Your Home for Football Information
College Football is America’s sport. There. I said it. Pro football can try to make the claim, but, other than church, they own Sunday.
Sunday has a different feel than Saturday. There was a Seinfeld episode where a character named George discussed the different days of
the week and the way they felt. Saturday had a feel, Sunday had a different feel and Tuesday did not have a feel. Perhaps George was
thinking of College Football when he was describing Saturday’s feel. In the 1950s and 1960s, baseball was America’s sport, but that
time has long past. Too many games at too slow of a pace has rendered baseball largely irrelevant to anyone under the age of 40.
College Football also got some outside help when the large all sports network launched in 1979. Starved for programming and not
wanting to broadcast slo-pitch softball
in prime time, the rights to several conference’s games were purchased. I
remember the ACC the most, but I believe the SEC and the Big Ten were also broadcast. Again in the late 1990s, when the network
was at a crossroads and facing increased competition, executives doubled down on the sport and went all-in. Now, the pre-game
show starts early Saturday morning and games are on several platforms through the completion of the last Pac Twelve or Hawaii
home game. In addition, the network owns the rights to the College Football Playoff
and owns many smaller bowl games outright.
This all-in wager would not have happened if the landscape was not already established. People love to spend Saturday’s pinning
College Football to their center. Whether it is tailgating at a game site, grilling on your patio with several games on or attending
that Saturday night neighborhood get-together, people love College Football. It’s amazing to me how many people root for schools
they did not attend. I know people that graduated from a school that root for another school, even a rival.
Phil Steele has become a national celebrity because of College Football. His annual preview magazine is the best I’ve ever seen.
I buy it every year. I know it comes out right around father’s day. One year, my wife picked it up for me and I had already bought
one. I took it back to the bookstore and the clerk said, “I’ll gladly take this back, because I know I’ll sell it.” The clerk went
on to tell me the store sells out in just a few days. Now, like most hard core fans, I pre-purchase it through
Phil’s website and have it sent to my house.
The ritual starts each year toward the end of June, when I read Phil’s preview and start to think about College Football. Activity
heats up in August when teams start practice schedules. The end of August starts the games, with Labor Day weekend being the big
kickoff. I viewed Labor Day with disdain as a kid, because it coincided with the end of summer and the start of school. I now look
forward to the holiday, because it starts College Football. This weekly ritual continues through the week after Thanksgiving, when
the Conference Championship games are played. The week between Christmas and New Year’s Day is filled with three daily bowl games.
Ultimately, the National Championship game is played the week after New Year’s. Then, College Football goes into hibernation and
we can all resume our weekend lives.
My apologies to those of you who can get motivated for the intra-squad spring games. I see this as nothing more than televised practice.
If I change the channel, maybe I can find someone mowing their lawn. Good for you for tuning in during April for one weekend.
I am always interested to hear what you have to say on the subject. Hit me up on Twitter and I will publish some of the best reactions and comments.
Below are some links to my favorite websites where you can get general, but quality, information about football. For more specific information, click one of the links on the left. Drop me a line at info@massports.com if there is another website you would like to see linked here and I will consider adding it.
College Football Playoff Rankings. Free sports scores, lines and picks at ScoresAndOdds.com. Goldsheet, America's No. 1 Sports Handicappers for over four decades. Phil Steele's website. ESPN's website. Sportsline. Fox Sports. NBC Sports.