I'm Going to Miss College Football

I always get a little morose this time of year.  Except for a handful of bowl games and the Playoff, college football is wrapped up for another year.  For the seniors on these teams, last Saturday’s rivalry matchups may be the last time any of them will take the field.  It has to be poignant because you leave a bit of your heart on that field on that final game. Your college years are special; and college football is special, because it is about the idealism and passion that we all have before life drags it out of us.  These kids are playing because they love the game and they love their school.  They aren’t playing to get endorsements are a paycheck.  College football just means more.

All of us that went to college know that college is packed with first experiences, and rife with last ones. In that way, the college football season is a microcosm of the college experience as a whole.  You start the football season full of hope.  You get knocked down a few times and you learn some valuable lessons along the way.  Much like the college experience, college football season is short and intense, chock-full of drama and emotion. 

College football coaches have personalities, as odd as some of them might be.  Yet it is the weirdness of Les Miles, the colorful Southern colloquialism of Bobby Bowden, and the snark of Steve Spurrier that make every week a veritable panoply of the bizarre and hilarious.

The live mascots, the bands, the tailgating, the raucous student section, the silly fight songs, and the general rowdy circus of ESPN College GameDay all serve to make college football season a three-month long Bacchanal.  There is nothing like that pageantry in professional football.

College football is unique because there is no money involved.  There are no contracts yet that limit the players.  College fans are loyal; at least those who are alumni of that school.  You will never see a Gator alum abruptly changing allegiance to support Miami, even if the Gators have a losing season.  And I mean never.  That would be tantamount to selling state secrets to the Russians. College football is just more fun, dadgumit, and I am going to miss it fervently until next September.