Which sports level do you enjoy more as far as entertainment goes and why? For me, I've been more of a pro level sports guy following the basketball and football genres since I was a kid. I don't know what it is but I could never get into college game of football or basketball like most of you guys. The only time I watch them is at the end of the season where there're a few teams left contending for the championship. It just seems like there are too many teams in college for me to keep up with the program and I would just lost interest. The fact that I have a busy scedule doesn't help either. When I try to get into college sports, I don't even know where to start. Like how the basketball season had just started and I was watching some games on ESPN. I was pretty lost and didn't know any of the players or familiar with the school. I know there're are some good reason for watching college sports, and one of them is to see the development of some of the talented prospect that could end up being in the draft, but I could just turn to ESPN.com for that. For some, the game style and rules of the college games compared to the pros are different and many enjoy that of college more. That is not enough for me to follow college games though. Pro sports is where its at for me. It doesn't consume a lot of my time and its easy to follow them b/c of the less amount of teams compard to the college level and the fact that I'm familiar with 75% of the players for each genres in pro which makes it more enjoyable to watch. Most importantly, I get to see the best player/athlete going head to head and that is the most satisfying part for me.
I prefer the NFL to College football on a fan basis, the players don't stay on the teams very long so I don't really have a reason to cheer for any college team. College Basketball is not that exciting until March Madness, which is one of the more fun things to watch in all of sports.
I'm still partial to Pro over College. That said, college athletics get MUCH better once you're an alum of the school. ...and at least with college, you don't have to worry about them up and leaving town.
Football: College I just don't like the NFL any more. There's just no identity with any team. 10 - 6 team this year is a 6 - 10 team next year. A stud last year is a lame duck this year while some guy from leftfield just all of a sudden comes out and make the pro - bowl. I just don't see the point of cheering my teams any more because I can identify with them. Basketball: Pro, college you know pretty much who's gonna get in early on and I really failed to care for UT unless they starts loosing. But basketball, man the Houston Rockets are making it harder to continue to love them but Orlando Magics are a joy to watch this year.
College sports, and it's not close. Ever compare the atmosphere of a major college sports event to a pro event? For example go to a Texas-OU football game or a Michigan - OSU game. There's nothing else like it -> NFL can't compare. Free agency has really hurt pro sports in terms of tenure with a certain organization. Similarly you have people like Latrell Sprewell claiming that $9million isn't enough to feed his family. Way too many prima donnas in the pros. Guys like Terrell Owens, Ron Artest, and Barry Bonds.
College.....football especially. I don't pay a whole lot of attention to college b-ball until March rolls around, but I have a near addiction to college football.
I don't know, most of the top teams with solid programs can keep them going strong for quite a bit of time. What I like about sports teams is seeing the program progress and change for the better as long as they make smart decisions. Sure, teams fall off and rise, but typically once a program solidify it self, it can keep it self going strong for a quite a bit of time. You can also kind of see the direction a team is going judging by last season and know when a team's making progress. In the NFL, teams that seems to be on the verge of something good all of a sudden takes 3 steps back. The volatility is much greater in the pro football. My team might go from 4 - 12 to 8 - 8 but I'm not gonna get excited the year after and feel that they can now make the playoffs because it's just as likely for them to go 4 -12 again.
Well as far as NFL goes, it goes both ways. Look at guys like Eddie George and Emmitt Smith after he broke the record. Teams are more than happy to dump you in a second. That's why NFL is a little screwed up, players aren't loyal to the team and the team isn't loyal to the players.
agreed. the atmosphere at a college event is so much more exciting, especially when it's a major rivalry.
i think this is where i come out, too. college hoops, particularly at March Madness time, is about as good as it gets, period.
Pro. I don't like college sports at all, and I get really friggin' sick of wading though tons of college sports news trying to find info about pro sports. Back when ESPN was a newborn, they couldn't afford to broadcast any pro games. So they broadcast college, and pushed it like crazy. Back in those days, there was no other "all sports" channel, and it was a very novel and catchy idea. So ESPN gained popularity and this helped them launch their promotion of college sports. There are many who have been college sports fans for generations - long before ESPN came around. And certainly alumnis love to support their college (though I don't). But when ESPN was born, they made college sports trendy and people who used to have no interest, and even people who didn't go to college suddenly started to jump on the bandwagon becuase it was trendy. It was marketed. I didn't like it then. And I don't like it now. The pro level is certainly not flawless, but IMHO its light years better than college, and all the ESPN marketing in the world won't change that. -- droxford
There is absolutely nothing better than watching a college football game in person, at a packed stadium. Pro football doesn't compete. On the other hand, I prefer pro hoops to college (except for March Madness, which is the quite possibly the greatest televised sporting event in the year). The college hoops game, unlike college football, never sees the best young talent and loses way too many players after one or two years. The product is just diminished.
I hear about this quite often from a lot of people...can someone elaborate more as to why being in packed stadium of a college game is more exciting than that of the pros? How is does it have a better atmosphere? I mean, there're rivalry in the pros thats just as exciting like Bears vs Packers, Eagles vs Cowboy, Lakers vs Sac, Piston vs Indiana.
Pro everything except football. I love the NFL but there is no other sport like college football. The tradition, the rivalries, the atmosphere, the passion, nothing else comes close. It would be even better if they scrapped this BCS nonsense and just had a playoff, but that's another thread...
