Flickr image by RogueSun Media
I’ll start this one off pretty bluntly. If you don’t think that college football is about money, then you need your head examined; the recent realignment buzz illustrates this perfectly. Now before I get too far down a path here, let me be absolutely clear about something. You would have to look pretty hard to find a bigger believer in capitalism than me. I love money…maybe not as much as my wife does, but I sure as hell love it. And I honestly don’t have a problem with the almighty dollar driving the exodus from one conference to another – or no conference at all in the case of BYU.
All this is fine, in my opinion, as long as it doesn’t interfere with the primary goals of the universities (which is to educate these students that just so happen to play football) or intrude on the positive experience of the fans.
Right now, it’s a very early Thursday morning in Columbus, Ohio. I just completed a long drive from the home of Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia and now I’m stuck waiting on our plane to arrive with a number of other fatigued would-be flyers. It’s amazing that other flights seem to taking off and landing. Why not mine? Anyways, not surprisingly, a quick look around the gate area and you’ll see a ton of college team jerseys, shirts, hats, and such being proudly worn. It’s everywhere. You walk past the ticket counters in the airport and there is an official Big Ten store. The waitress at the diner this morning was wearing an Ohio State visor. Even the crack whore that propositioned me this morning at the gas station had on a Buckeyes tank top (you should be real proud Columbus). People just don’t mind spending their hard earned paychecks, tips, or trick money to show support for their team. I’m right there with you. I’d spend a few bucks on a Georgia Tech game jersey. I’m sure my wife would spend a few hundred dollars on one pair of Georgia Tech shorts from Victoria’s Secret (damn that place is expensive…but worth it…hehehe). And all of this is fine because, as fans, it doesn’t get in the way of our enjoyment of the game. It even makes it better in most cases.
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