4 years of glory worth its weight in the Hall...
It's time to bring up a topic that I’ve wanted to write about that I mentioned briefly in my Airplane post, regarding my distaste for the NBA. The larger topic worth discussing is not my distaste for basketball, but my preference for all things collegiate (please exclude college baseball from this list) compared to pro. So, instead of doing a compare/contrast from professional to collegiate sports, I’m simply going to list some of the things that I dig about the college game, specifically football and basketball and I challenge Joe 2.0 to make a competing post proving me right or wrong. The gauntlet has been laid my friend, come and get sum’: ( and thanks to the writings of Kevin Smith and Earl to guide me along)
“Breakfast, shmreakfast. Look at the score, for Christ's sake. It's only the second period and I'm up 12 to 2. Breakfasts come and go, Rene, but Hartford, "the Whale," they only beat Vancouver once, maybe twice in a lifetime.”
Perhaps your saying what, wtf? What does this comment have to do with anything, to that I say….exactly. Seriously though, the size of the league, school and regionalism sets up David vs. Goliath match up’s every year and especially when talking about men’s college basketball. You’re lying to yourself if seeing Bucknell tackle Kansas in the tourney is not high drama, not only from the gambling perspective, but from the satisfaction that everyone gets when seeing the unpredictable. Professional sports can’t replicate the drama that is played out in the college field houses and stadiums week-end and week-out.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this tall drink of water headed my way is a pillar of the shopping community who informed me earlier today of a nefarious plan of his to screw my girlfriend in an extremely uncomfortable place…What... like the back of a Volkswagen?”
One word: Co-Ed’s…yes, yes…I know all about the Seagals and nothing beats the TB parking lot and Panther Cheerleading after-hours…but, I like my women below the drinking age and easily influenced….(crickets chirping, tumbleweed blowing)….ummm…aaahuuumm…yeah, so, and if nothing else it makes a matchup like Texas vs. USC all the more interesting to compare Southern Cal hotties to just straight Southern hotties…plus the mascot factor...Horned Frogs, Cattermounts, Zips...this is a definite plus over the pro game
“Listen, not a year goes by, not a year, that I don't hear about some escalator accident involving some bastard kid which could have easily been avoided had some parent - I don't care which one - but some parent conditioned him to fear and respect that escalator.”
Here’s to the dress code policy…sports hernia’s…Sox/Yanks…T f’n O…Mamba and every other worthless story that ESPN, Fox, CBS, HBO….completely over-hypes and diverts away from the game actually being played…I know…BCS…John Cheney…Baylor…the collegiate ranks aren’t w/o their share of overblown stories, but not nearly to the degree of professional sports, and usually, in the case of John Cheney, extremely amusing….”I’m a mean SOB”
“You have my Punisher War Journal #6, my copy of "Fletch" and the remote control to my TV. Now, I know it's going to be hard to give this stuff up because of its sentimental attachment... Sentimental attachment? Look, if I have any of that crap it's because you brought it over my house and left it there.”
Joe 2.0 touched upon this in our commentary leading up to this post…Loyalty; there is no other way to explain any fan that roots for Oregon, WSU and Idaho. True, loyalty seems to come and go, even at college (see sold out Husky stadium five years ago, presently averaging 15,000 less), but for the rest of those people to watch a 3-20 team over the past two years is dedication that is either extremely ignorant or true fan loyalty to the program…you’ll find a lot more of these fans in the collegiate rank than you will with the pro ranks….and I’ll admit this is a tough argument for fans of the following teams: Kansas City Chiefs, Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals, but by and large a sold out Husky Stadium still beats a playoff Qwest crowd, (sorry Dude)...(please also reference: Midwest fans are the best fans: Nebraska, Wisconsin, Michigan, ND, Iowa, etc…)
“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned for Sega.”
NCAA Football ’06 is the greatest sports game of all-time. That’s fact, not opinion.
“My Grandmother always used to say "why buy the cow, when you can get the sex for free"…She said that?... All the time, before she became a lesbian on her 60th Birthday, but that's besides the point.”
