By Jeff Zillich
~ I was raised in a family that appreciated sports for what they should be: an experience. A culmination of hard work that can result in failure and success. It was fun. A true embracing of the sports culture.
We didn’t have cable television in my home growing up. I was born in 1983, so it was prevalent in society but my parents didn’t feel it brought value to my experience of being a kid, so in 18 years of living under my parent’s roof, we had cable TV minimally throughout those 18 years, and it was when the World Cup was being played. That was because my parents understood the value of real life experience vs spending time in front of a television and I’m grateful for that. We wanted to go to the 1994 World Cup with it being in the U.S., but didn’t make it happen and decided getting to watch the games on TV was the next best thing. Anyway, not having cable TV meant I spent all my time outside simply being a kid, or in our basement doing the same. The creativity ran wild as we attempted to find ways to play every sport possible.
Indoor Hockey in our basement: Mattel golf clubs used as hockey sticks, an old burnt orange couch turned around and pushed up against the wall to be used as a “bench” that you could check people into. Purple PVC pipe glue holding together mini mod soccer goals we had moved from outside into the basement, pipes that served as make shift hockey nets. We’d spend hours in that basement, pretending to skate around in our socks, wearing out countless pairs in the process.
Lacrosse: a cardboard box in the center of the front yard that served as the objective, as we used a set of lacrosse sticks to see who could tally the most goals in said box, as one person’s job was to protect that box at all costs.
Football: Interception in the front yard. The game was simple. 3 people are involved. A QB, a DB, and a WR. The QB stood at the narrow piece of our front yard, while the WR and DB stood at the wide end. The rail road tie that defined the end of the grass and start of the gravel drive way along the side of the yard marked the back of the end zone. The cedar shakes that curved outwardly from the edge of the house towards the driveway, separating the mulch/trees/rocks/landscaping, served as one sideline, and the edge of the yard next to the street served as the other. The QB had to connect with the WR for a TD, or the DB made an Interception/knockdown. Many of gashed shins were collected from those cedar shakes, as one the best emulations was pretending to catch a TD as you leaned over the corner of the ‘end zone’.
Home Run Derby: an old metal bat and tennis balls, as that same patch of grass between the cedar shakes and rail road tie served as home plate and the neighbor’s house across the street qualified as a home run, or blasting one into their pine tree high enough up also put another dinger on your home run total. The tennis balls would often hit that big pine, carom around, hitting branches on the way down, before slowly plopping to rest in their yard. If they didn’t, we got the experience of climbing up in the tree to find them. That was old man Glover’s yard and he never cared. He knew the experience we were having was what it was all about it. The best was when he’d putter through his yard, a pipe hanging from that old lower lip of his, with the smell of pipe smoke wafting through the neighborhood, as we attempted to blast dingers over his house.
Basketball: A Basketball hoop hung above our garage. Where the driveway broke and sloped downward served as the 3 point line. The other cracks in the driveway were the perfect markings for the unique H-O-R-S-E shots we would come up with. A spot that had cracked into an oval, just far enough out to serve as a free throw line.
That’s just a few of the creative ways we sought out embracing the sports community, and don’t ever forget that it is indeed just that, a community.
The pinnacle of all these things as I grew up and the perfect reminder of what it was all about, something that embodied all that imagination and passion for sports, was College Football Saturdays in the fall. Not only did we not have cable in our house, but we only had one television in our house and we didn’t spend much time watching it, as we chose to spend our time outside grabbing as much of life as we could, but when Saturday rolled around, it was time to crank that TV up and enjoy the pageantry that courses through college football. 19, 25, 42, 31, and 66 were the channels provided by an old set of metal bunny ears that sat atop our television in our family room, a room that sat just off the dining room in our house, with a door 10 feet away to the backyard and pool, a pool in which hours of water polo were played. 19 was CBS. 25 was NBC. 42 was ABC. 66 was Fox. 31 was PBS or some education channel. We watched Nova on it for school projects, but a channel never visited on Saturdays in the fall.
