He'll take the NFL over college football every day of the week.
In the NFL, even traditionally sad-sack franchises like the New Orleans Saints can win the Super Bowl, as they did in February led by quarterback Drew Brees. Think New Mexico will be winning the BCS title game this century?The only thing better than football Saturdays are football Sundays. Gripe about the No Fun League all you want. Point out how much more imaginative the game is at Boise State and dozens of other outposts. You'd be right.
Just give me the NFL over college football every day of the week and twice on the Sabbath.
College football has it all in pageantry and tradition. Throw in innovation, mascots, marching bands and fresh-faced cheerleaders, too. There is much to recommend it.
But here's what it also has:
Enough competitive imbalance to tilt the planet off its axis.
It has Oregon 72-0 over New Mexico; Arkansas 44-3 over Tennessee Tech; Georgia 55-7 over Louisiana-Lafayette.
"If you can't get excited about what you saw yesterday," began an ESPN teaser I heard Sunday morning, "turn in your fan card."
Yep. Jacksonville State upsetting Ole Miss was great theater. The effort of Butch Davis' depleted North Carolina Tar Heels against LSU was the definition of great determination.
What else?
Oh yeah, Iowa 37-7 over Eastern Illinois; Florida State 59-6 over Samford; Nebraska 49-10 over Western Kentucky.
I'm not turning in my fan card. Still, watching Marshall try to match athletic ability with Ohio State reminded me of Muhammad Ali dancing circles around Jerry Quarry.
Hopefully, Marshall got enough of a payday to hire a cut man or 10.
This is nothing new, of course. And the reason for careful scheduling hasn't changed. The stakes in big-time college football. The margin for error is so slim compared to that of the NFL.
One loss can ruin a season while 90 percent of the NFL is 6-6 or better with a month to go and, thereby, still alive. I get that. Then again, a playoff might actually remedy the one-pratfall-and-you're-done system.
College football's presidents insist a playoff would put too much strain on "student-athletes." Yet, they'll gladly take that extra revenue game in the regular season, so long as it's Georgia State or Appalachian State.
College football has it all over the NFL when it comes to pageantry such as Jack Nicklaus dotting the i in Ohio Stadium in 2006. But the NFL's product is strong enough it can leave pageantry to the colleges and still come out ahead.They'll embrace the tradition of the bowl games when it benefits their argument. The college football Saturday, one of the greatest of all traditions, was long ago rendered less than sacrosanct. They'll play every night of the week if TV makes it worth their while.
They'll split into divisions, play conference title games. If that still doesn't sufficiently pad the coffers, they'll jump to a more lucrative conference.
It's a professional venture disguised as an amateur pursuit, with much less talent than the NFL.
I'll take competitive balance on a weekly basis over every benefit college football offers.
Every Sunday in the NFL brings legitimate context. You can easily measure teams (that hasn't been the best news for the Browns). Same system. Same chance to add top talent year after year.
Even in-conference, certain college football teams are never going to compete for a title simply because they don't have blue-chip recruits circling overhead waiting to land the way the big-timers do.
I realize my argument carries an elephant-sized hole. Because what I'm telling you is I'm looking forward to 16 Sundays of the Browns, who have pretty much been Samford since they returned in 1999.
I know I should probably take two aspirin, lie down and wait for the feeling to pass. But I don't think it will.