Ever notice that guy that’s in the contract year? (see: Moses Alexander ’05, Jerome James ’04, Boone ’02, list is really too f’n long, etc…) well image if a guy plays like he’s in a contract year for 3-4 years (football) or 1-2 years (basketball) and when he decides to leave its not like he’s going to hurt you on another team, all you have to do is find another guy that wants to play like it’s a contract year for a couple of years…and the wheels of life continue to spin…and here’s hoping that Stanback and Roy start playing like it’s a contract year
“Silent Bob stole the schematics from some foolish carpenter and found a weakness just like the f'n Death Star. You knock this crossbeam out and, f’n' bickety-bam, the whole stage comes crashing down.”
Here’s to: High Schooler’s….parity…and steroids….individually they have all watered down their collective sport, together they create further alienation from the common fan…this is a debatable topic I realize, but the collegiate game, tends to take care of matters the ol’fashion way…degrees of the ban…from the SMU rule to taking away TV money…the NCAA runs like Cobra Kai…strike hard, strike fast, no mercy…
One time my cousin Walter got this cat stuck in his ass. True story. He bought it at the local mall, so the whole fiasco wound up on the news. It was embarrassing for my relatives and all. But the next week, he did it again. Different cat, same results, complete with a trip to the emergency room. Then, last week, I saw him in the pet store. He was buying another cat. I said, "Walt, what the hell are you doing, you know you're just gonna get this cat stuck up your ass too, why don't you knock it off?" And he says to me, "Brodie, how the hell else am I supposed to get the gerbil out?" My cousin was a weird guy.
Really no point to this one…I’ve just always like this quote…
“I love the smell of commerce in the morning.”
To an increasingly bad trend for collegiate athletics…no, I don’t need to hear “Welcome to Jungle” when Josh Brown is kicking off…give me an air raid and the band following a TD than …”here come the BOOM…ARE YOU READY…HERE COMES THE BOOM!”…however it was a sad day when the Rose Bowl sold out to whatever the telecom hot stock of the week is…
“Why don't they ever bring back or remake good shows, like 'BJ and the Bear.' Now there's a concept I can't get enough of, a man and his monkey.”
Because there’s not one but almost 10-20 rivalries that date back over 100 years in college football…and if basketball were that old….there would be too…you can’t know you future unless you know your past…and trying not to get too sentimental…it’s fundamental to the game to remember the 4 horsemen…and the first forward pass…this history of all professional sports is eventually rooted in the college game…long before the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL…there were regional schools that competed w/o contracts and agents, but for pride and tradition…there’s my Deford piece right there….
“Yeah, who's your favorite New Kid. Yeah, call me Joey. Oh, come on. Don't make me get loose. Yeah, that's right. Call me Donnie. Oh, girl. Oh, please don't go girl.”
To the best quote of the movie…and this debate may work against me, but, where-else can a player like Nate Robinson be an All-American or Duck fan’s remembering the dominance of Akili Smith, or Ryan Leaf’s dominating junior season…unfortunately all that remains of the great names in college sports, is mainly there failures in the pro-game, which many players are made out to play…should this diminish their dominant seasons at college no, does it yes…the failures of Cade McNown won’t wash away what he did to UW for 3 years at UCLA…I won’t forget the play of Miles Simon when the ‘Cats won the NCAA tourney, the MVP of the squad for the entire season…the Pro’s also have the one-hit wonder phenomenon, but in college the obscure hits go just a little deeper and a little fonder or a little more hurtful depending on who you ask….
So that’s it…hopefully somebody cares enough to respond…and Joe 2.0 I look forward to hearing a Joe 2.0 retort, probably involving Ray Lewis or Randy Moss….
“Breakfast, shmreakfast. Look at the score, for Christ's sake. It's only the second period and I'm up 12 to 2. Breakfasts come and go, Rene, but Hartford, "the Whale," they only beat Vancouver once, maybe twice in a lifetime.”