Those 4 channels provided me a view into the country and its different cultures every fall Saturday. I loved it and couldn’t get enough of it. 9 am rolled around (I grew up in the Southeastern corner of Washington State) and CBS carried a match up in the sweltering heat between SEC juggernauts. I loved the SEC during that time, a time long before conference honking consumed the sport. Those games were awesome to see. ABC often carried the Michigan games and pivotal Big Ten match ups. Every Saturday morning, I’d scurry over to the floor just to the right of the recliner, as that was where the local newspaper lay once my father had finished reading it. I’d wade through the sections, discarding the ads, comics and any valid news portions, seeking out the one section I needed for that day: the sports section. A quick turn of the pages to the same spot where the channel and times of the games were listed. Sweet, we got Georgia-Auburn at 9 am on CBS. Penn State at Ohio State at ABC at Noon….were the thoughts every Saturday as I prepared for the days games. My mother graduated from University of Michigan with my father graduating from Central Michigan before attaining his masters in Madison. My mother gets it, understands the full scope of the pageantry behind College Football, so while it appeared off the cuff we had a choice for fan hood as a kid, there really wasn’t much of a choice, it was clear we were to be Michigan fans. Go Blue was the chorus within our home. The guts of my passion for the sport was experienced in the 1990’s. Any college football fan remembers the 90’s. They had it all. The map was covered in legit contenders. Florida-Florida State. Bowden vs Spurrier. Fulmer’s Tennessee squads. Joe Pa’s Nittany Lions. Beamer at Tech with Vick rolling through. Don James Washington Huskies and Mike Price’s Washington State Cougars. Miami was Miami then too. Nebraska was peak Nebraska under Tom Osborne. Ricky Williams came through Texas. Michigan and Ohio State produced epic match-ups, the John Cooper era spoiled only by the Maize and Blue, fueling one of the best rivalries in all of sports. Every fall Saturday growing up was spent getting to experience all of that in some capacity. The early 90’s saw Washington in its prime. My best friend Bob lived 3 houses down, his father a UDub grad and in turn, they were a Husky family. Back in those days the Rose Bowl was a huge deal, and at times a chance to claim a National Title. As Michigan made its way through the 1991 season, a season that produced Desmond Howard’s diving catch in the end zone as Michigan beat a Lou Holtz led Notre Dame squad, it was becoming clear we were heading for a clash in the Rose Bowl between Michigan and Washington.
Michigan played host to Ohio State that year, with a trip to Pasadena already sealed, but at 9-1, so much more was at stake, with beating Ohio State tops on the list. The season is ruined if you can’t beat Ohio State. Any Michigan and Ohio State fan will tell you that. I settled in on the floor, a handmade Michigan blanket providing warmth on a cold fall afternoon to watch The Game. Michigan was just flat out better that year, but little did I know at the time that I would be watching college football history ensue. In only the way Keith Jackson can say it, you hear, “Nice high kick, got a little wind under it…andddd he runs Howard back…LOOK AT HIS MOVES” The roar of the crowd takes over, growing louder, as the blur that is Desmond Howard gallops towards the sideline, its deafening at this point… “ONE MAN, GOODBYYEEEE……” As Des approaches the end zone, working his way across the field to ensure he was front and center in the end zone once he crossed, Keith Jackson delivers history: “HELLLOOOOO HEISMAN.” Desmond stops, and strikes the pose to the roar of the crowd.
Perfection in its own way. Capturing what the sport is about in one moment. The rivalries, the players, the stadiums, the fans, the announcers all captured in a moment in time. That’s College Football. A collection of all of us together, creating moments like that. From the fans to the players, that’s it. Those moments take all of us to create and those moments will be gone if we aren’t careful.
Michigan proceeded to play Washington in the Rose Bowl that year, and in the weeks leading up to the game there was never ending banter between my best friend Bob and I. Washington had Mario Bailey at WR and Napoleon Kaufman at tailback and there was much debate about them not getting the pub Michigan & Desmond Howard got, because they were damn good players in their own right, despite Desmond Howard winning the Heisman trophy. Washington proceeded to put a beat down on Michigan, and was voted National Champs, earning a share with Miami that year.
