countoff 331 Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 I get into huge debates with my co-workers about whether college football is better than pro football. The Rams moving to LA is just another example of why college is better. With the pros, the fans are cheering for laundry. "Their" team only has allegiance to the potential dollars they can bring into the organization. "Their" team is only one economic study away from leaving. For better or worse, my team will always be Auburn. They will never leave. Their players sit in the same classrooms as I did. Walked the same halls. Ate in the same restaurants. When I sit down to watch an Auburn football game I see more than football. I am reminded of all of the great times and wonderful memories I had have of Auburn. No owner is ever going to take that away from us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShugMan55 0 Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 As far as the on the field game goes I think pro is better. Better match ups and more speed. Just my opinion. I think most of us have the same emotional ties our teams based on our experiences and thus memories - but when you get to the older pro teams like Chicago and Green Bay their emotional attachment is just as powerful. Not so much with the new expansion teams but who knows after a couple of generations. I don't think it is a matter of one being better, they are just a bit different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AUbritt 611 Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 For me, football is played on Saturdays (or very occasionally on Thursdays). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EagleReedle 14 Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 I think both are on a seriously murky trajectory w/ the CTE crisis that is slowly starting to arise - you can't penalize your way out of that as much as Roger Goodell would like to. (college is better imo) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GiveEmElle 1,559 Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 I prefer college ball to pro. But I can understand how people in towns where pro teams are might prefer that to college. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm_FleX48 1,869 Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 I get into huge debates with my co-workers about whether college football is better than pro football. The Rams moving to LA is just another example of why college is better. With the pros, the fans are cheering for laundry. "Their" team only has allegiance to the potential dollars they can bring into the organization. "Their" team is only one economic study away from leaving. For better or worse, my team will always be Auburn. They will never leave. Their players sit in the same classrooms as I did. Walked the same halls. Ate in the same restaurants. When I sit down to watch an Auburn football game I see more than football. I am reminded of all of the great times and wonderful memories I had have of Auburn. No owner is ever going to take that away from us. Unfortunately, while this is a heart-warming view, it is fundamentally based on relative emotion and interpretation as to what college football is. While there is a lot of tradition involved in collegiate athletics, to say that the team will never go anywhere is somewhat inaccurate. While you may not view it as going anywhere or not about the money, truth is, it really is ALL about the money. Moreso because there is no individual owner of a collegiate athletic team. It's about how much revenue that can be brought into the university and because of that, EVERYONE'S money is riding on it. With that, I would simply say, that let Auburn stop putting money in the school's account and become a drain.... You'll see more business and wheeling and dealing than you ever thought could be possible. The suits will come in, explain why the team isn't producing well enough to be a sustainable sport, and then they'll cut it faster than UAB cut theirs because of Title IX limiting the amount of male athletes that can be had on other sports which might be better, "Money Makers" for the school. I'd actually argue that the NCAA is worse than Goodell in some sense because Goodell can be faulted and fired for his injustices, the NCAA is possibly the biggest monopoly on sport and trust that can't be touched in a sense of being removed. It would be like removing an unjust government, yes you got rid of it, but now how will you organize? Though it's possible, it wouldn't be something that most people would be interested in doing. College Athletics is very costly, even on the personal level with the athletes themselves. No matter how much of a "Family" a kid sees their team is, the perceptive ones will also see the business end.... The cold, dark, distant machine-like workings of the bureaucratic portion of the team that says: "You can be replaced and your scholarship can be taken if you don't do what we want." That to me is more insidious in nature than going into something overtly business-founded like a professional sports team. A coach may smile and wave in your face, and fans may adore you one moment, but at the same time, they're always looking for the NEXT BEST THING, and if that thing is good enough to replace you before you're done playing, it will happen, because again, it's all about the money and winning. Look at Richt and Georgia, he was a good coach, and his players loved him deeply. It could be argued that he established as much of a family as possible with a team, though again, it was about WINNING to get more promotion for the university and money. Smart may come in and be a brutal dictator, but if he is winning, no one will bat an eye. That is what is scary and dark about collegiate athletics. This isn't to discredit your view, but to simply share my take on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lionheartkc 6,150 Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 The way I see it, college ball is a game of strategy and pro ball is a game of money. In college ball, you have to find a way to win with the players you can recruit. In the pros, you have to find the money to buy the players who will win for you. To me, the reason college ball completely outshines pro ball is the love of the players for the team. Cam comes back to Auburn all the time. If he was traded to another pro team, do you think he'd darken the door of Carolina's stadium except to play against them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EagleReedle 14 Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 The way I see it, college ball is a game of strategy and pro ball is a game of money. In college ball, you have to find a way to win with the players you can recruit. In the