Perhaps your saying what, wtf? What does this comment have to do with anything, to that I say….exactly. Seriously though, the size of the league, school and regionalism sets up David vs. Goliath match up’s every year and especially when talking about men’s college basketball. You’re lying to yourself if seeing Bucknell tackle Kansas in the tourney is not high drama, not only from the gambling perspective, but from the satisfaction that everyone gets when seeing the unpredictable. Professional sports can’t replicate the drama that is played out in the college field houses and stadiums week-end and week-out.“Ladies and gentlemen, this tall drink of water headed my way is a pillar of the shopping community who informed me earlier today of a nefarious plan of his to screw my girlfriend in an extremely uncomfortable place…What... like the back of a Volkswagen?”
One word: Co-Ed’s…yes, yes…I know all about the Seagals and nothing beats the TB parking lot and Panther Cheerleading after-hours…but, I like my women below the drinking age and easily influenced….(crickets chirping, tumbleweed blowing)….ummm…aaahuuumm…yeah, so, and if nothing else it makes a matchup like Texas vs. USC all the more interesting to compare Southern Cal hotties to just straight Southern hotties…plus the mascot factor...Horned Frogs, Cattermounts, Zips...this is a definite plus over the pro game “Listen, not a year goes by, not a year, that I don't hear about some escalator accident involving some bastard kid which could have easily been avoided had some parent - I don't care which one - but some parent conditioned him to fear and respect that escalator.”
Here’s to the dress code policy…sports hernia’s…Sox/Yanks…T f’n O…Mamba and every other worthless story that ESPN, Fox, CBS, HBO….completely over-hypes and diverts away from the game actually being played…I know…BCS…John Cheney…Baylor…the collegiate ranks aren’t w/o their share of overblown stories, but not nearly to the degree of professional sports, and usually, in the case of John Cheney, extremely amusing….”I’m a mean SOB”“You have my Punisher War Journal #6, my copy of "Fletch" and the remote control to my TV. Now, I know it's going to be hard to give this stuff up because of its sentimental attachment... Sentimental attachment? Look, if I have any of that crap it's because you brought it over my house and left it there.”
Joe 2.0 touched upon this in our commentary leading up to this post…Loyalty; there is no other way to explain any fan that roots for Oregon, WSU and Idaho. True, loyalty seems to come and go, even at college (see sold out Husky stadium five years ago, presently averaging 15,000 less), but for the rest of those people to watch a 3-20 team over the past two years is dedication that is either extremely ignorant or true fan loyalty to the program…you’ll find a lot more of these fans in the collegiate rank than you will with the pro ranks….and I’ll admit this is a tough argument for fans of the following teams: Kansas City Chiefs, Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals, but by and large a sold out Husky Stadium still beats a playoff Qwest crowd, (sorry Dude)...(please also reference: Midwest fans are the best fans: Nebraska, Wisconsin, Michigan, ND, Iowa, etc…)“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned for Sega.”
NCAA Football ’06 is the greatest sports game of all-time. That’s fact, not opinion.
“My Grandmother always used to say "why buy the cow, when you can get the sex for free"…She said that?... All the time, before she became a lesbian on her 60th Birthday, but that's besides the point.”
Ever notice that guy that’s in the contract year? (see: Moses Alexander ’05, Jerome James ’04, Boone ’02, list is really too f’n long, etc…) well image if a guy plays like he’s in a contract year for 3-4 years (football) or 1-2 years (basketball) and when he decides to leave its not like he’s going to hurt you on another team, all you have to do is find another guy that wants to play like it’s a contract year for a couple of years…and the wheels of life continue to spin…and here’s hoping that Stanback and Roy start playing like it’s a contract year“Silent Bob stole the schematics from some foolish carpenter and found a weakness just like the f'n Death Star. You knock this crossbeam out and, f’n' bickety-bam, the whole stage comes crashing down.”