In those days, the AP and Coaches poll decided the National Champion and it was always fun to track the polls every week. The Monday morning sports section fueling the debate about which teams should be ranked where after the previous Saturday’s games.
I remember images in my mind from November 21, 1992 like it was yesterday. Imagery that I now look back on realizing it was history. Michigan played Ohio State in the morning, and my same routine existed. By now, a 9 year old kid, laying on the floor on a cold fall day, as The Game took place. Michigan traveled to Columbus and played Ohio State to a 13-13 tie. You remember that game? Kirk Herbstreit was the QB for Ohio State. That was the tie that saved John Cooper’s job at Ohio State, ensuring Michigan would go 6-2 the following 8 years vs Ohio State. Some of Cooper’s teams were juggernauts, only to be thwarted by Michigan. In 1995, Eddie George (the eventual Heisman winner) and the Buckeyes were on their march to a National Title, only to have Tshimanga “Tim” Biakabutuka run wild for 313 yards in Michigan Stadium in a Michigan victory. Following my viewing of the kissing of your sister between Michigan and Ohio State on that day in 1992, I proceeded to ride my bike up to my elementary school, where a bizarre was taking place. I had to get my mom a Christmas gift and that was the perfect place that fell within my budget. While I picked out a coffee mug, the Apple Cup was in process. Drew Bledsoe proceeded to rain, or should I say snow, all over 5th ranked Washington’s pre Rose Bowl parade. The image of a Coug receiver catching a perfectly thrown ball in the back of the end zone, sliding through the snow out the back of the end zone, scoring a TD in the process is an image I’ve never forgotten, imagery forever ingrained in my mind. The good imagery only college football can provide.
Michigan once again met Washington in the Rose Bowl following the 1992 season and I got to enjoy victorious smack talk with my friends, a year later than Washington’s throttling of Michigan in Pasadena, as Michigan, led by Tyrone Wheatley at tailback, dispatched of Washington 38-31. I learned what banter between fans was in those moments.
The same routine existed every fall Saturday as I grew up. By now, it was 1997 and I was a 7th grade middle school kid. Michigan had managed to go undefeated and was headed to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl. Mike Price’s Washington State Cougars had managed to win the Pac 12 and were headed to Rose Bowl for the first time since 1930. We lived in Cougar Country, in Tri-Cities, WA. The excitement throughout my school was at an all-time high. My friends all convinced Ryan Leaf’s led Cougars with all those receivers would be too much for the Charles Woodson led Michigan defense. My mother was a reading teacher at an elementary school, and had received nothing but a hard time from all her friends leading up to the game. She was the only Michigan fan living amid all Cougar brethren. She was a good sport about it and confident Michigan would win the Rose Bowl and National Title in the process. Michigan managed to hold off Ryan Leaf and the Cougars, as Brian Griese played the game of his life, with his father in the booth doing the color commentary, alongside the one and only Keith Jackson. How special is that? Keith Jackson in the booth, a WSU grad, calling WSU in the Rose Bowl, alongside the HOF Bob Griese, who’s son was the starting QB for Michigan that day. The win by Michigan earned them a share of the National Title with Nebraska that year.
My mother had graciously accepted all the smack talk leading up to the game, but another great thing about College Football: to the victor goes the spoils. As a middle school kid over the Holiday break, who was at that age where my parents were no longer ‘cool’, I didn’t want to help my Mom with her latest request, but looking back now, I’m glad I did. We proceeded to go to her school and outfit the entire teacher’s lounge in Maize and Blue garb. Like I said, to the victor goes the spoils. Those teachers thought a elementary school reading teacher would be gracious in victory? No no no, this is College Football and bragging rights is as much apart of the sport as anything.
What a decade, as from 1990-1999: Colorado, Georgia Tech, Miami, Washington, Alabama, Florida State, Nebraska, Florida, Michigan, Tennessee all laid claim to National Titles while Penn State managed to attain a perfect season as well. The entire map covered and all conferences represented. The way College Football should be. The sport is at its peak when the rivalries and marquee names are all great.
