Does anyone else

[iggymcfly 0]

I really do. Now I'm not saying I hate football, because I love it. College football is the most exciting sport there is as far as I'm concerned. I just hate the whole setup of the NFL.

 

In the first place, the actual games are slow as shit with the 45 second play clock, and the endless stream of commercials. It's nearly impossible to stay interested with the incredibly slow pace.

 

Secondly, the flux with teams becoming good and bad at the drop of a hat pretty much renders the results of the games meaningless. Now this is a tricky one, so I'm going to explain it in-depth. Teams change so much from one year to the next, that nothing's really enough of an anamoly to cause interest. For example, the Jets were a strong playoff team last year, but this year, they can get destroyed 24-0 in their first game, and it's not even enough of a surprise for anyone to take notice. The Falcons can beat the Eagles in the first MNF game of the year, and it still means nothing. It's almost impossible for you to read me an NFL score that will actually pique my interest unless it involves the Jets. Really, this Patriots loss is the first regular season game that's seemed remotely significant in the last three years.

 

Now contrast that to college football. Every week there's something significant. Oklahoma loses their first game to TCU and it signals a major change for a program that's been in the Top 5 for the last five years. Texas and Ohio State play a classic September game that's absolutely pivotal to the race for the national title. Florida State beats Boston College, and practically clinches the ACC Atlantic division in the second conference game of the season. If I were to see a ticker on the bottom of the screen that said Oregon 14 USC 0, I'd stop what I was doing, turn to the game, call my friends, and tell them to turn on the game too. Everything's just so much more significant in college football.

 

Really, if you don't have a fantasy team, the NFL is just a bunch of worthless garbage. It's like watching empty uniforms standing around in between beer and car commercials.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

I'm the opposite. I don't bother with college football because they're all a bunch of exhibition games, imo.

 

And I can't stand fantasy football because you end up watching a game just for the player or two you may have on your team that's involved in the game. However, many people like this, so more power to them...

[razazteca 0]

The only major thing I dislike about NFL is when they have double headers and cut away away from the 1st game refusing to show the final minutes of the game to show the begining of the 2nd game. I would rather watch the ending of the game than the opening minutes of another....you would think the league learned its lesson from the Heidi incident.

 

Another would be the realignment from 3 divisions (West, Central, East) to the current watered down 4 (West, North, South, East). Now you have teams with 8-8 records making it to the playoffs.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

How would you divide 32 teams up by 6 divisions?

[the max 0]

I've never gotten into football the same way that I got into baseball and hockey. I don't like how much media coverage it gets (ESPN radio has all of sunday afternoon spent with some pinhead in the studio giving minute by minute updates of every game being played. I just find the whole thing to be overkill.

[Urban Warfare 0]

I agree with the college football statement. I really like the fact that one loss puts your national title hopes in serious jeopardy. And then there's the rivalries. You don't see the atmosphere of those games in any sport. The only thing I hate about college football is the BCS. I think a playoff system would showcase what college football is all about. The thing about the NFL that pisses me off is the inbalance between the conferences. When an 8 loss teams makes the playoffs in one conference, and a seven loss team does not in the other, that just flat out sucks.

[razazteca 0]

How would you divide 32 teams up by 6 divisions?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The old system was 15 teams in each conference with 5 in each division. One extra team in a division would not be a big deal.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

15/17?

[Dr. Tyler; Captain America 0]

I'm the opposite. I don't bother with college football because they're all a bunch of exhibition games, imo

 

Co-sign.

 

College football is exciting a total of ten times per year (or when you attend). Don't get me wrong, I like football at most levels; the problem is that 90% of the games are unwatchable. In the NFL, there tends to be quite a few close, dramatic games.

[razazteca 0]

15/17?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The Seahawks was moved from the AFC to the NFC.

[Guest *KNK*]

He's saying Six in each division.

[razazteca 0]

Only one division would have 6.

[Kapoutman 0]

I only follow CFL because NFL bores me.

