TS on his passion for college football. I used to share it. Big time. But over recent years, a number of things happened to cool my enthusiasm:
- Nike hijacking the University of Oregon, creating a virtual Nike U. I don't like Nike, heightened by an interview I did with Phil Knight when I was writing for Oregon Business magazine. I'll leave it at that.
- The general increase of corruption in the game.
- The general increase of hype in the game, the players participating. Try to imagine Hugh McElhenny doing a dance in the end zone. Or Alan Ameche. Tank Younger.
- The increasing tendency to prefer talented thugs over players with character.
- The increasing joke at major schools of the concept of the "student athlete."
- My increasing appreciation of "real" football, world football, what we call soccer, which I now find to be a more exciting game to watch and certainly a more demanding game to play.
So I am curious to see how I react to college football when the games start next weekend. I have some curiosity: will UCLA become competitive again? Will Washington State with Leach as coach surprise some folks? We'll soon find out.
No comments:
Post a Comment