2001 allowed me to see my first major College Football game in person. Michigan was headed to Seattle to play Washington to open up the 2001 season. I had a High School football game in Yakima, WA on Friday night. As my birthday present, my parents got tickets to the game that would take place the following day. My first experience of learning just how big a deal an in person game day experience is would occur that Saturday in Seattle, WA. There wasn’t much planning other than getting a hotel and going to the game, so when we arrived an hour before kickoff, we learned the game day lesson about parking and just how important it is. After driving around in search of a parking spot, worry about missing part of the game ensued. My parents dropped my brother and me off close to the stadium and would go park the car, ensuring we didn’t miss any of the game. If you’ve never been to Husky Stadium, go. That’s all I can say. The back drop is stunning as it sits on Lake Washington.
I haven’t been back to Husky Stadium since that day, but I can only imagine it’s that much better with the improvements they’ve made.
A hot sunny day in Seattle is a sight to behold as well. It was such that day. My brother and I entered the stadium, our seats in the lower bowl behind the end zone, about half way up. The perfect spot to soak up College Football and all its traditions. Staring around the stadium and out onto Lake Washington that day is something I’ll never forget. My parents managed to make it to the their seats in the second quarter, as the game day parking lesson was learned the hard way. Lloyd Carr’s Michigan team proceeded to lose to Rick Neuhesial’s Washington team that day. A young Freshman WR named Reggie Williams had a huge day, with the key turning point being an attempted Michigan FG that got blocked, and then scooped up by Roc Alexander, who raced down the sideline towards the end zone that sits next to Lake Washington for a TD. The stadium shook, sirens blared, as Husky fans went crazy. It wasn’t even my team winning, but man was that a cool experience to be a part of. I wanted to be a part of something like that. That experience of being a fan was special, and there was nothing like it. I wanted the full college football experience.
That feeling would be the driver that ultimately led to me being a Clemson graduate. In the fall of 2005 my best friend from high school was a Clemson Student. At the time I was 3 years removed from HS, and now no longer in college, waiting tables for a living. Cassidy kept telling me: “You gotta come down for a game man, you’ll love it, and you gotta just see it.” He knew what he was doing as Florida State was the opponent he told me to visit for. I would fly down for a weekend and watch the Bowden Bowl in 2005. One College Football Saturday would change my life forever. I flew into Greenville, SC on Thursday before the game and my friend picked me up from the airport. We proceeded to operate on a liquid diet the next two nights, as the anticipation for my first Clemson game day experience grew. Saturday morning I woke up on the couch of Cassidy’s apartment at 10 am. It was a noon kick. I walked down the hallway and said, Hey Cass, whats the plan?” as he was still asleep. “What time is it?” he muttered. “A little after 10,” I replied. “Holy shit, we gotta go,” Cassidy quickly pronounced. We proceeded to get ready in a hurry, “We got time man, game isn’t until noon” I said. “No man, you don’t get it, we gotta go.” What I didn’t “get” was Clemson Game day is a day long event, an all encompassing experience, and we had already slept through a huge part of that experience. We proceeded to walk from his apartments through downtown Clemson, on our way to Death Valley. Each step along the way, painting a picture of what College Football is all about. From the small shops selling gear, the bars, the tailgates, all of it embodies the sport and Clemson does it as good or better than anyone. Our final destination on that walk was halfway up the left side of the Hill within Death Valley.