Here’s to: High Schooler’s….parity…and steroids….individually they have all watered down their collective sport, together they create further alienation from the common fan…this is a debatable topic I realize, but the collegiate game, tends to take care of matters the ol’fashion way…degrees of the ban…from the SMU rule to taking away TV money…the NCAA runs like Cobra Kai…strike hard, strike fast, no mercy…
One time my cousin Walter got this cat stuck in his ass. True story. He bought it at the local mall, so the whole fiasco wound up on the news. It was embarrassing for my relatives and all. But the next week, he did it again. Different cat, same results, complete with a trip to the emergency room. Then, last week, I saw him in the pet store. He was buying another cat. I said, "Walt, what the hell are you doing, you know you're just gonna get this cat stuck up your ass too, why don't you knock it off?" And he says to me, "Brodie, how the hell else am I supposed to get the gerbil out?" My cousin was a weird guy.
Really no point to this one…I’ve just always like this quote…
“I love the smell of commerce in the morning.”
To an increasingly bad trend for collegiate athletics…no, I don’t need to hear “Welcome to Jungle” when Josh Brown is kicking off…give me an air raid and the band following a TD than …”here come the BOOM…ARE YOU READY…HERE COMES THE BOOM!”…however it was a sad day when the Rose Bowl sold out to whatever the telecom hot stock of the week is…“Why don't they ever bring back or remake good shows, like 'BJ and the Bear.' Now there's a concept I can't get enough of, a man and his monkey.”
Because there’s not one but almost 10-20 rivalries that date back over 100 years in college football…and if basketball were that old….there would be too…you can’t know you future unless you know your past…and trying not to get too sentimental…it’s fundamental to the game to remember the 4 horsemen…and the first forward pass…this history of all professional sports is eventually rooted in the college game…long before the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL…there were regional schools that competed w/o contracts and agents, but for pride and tradition…there’s my Deford piece right there….“Yeah, who's your favorite New Kid. Yeah, call me Joey. Oh, come on. Don't make me get loose. Yeah, that's right. Call me Donnie. Oh, girl. Oh, please don't go girl.”
To the best quote of the movie…and this debate may work against me, but, where-else can a player like Nate Robinson be an All-American or Duck fan’s remembering the dominance of Akili Smith, or Ryan Leaf’s dominating junior season…unfortunately all that remains of the great names in college sports, is mainly there failures in the pro-game, which many players are made out to play…should this diminish their dominant seasons at college no, does it yes…the failures of Cade McNown won’t wash away what he did to UW for 3 years at UCLA…I won’t forget the play of Miles Simon when the ‘Cats won the NCAA tourney, the MVP of the squad for the entire season…the Pro’s also have the one-hit wonder phenomenon, but in college the obscure hits go just a little deeper and a little fonder or a little more hurtful depending on who you ask….So that’s it…hopefully somebody cares enough to respond…and Joe 2.0 I look forward to hearing a Joe 2.0 retort, probably involving Ray Lewis or Randy Moss….
posted by Jimbo at 3:42 PM
6 Comments:
I think one word can summerize the College Experience. "Pagentry". There is a history and feeling that college sports can give. Its like the Olympics before the Pro's took over. The feeling of respesenting a state or a region. It can be reproduced on the pro level.
Pagentry.
There is no substitute
I choked up a little on this piece Jimmy you got me with the spirit of College Athletics.
For me it is seeing Ralphie run onto Folsom Field with the team following close behind. PS - Loved the picture of Chip. There really is nothing like the atmosphere at a college game. You don't get that on the pro level.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Joe. Here is a little lesson for you. Wes Mantooth's name came from the 70's TV show "Emergency"
The main character actors name was Randy Mantooth.
For those that know TV in the 70's
Squad 51 to Rampart means something....to the youth of the blog its just a phrase.
Add one more quote Joe. "I will smash your face into a car windshield, and then take your mother Dorothy Mantooth out for a nice seafood dinner and never call her again."
Dedicated to Peggy Elenbaas, just because Peggy has yet to be mentioned in the blog. A nice forarm bash to Peggy.
Joe...thanks for the reply, but I was hoping that you would do a reply post not comment...oh well...you made some thin-man arguments there, that I will further breakdown tomorrow when I have a little more time and not 5 minutes left in my day....
Ya, I wasn't sure how you wanted a reply... I can post my reply tomorrow to include pictures if you wish (as I to am headed home). Since today apparently everybody woke up from their slumber this week and posted, I'll hold off until manyana.
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