[Bored 0]

I think the main reason I prefer college over the pros is the television coverage. If you live in a two team market like me you are stuck several Sunday's out of the year seeing only the local teams. When you hate one of them (Raiders) and the other sucks (49ers) this can get very boring. The NFL makes me feel I should be grateful I get any coverage and if I want to make sure I see a decent game I have to get a satellite dish. With college football all you need is basic cable and you can see a dozen games on a Saturday. Sure too often needless blowout games are shown because a big name team is in the game (really did Rice/Texas need national t.v. coverage?) but you are guarenteed to see at least one great game that day, like Michigan State/Notre Dame this past week.

 

I also believe college football is more exciting to watch and it completely blows the NFL away when it comes to atmosphere. There will be no regular season NFL game this year that touches Ohio State/Texas and LSU/ASU from last week. College football's only real problem, and it's a huge one, is the way they declare their champion has become a running joke. I can understand can be a complete turnoff for some people from ever getting too excited about college football.

[Guest El Satanico]

I like college, but I'm a much bigger NFL fan. I just ignore/avoid the "experts" for the most part.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

I enjoy both but I enjoy watching NFL just a bit more.

[Kurt Angle Mark 0]

I truly believe that if college football had a playoff that it would only take a few years for it to surpass the NFL in terms of popularity, because in terms of presentation and atmosphere all the top college programs just blow away the NFL.

[KingPK 0]

Both levels have their own pros & cons, but I enjoy watching both. It is tough to get behind a certain team unless you are an alumni of the school, though. And there are many more blowouts/poor games in college than the pros (but the national games on CBS/ABC/NBC are usually pretty good).

[The Czech Republic 0]

I just don't think football is entertaining at any level.

[Zetterberg is God 0]

I just can't get into college football, for whatever reason. The BCS and its various debacles (ie two different champions) does have a lot to do with it though.

[Vern Gagne 0]

In the first place, the actual games are slow as shit with the 45 second play clock, and the endless stream of commercials. It's nearly impossible to stay interested with the incredibly slow pace.

 

That's the one thing I don't like about college football. The slow pace. The games are 3 1/2 hours long. They need to chance the rule that the clock stops on every first down. Make it the final three minutes of each half.

[Guest Vitamin X]

I just don't think football is entertaining at any level.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I echo this exact same sentiment with baseball, but to each their own.

[iggymcfly 0]

In the first place, the actual games are slow as shit with the 45 second play clock, and the endless stream of commercials. It's nearly impossible to stay interested with the incredibly slow pace.

 

That's the one thing I don't like about college football. The slow pace. The games are 3 1/2 hours long. They need to chance the rule that the clock stops on every first down. Make it the final three minutes of each half.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Whoa whoa. College football moves way faster than the NFL. Sure, they might stop the clock a little bit more during the game, but they don't have TV timeouts after punts, kickoffs, and all the other ridiculous excuses that the networks use to cram in as many commercials as humanly possible. Also, the play clock's a huge factor. NFL teams routinely run the play clock all the way down, and it's 20 seconds longer. That means that there's nearly twice as much time where they sit around and fondle each other's balls instead of playing football. The fact that some people don't notice this amazes me.

 

And I think the complaint about blowouts is completely invalid. Sure, if you only follow one team, you might see less exciting games for them, but if you're a fan of football in general, there are tons of great games. Notre Dame/Michigan State and Miami/Clemson were both more entertaining than any NFL game last weekend. Both featured big comebacks in front of a raucous crowd, culminating in real overtimes, where both offenses and defenses get to decide the game, not kickers and the flip of a coin. Virginia/Syracuse, Oregon/Fresno State, TCU/Utah, and UTEP/Houston were all exciting televised games that would make you stop what you were doing to watch the ending. In fact, I'd say that the way the NFL contract's set up, it's actually easier to find a close, exciting NCAA game then it is to find one find one from the NFL.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I just don't think football is entertaining at any level.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

+1

 

I also echo the sentiments of the poster who said ESPN Radio's coverage was overkill. It truly is. No sport is analyzed more than football, with less to analyze. All year, you can't run 10 feet without running into someone talking NFL. It's fine on a Monday morning, but when it's April and there's a full month before the NFL draft, it's too much.

[nl5xsk1 0]

Iggy, you reference half a dozen college games that were very good ... but that's out of 50, maybe 100 match-ups. Obviously with a larger pool of games there's more likely to be an awesome game. How about the 55-0 game between Michigan and EMU? How about that 70-17 nailbiter for USC? Texas Tech putting 80 up on an overmatched team ... that's fun to watch.