This is what it was all about, everything I loved experiencing on TV as a kid, epitomizing the pageantry of the sport. The sun shining bright on one of those comfortable days you’ll find in November in the South, looking up and seeing those intimidating letters embedded above the lower deck of Clemson Memorial Stadium: Clemson Welcomes You to Death Valley. I stood and peered over my right shoulder, as the Clemson Football team gathered at the top of the hill. 85,000 people at full throat. The cannon fired and pandemonium ensued as ‘we watched em spill down the hill’. There I was, a kid that was raised in South Eastern Washington as a Michigan fan, in a sea of orange, Bobby Bowden patrolling one sideline and Tommy Bowden the other, those traditional gold helmets of FSU glistening in the sun, standing next to my best friend and now surrounded by what felt 85 thousand of my new best friends, completely immersed in the heart of College Football. If you’ve never been to a Clemson-Florida State game in Death Valley, go. Words don’t do it justice. I remember it like it was yesterday, as Clemson wore an odd color combo they don’t often sport: orange pants and purple tops. The Roars of Death Valley deafening. My feet hurting from the awkward stance on the Hill, a feeling in your feet only those that have stood on that hill understand. Clemson proceeded to whip Florida State that day, with the peak moment being Aaron Kelly’s TD catch in the corner of the end zone in front of the student section. Initially ruled incomplete, the play would be reviewed. This was back when replay in college football first started, so it was a huge deal. Cassidy and I stared back over our right shoulder to see the play on the jumbo screen. That was a TD. Clear as day. Tommy Bowden proceeded to go crazy, as all of Death Valley accompanied him, sharing his same sentiment that it was a TD. Cassidy and I raised both hands in the air, signaling touchdown, encouraging the rest of the folks around us to do the same. As the officials reviewed the call, you could see it, like something out of a movie, as fans around the stadium began to join in. Before you knew it, all of Death Valley had their arms raised signaling Touchdown. What a moment. To this day, Cassidy and I both cherish that memory, and argue to no end with many a folk who refuse to believe us that we were the ones that started that TD signal. The official pulled the head phones off, proceeded to relay the decision, and as it always is with replay, halfway through the explanation, the fans told the story before the official finished. Pandemonium once again ensued, culminating when the official raised both arms in the air to signal touchdown. I remember standing at a tailgate above the cemetery next to Death Valley after the game, fully embracing that version of the College Football game day experience, like I’d never experienced before, and thinking this is it, I want to be a part of this right here. The rest is history.
As we sit here now in the summer of 2020, I’m 36 years old, a Clemson graduate, married to another Clemson graduate, whom I proposed to with Death Valley in the background, have two boys, a yellow lab named Valley and live in a house in which the entire basement is a Clemson room. 7 flat screens on our property, 4 in that Clemson Basement. If I can’t be at the games, by God I’ll be able watch em all on TV. I’m a season ticket holder at Clemson, that’s bared witness in person to Clemson going 2-2 in National Title games.
I’ve had countless experiences attending games, watching games, and tailgating with what is now referred to as our Clemson Family. That Clemson Basement serves as our own version of a place my boys can embrace Saturday’s in the Fall, just like I did as youngster. That room is filled with pictures and memorabilia, but there’s one thing I cherish the most, an old framed newspaper given to me by a great friend and fellow Clemson graduate. It still sits in that crappy old fake oak frame, with orange wrapping paper as the matting, like only a college kid would do; remaining as it should. A picture of Aaron Kelly catching a TD front and center, as the headline reads: Daddy gets a whippin’. Clemson 35 – Florida State 14.
Since that first game day experience at Husky Stadium I’ve been to games in:
- Martin Stadium in Pullman, WA
- Clemson Memorial Stadium in Clemson, SC
- BB&T Field in Winston Salem, NC
- Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, NC
- Williams Brice in Columbia, SC
- Camp Randall in Madison, WI
- Jordan Hare in Auburn, AL
- Cardinal Stadium in Louisville, KY
- Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, MI
…In addition to seeing Clemson play in Tampa, Glendale, Atlanta, Santa Clara and New Orleans. Each place representing a unique experience that only that school can provide. A group of friends and I plan on attending one game a year at an on campus venue we’ve never been to, hopefully getting the full experience of what each fan base loves about their University.
I feel like I have a well rounded view of College Football and been lucky to experience different places within the country as I’ve watched an Eagle fly throughout Jordan Hare, a motorcycle lead the team out onto the field at Wake Forest, listened to Jump Around as the student section in Camp Randall went bizerk, watched as players donning Maize and Blue winged helmets jumped up to touch the M Go Blue banner etc. I even got to wave the Coug Flag at College Gameday, which to me epitomized what College Football can do for us, which is to connect us all in so many ways. That was such cool feeling, a lifelong college football fan, a kid who was raised in Cougar country, partaking in one of their traditions that has developed over the years. Waving it on Bowman Field in Clemson, SC of all places, prior to Clemson playing Louisville in 2016. It’s funny where life takes us.
