing actual thuggish things.
Beano Cook Fan Club
July 18th, 2011
6:16 pm
College football needs to disband the NCAA and put Mr. Beano Cook in charge.
black sheep
July 18th, 2011
6:17 pm
WDE awburn motto
WDE we deny everything SEC motto
Big Money
July 18th, 2011
6:22 pm
$312 divided by 14 games equals $22.29 per game.
Can’t even by a ticket for that.
Mark (another one)
July 18th, 2011
6:22 pm
When the FBI tells the NCAA to stop interfering in an investigation, I bet the NCAA stops. Auburn’s alumni are being investigated by the FBI, and the NCAA has no choice but to wait for the investigation to finish. They can use whatever information the FBI makes public or that comes out in the court cases. The NCAA investigation isn’t closed, but it is probably on hold waiting for the FBI.
Tech’s infraction was minor and would have amounted to nothing except they didn’t cooperate with the NCAA, of which they are a member. Nothing was criminal and the incident was isolated. The failure to cooperate fully was the biggest issue, and Tech paid dearly.
The Auburn and Tech cases are completely different, but I feel sorry for the players at both schools that kept their noses clean yet will pay for the past issues. This is the real issue with the NCAA. They can’t go after players or coaches in a meaningful way (see Jerry Tarkanian) so they have to hammer the school, usually after the offenders are gone. This will continue until the member institutions decide to do something.
These Universities make coaches and players sign agreements that require them to abide by NCAA rules. In return, coaches and players receive either pay or scholarships. The Universities need to sue the violators and the NCAA needs to make this mandatory for all member institutions. Then, no one will want to cheat.
This NCAA vs. the Universities is crap. The Universities collectively are the NCAA. Until the NCAA and the schools figure this out, cheating will continue. Think about the penalties Pryor, Bush and Mayo are paying. Will Cam get away scott free as well?
black sheep
July 18th, 2011
6:23 pm
VININGSDAWG I think I will believe the NCAA lady rather than your next door, step-brother in law rumor.Thanks for playing though.
black sheep
July 18th, 2011
6:30 pm
VININGSDAWG http://bleacherreport.com/tb/babHA
Also, it’s not surprising that the SEC is upset that this story was leaked to the press. We all remember that the SEC sat on the Cam Newton story for over 6 months before MSU finally passed it on to the NCAA after our illustrious commissioner, Mike Slive, would not do so. He should have been fired or at least reprimanded by the SEC for his omission and cover up.
nc double a
July 18th, 2011
6:31 pm
Auburn North Carolina, and Ohio State are in for a rude awakening.
TECHREDNECK
July 18th, 2011
6:31 pm
I don’t know why we all love it so much. I guess when our team wins we feel like we’re winners. If they play tough ball, we think we’re tough. If they are National Champions, we feel we’re National Champions. I’ve lost alot of interest lately because of all the B.S. that goes with it. And its hard for me to hate other programs. I have so many friends and relatives that attended other colleges.
Old Blind Dawg
July 18th, 2011
6:33 pm
Congress is worse. The president’s lack of leadership is worse. The Atlanta School System is worse. The IRS is worse. I could go on but my fingers are tired.