 

And, al, I know that we come from different camps ... but IMO baseball is every bit as overanalyzed as football. The NFL draft is in April, and thus there's a few weeks of hype before hand. It gets a large audience for ESPN so it's in their best interests to hype it.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

I can buy the reasoning of "EVERY week is a playoff game in D-I College Football" but the problem is many times the two teams playing for a "National Championship" have already lost once, which means they should have been "eliminated."

 

And I agree with the theory of D-I College Football being bigger than the NFL if some sort of playoff was instituted...

[The Czech Republic 0]

I don't like the idea that one error can cause one loss that totally sinks a team's chance to win a national title. Kick a field goal attempt wide right and suddenly you have to settle for the Idaho Bowl or something. I need redemption in sports.

[Black Lushus 0]

the NFL, like pretty much any sport, doesn't get exciting until playoff races begin or if your favorite team is doing well...the jury is still out on Buffalo (though they aren't looking that great, right now) so we'll see, if they start losing more games, I'll probably tune out until the last 5 or 6 weeks of the season...NBA and MLB seasons are so long and tedious, even when my teams ARE doing well, it's hard for me to watch until close to playoff time...

[BruiserKC 0]

The only major thing I dislike about NFL is when they have double headers and cut away away from the 1st game refusing to show the final minutes of the game to show the begining of the 2nd game.  I would rather watch the ending of the game than the opening minutes of another....you would think the league learned its lesson from the Heidi incident.

 

Another would be the realignment from 3 divisions (West, Central, East) to the current watered down 4 (West, North, South, East).  Now you have teams with 8-8 records making it to the playoffs.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

The only time the NFL does that as far as cutting away is when the game is out of reach and the 2nd game involves a team in one of the local markets. I believe its in the TV contracts that if you are in the Dallas market (as an example) and the second-game is Cowboys-Redskins they will cut away from 49ers-Vikings for it. More people would rather watch the local game anyway and would be more pissed if they missed the first few minutes.

 

As for why I like the NFL a bit more than college (and I LOVE football ) is the fact that part of the beauty is in the parity. When the teams report to training camp in July there is the hope and the chance your team is going to be able to do something. You don't have that in college football...Kansas football fans know usually their team is going to suck balls, ditto with Indiana, Duke, etc. In baseball you can pretty much eliminate half the teams by the time pitchers and catchers report.

[The Czech Republic 0]

As for why I like the NFL a bit more than college (and I LOVE football  )  is the fact that part of the beauty is in the parity.  When the teams report to training camp in July there is the hope and the chance your team is going to be able to do something.

Whatever, I don't like when teams go 13-3 one year and 4-12 the next. What the hell? I don't like that Super Bowl/good playoff teams can just fall right off the map over an offseason, like Tampa and Oakland did, like St. Louis, Tennessee, Kansas City have. Then you just have teams getting good out of nowhere, which if you don't follow every offseason event and transaction, can be baffling. People were saying last week that the Packers had no chance against the Lions, and I was like "what the fuck?" because in my mind, the Green Bay Packers are considered a Very Good Team and the Lions are not. You still see that in other sports, I guess, but it's never as frequent and drastic as it is in football. When teams do fall off the map (Mighty Ducks 03-04, Angels 02-03, Hurricanes 02-03) like that, it's usually because they were just coming off a fluke postseason and regressed back to the mean. It's pretty rare when you have situations like the Lakers going from conference champions to the cellar, but that's par for the course in the NFL, it seems.

 

I just don't care for football. Too complicated. Too many men on the field. I don't know a single fucking offensive lineman for the Bears, or ANY football team, and I lose no sleep over this fact. "Yeah well baseball only has two fewer positions!" Yeah but if you don't know the baseball positions by the time you're five, you must not leave your house.

 

You don't have that in college football...Kansas football fans know usually their team is going to suck balls, ditto with Indiana, Duke, etc.    In baseball you can pretty much eliminate half the teams by the time pitchers and catchers report.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Not true. Nobody thought the White Sox would do better than a distant 2nd. Not even Hawk Harrelson was talking about the postseason yet. Of course you can write off the Royals, Rays, and Pirates, but eliminate half the teams in March? You couldn't even eliminate half the teams in August.