pros, you have to find the money to buy the players who will win for you. To me, the reason college ball completely outshines pro ball is the love of the players for the team. Cam comes back to Auburn all the time. If he was traded to another pro team, do you think he'd darken the door of Carolina's stadium except to play against them? reading this i thought to myself "ding ding ding, lionheart is right on!" Malcom_Flex you raise some interesting points i'm not familiar w/ but i suspect you have potentially experienced some of the "business" on the college level first hand or know others who have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger 8,833 Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 More people think NFL is better in this country as it is the nation's biggest sport. If you love FOOTBALL then naturally you should enjoy the NFL because it is the highest level of football in the world. However, one's emotional tie to the university they attended will more often than not trump one's love for the pro team because the college football teams and players represent a part of you, the viewer, because of the reasons the OP mentioned. JMO Also I think Flex nailed it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
countoff 331 Posted January 15, 2016 Author Share Posted January 15, 2016 The way I see it, college ball is a game of strategy and pro ball is a game of money. In college ball, you have to find a way to win with the players you can recruit. In the pros, you have to find the money to buy the players who will win for you. To me, the reason college ball completely outshines pro ball is the love of the players for the team. Cam comes back to Auburn all the time. If he was traded to another pro team, do you think he'd darken the door of Carolina's stadium except to play against them? reading this i thought to myself "ding ding ding, lionheart is right on!" Malcom_Flex you raise some interesting points i'm not familiar w/ but i suspect you have potentially experienced some of the "business" on the college level first hand or know others who have. Malcom_Flex... I thoroughly appreciate your point of view and thoughtful post. I certainly cannot argue that money is not a huge part of college football. The almighty dollar permeates everything in life. Just this week my church laid off two youth pastors.But I'm more in line with lionheart. I have more emotional connection with players who attend the same college as I did. And obviously people like Cam, Bo, Pat Sullivan, Dameyune Craig and numerous other ex players feel the same draw to Auburn as I do. This simply does not happen in the pros where the players usually do not even live in the same city that they play. Plus I like the higher energy at a college game. Better bands. Better cheerleaders. More emotion. Unpredictable plays. And they will not just up and leave at a moment's notice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoetTiger 1,901 Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 Pro Ball is more strategic and entertaining to me. College ball obviously with the loyalties to schools is more passionate and have better game day atmospheres. I love both the same...!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keesler 5,932 Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 I'm emotionally connected to college football, but I love watching the pros go to work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McLoofus 35,182 Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 Glad Flex jumped in before I did. Most college football fans are ignorant to what a cutthroat business their favorite sport is. And that emotional bond most fans claim to have to the players goes right out the window as soon as a player is deemed by the fans* to not be producing on the field at a high enough level. There are exceptions, of course, but overall college football fans think college football is a lot more noble than it is. Nick Saban isn't so much worse than any other big time coach. He's probably just a little more honest about it. *I clarify "by the fans" because the fans don't even know that a guy IS producing half the time. Pro football, as others have said, is a better product on the field. And I'll probably never care about it as much as I do college football, but that's only because I grew up in Alabama. I live in Atlanta now and I know fans of every team in the NFL, and many of them are every bit as emotionally attached to their teams as college fans love to say we are. Steelers fans are as passionate and intense as any college fanbase out there (fans of teams like Jacksonville, Tampa Bay, Tennessee... maybe not so much). Here's the thing about pro football, and pro teams in general: they represent your city, or your state, or your region. That connection is very real. It doesn't matter that most players come and go. A lot of them stick around a long time, a lot longer than anybody will ever play for a college. Roddy White will always be an Atlanta Falcon, and this city will always embrace him. And college players aren't any more loyal to their schools than pro players are to their franchises. They just don't have much of a choice. Again, I'll never root for anything as passionately as I do Auburn football because I grew up in Alabama. But that in no way means that college football is better or that I care more than pro football fans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooltigger21 0 Posted January 16, 2016 Share Posted January 16, 2016 I prefer college ball to pro. But I can understand how people in towns where pro teams are might prefer that to college. I listen to sports talk in different cities I travel through. The professional football fans are just as passionate about their teams as any college team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auburn4ever 1,266 Posted January 16, 2016 Share Posted January 16, 2016 I really wish the NFL would stop talking players after their junior year or even in some cases talking redshirt sophomores. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooltigger21 0 Posted January 16, 2016 Share Posted January 16, 2016 I really wish the NFL would stop talking players after their junior year or even in some cases talking redshirt sophomores. There would be a lawsuit against it and they'd lose. Remember Herschel Walker and his challenge to the old rule of not taking anyone until after 4 years? That's what started it. Can't put the Genie back in the bottle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoetTiger 1,901 Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 Pretty good pro football game tonight....awesome performance by both teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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