Even having experienced all that, and even as a kid who was raised in the Northwest by parents who have Big Ten roots, who ended up a Clemson graduate, that now lives in Wisconsin, I feel like I’ve only got to experience the tip of the iceberg when it comes to College Football. There’s so much more out there that I’ve yet to see. Script Ohio and dotting the I. A white out at Penn State. Touchdown Jesus. The Texas State Fair. Sweet Home Alabama playing in Tuscaloosa during the Iron Bowl. The Rose Bowl. Enter Sandman as Virginia Tech takes the field. A sell out in a sea of red in Lincoln, NE. Renegade and Chief Osceola. Waving at the kids in the Children’s hospital from inside Kinnick. The Sooner Schooner taking the field. Tennessee players running through the T. Ralphie storming the field. Bevo. The list of traditions that help make College Football so unique is endless and the generations upon generations of people that make up those traditions and everything surrounding the sport are what make the sport so one of a kind. It sounds cliche, but as the great Brent Musberger would say: there is nothing like it. That’s why all of us have to preserve it, ensuring those experiences can be had for generations to come.
Undoubtedly, the connection and experiences for all of us associated with the sport are different. Some of us grew up in the heart of the south, religiously spending every Saturday at a tailgate before entering a cathedral that pays homage to the sport. Some remember it as I did early on, experiencing it in front of a television set, but all of us share in the same love for the sport and everything that comes with it. It bonds us in a unique way. If you aren’t a college football fan, you simply don’t get it. It’s something that has to be lived to be truly understood. You have to put your heart into it. That’s what makes it so great, the pageantry and passion that comes with it. It’s interwoven in the fabric of our society. The perfect imperfect blend of cultures, geographical areas, bonding over seeing kid’s transition to young men, with so much at stake for all of us. You have it all, the impact of finance, race, cultural differences throughout the country, the bands, the cheerleaders, sportswriters, announcers, rivalries, hatred, competition, sportsmanship etc. All of it makes the sport what it is. Start taking those things away, and it becomes something completely different.
All that feels like it’s slowly being taken away from us in name of the almighty dollar. My hope is that we all realize what is happening before it’s too late. At the very least, we owe that to the sport and the Americana that it is. Change doesn’t always happen overnight. It’s often slow and gradual, without much merit being given to the change, but the change is collectively eating away at one of our proud heritages.
I don’t want that to go away. I want my boys to get that same experience I was and am still privy to during Saturdays in the fall.
I wanna see Clemson play Michigan one day, and have my Tigers hang 50 on the Maize & Blue, all the while ribbing my mother in the process. I could write a 1000 pages about the memories and experiences I have surrounding College Football, as I’m sure those that share in the love and passion for the sport could, but I want to be able to write 2000 pages, capturing more iconic moments yet to happen in the future.
It feels like we’ve reached a point within the game where it’s like an old Nintendo after you had been outside all day and came back to find the game you had paused had turned into a muddled image of where you had left it, signifying it’s time to hit the reset button, starting fresh, reinvigorated about the chance to beat your competitor and the experiences that come with it. It’s time to hit reset and get back to embracing what we truly love about the sport.
I write all this to simple ask the question: is changing the game forever over money what we all really want? From the head of the NCAA down to the 6 year old using a make shift end zone in his front yard; the fans, players, graduates, writers, announcers and alike, all those associated with the sport, is this what we all truly want for our beloved sport? What dollar amount are all those experiences worth? Many of those experiences are priceless.
I’m just one man, but my answer would be no, and I believe we have the power collectively to make the sport better than it has ever been, if we simply start by taking the first step and realize what is happening. Given everything going on it 2020, it’s my sense that the sport is on a precipice, as we could see changes alter the sport in a negative way forever. We’ve reached the point of a choice: work to ensure we preserve the game and everything that comes with it, or let it turn into a version of the NFL. No one man or entity is to blame for the current condition of the sport. We’ve all let it happen, every hand in the process now attempting to bite the hand that collectively feeds it all. Everyone expecting more, while expecting to give less. The players want to get paid more than a scholarship. The networks want more revenue. The coaches want higher salaries. The fan wants the experiences I’ve described, while only paying $30 a month for a streaming service, often unwilling to attend games like they used to, or even travel to bowl games. More, more, more, take, take, take on every level, and less give on every level. It’s not sustainable. There has to be a way to ensure everyone involved can come together, ensuring the experience of College Football isn’t tarnished forever. There’s enough money to go around. Let’s come together, put greed aside, and ensure we don’t rip away the chance for more legendary memories within the sport.
How many of us enjoyed App State upsetting Michigan that sunny afternoon in Ann Arbor? Or Boise State taking down Adrien Peterson’s Oklahoma Sooners via a hook & lateral/capped by a Statue of Liberty play, all while Barry Alvarez laughed in amazement in the booth in the background? The opportunities for those moments will fail to exist if keep heading down the path we’re on.
The good news is we can all ensure it remains as special as ever, if we simply let our actions ensure that’s the case, together, with one common goal in mind: preserving the game we all love so much, because for fans that truly understand what the sport is all about and those associated with the sport in any aspect, it’s woven into the fabric of our being. We can start by modernizing the 3 year rule. If a kid is 18 and wants to go the NFL, more power to him, but if he wants to go to college, make that the point where he’s obligated to stay 3 years. The NFL sits back as the Teflon Don, benefiting from a free farm system. That has to change. Create a minor league and let kids get paid out of HS if they so choose. At the same time, modernize the college scholarship, with an emphasis on getting a college degree being important. The choice will be no different than many of us coming out of high school are faced with, which is to go get paid less money right away, but get paid right away, or pay your dues, going into debt, to attain a college degree in hopes for a brighter future.
At the same time, all of us need to get back to appreciating the sport for the competition and stop with the narrative that the College Football Playoff is the only thing that matters. That’s a terrible narrative/mindset that we’ve collectively worked ourselves into. Winning 10 games use to matter. Winning your conference use to matter. Beating your rivals use to matter more than any bowl or playoff. Let’s get back to that. Let’s also cut the bowl system, discarding many of the bowls. I love football games as much as anyone, but the Vacuum Cleaner Potting Soil Credit Union Bowl brought to you buy some Auto Maker doesn’t need to exist. Not everyone deserves a participation trophy. Making a bowl should be a bigger reward than going .500 on the year. We also need to respect the regional aspect of College Football. WVU is in the Big 12? Really? At one point there was discussion of Texas being in the Pac 12 and Florida State & Clemson being in the Big 12? Really? Typing that just sounds ludicrous. The regional aspect of College Football helps to showcase the different cultures throughout the country and that’s ok. Different isn’t bad. Differences should be celebrated, not morphed into attempting they don’t exist. That is part of what makes our Country and the sport of College Football so great. The Rose Bowl use to signify that to a tee. The fast paced West Coast culture vs the Midwestern factory feel. You could even see it in the teams and that’s ok. It should be celebrated. Turning on the TV and seeing an SEC game brought a sense of feeling/viewpoint into that culture.
The same goes for turning on a Big Ten game and seeing a Midwestern haze on a cold day as two teams produced 3 yards and a cloud of dust. Without question, changes need to take place, as change is inevitable, but why not change it for the good? Is money really the only thing that matters? Will the money everyone is so focused on even be there if we alter the sport to the point where it just isn’t what it’s meant to be?
I guess I’m just one guy, who loves College Football and everything that goes with it, one guy that doesn’t want to see the game turn into something we all wish it hadn’t, but I would like to think I’m more than that, a part of a community of people that respect and care about College Football enough to ensure the game moves forward the right way. I don’t have all the answers and some of the challenges the game faces aren’t easy ones, but I just know that moments like Deshaun Watson’s Touchdown to Hunter Renfrow with :01 to go are special. Maximizing and preserving those moments is important.
After all, we never know when the next Keith Jackson will come along and give us his own version of “Helloooooo Heisman” in some unique and special way that can only be captured by College Football being represented in the best way possible. There’s enough hate, fighting, and greed in the world already. That doesn’t seem to be working. Why not let compassion, compromise and the experience take center stand for once, as we all come together to make College Football the best sport out there for generations to come? ~
Living the Dream 