OT- Pro Football
So I am not able to sleep and watching ESPNews. They show the Lions hi-lights and are all over thier nuts. It is a pre-season game...who cares? My question is this- Why is the NFL so popular when, IME, it doesn't hold a candle to the college game or atmosphere? I went to a Lions game 3 years ago and I saw a 50 year old man with face paint and a costume on. How the heck do you get that pumped to watch other men play a game that they get paid to do? Someone enlighten me.
Also, did you hear about that Freep article and some extra practicing our guys did?
August 30th, 2009 at 1:20 AM ^
Is it based on hard facts and unbiased opinion as always?!
Ok, now that that's out of the way, I have NO idea why people get so pumped for pro football. And face paint on fat, balding men? Again, no idea. It just doesn't have the same passion that the college game has.
So... I guess I failed at enlightening you.
August 30th, 2009 at 1:24 AM ^
I am not alone in questioning things. I mean I check out MLive once in awhile and the most talked about articles are alwasy the first 2 lions articles. Paleazzzzzz people, get a life. I thought us on MGoBlog were obsessed
August 30th, 2009 at 1:23 AM ^
Not everyone goes to college.
I don't mean this as a snide or classist remark, but just a fact: a lot of people in this country don't go to college (and some of those who do attend a college without a football team, or without a good one), so perhaps it's more natural for them to follow a pro team based on geography or some other affiliation?
I personally prefer the college game, but there's a lot I appreciate about the pro game too - there's just a higher all-around level of skill that makes some gameplay beautiful to watch.
August 30th, 2009 at 1:27 AM ^
I am a Michigan fan and never went to UofM.
August 30th, 2009 at 1:37 AM ^
I'm also a non-alum Michigan fan. I'm not saying it's true for everyone, but it might be true for some people.
August 30th, 2009 at 1:50 AM ^
High School -- None
College -- Some, usually minor
Pro -- limp the rest of their lives
I like the college game better, but I'd never denigrate the pro version as just "a game that they get paid to do"
August 30th, 2009 at 1:24 AM ^
Eh, some people like the NFL because the players are "better" or something.
I just like it for the showboating.
August 30th, 2009 at 1:39 AM ^
why bother watching pro football, its the Lions. I mean Barry Sanders yeah, but for everyone one of him there were ten other guys on the field who all played like Scott Mitchell. In my house we always rooted for whoever had former wolverines on their team.
August 30th, 2009 at 1:53 AM ^
I love the NFL, just not nearly as much as I love college (U of M) football. College is just different than the NFL. Maybe it's because when I watch a college game I know that for the most part those kids playing genuinely want to be there and aren't there because it's in their contract. The passion, and all around love for the sport is more evident amongst the players than in pro football. That, and it's Michigan football, does it really need an excuse?
August 30th, 2009 at 2:01 AM ^
It basically comes down to this:
The have-nots outnumber the haves.
The less wealth, education, and intelligence you have, the more likely you are to be drawn to the WWE aspects of the NFL. Most of your hard-core NFL fans are also NBA fans nursing their man-crush on the biggest over-hyped personality. Kobe, Lebron, Randy Moss, fricking TO-the bigger idiot the player is, usually the larger the fan base. It is what it is.
August 30th, 2009 at 2:14 AM ^
I'm so not buying this "people who like the nfl are poor and didn't go to college" shit. In fact, I once had a discussion with a friend from high school who went to Brown in which he called college football the sport of "GED holders from the midwest and deep south who have never sniffed a college classroom". He makes much more money than I do and is a Lions season ticket holder. So it goes both ways.
There is no real answer to this question. Why do some people like tennis more than any other sport? Why do some people like hockey while others think it's dull as shit? Some will say the NFL has more talented athletes, some will say it's because there are only 32 teams, some will say it's because it's impossible to identify with a team made up of 18-23 year old college kids who go to a school most fans aren't affiliated with. Who the fuck cares though?
August 30th, 2009 at 2:21 AM ^
I think the prevalence of corporate boxes at pro games - and the fact that a lot of Super Bowl tickets are corporate - speaks to what you said.
What I meant is that if you don't go to college, depending on where you grow up, it might make more sense to be more of a pro fan. There are also plenty of places where college football is pretty much the only game in town (see: Nebraska, Iowa) and everyone is a fan.
Also, some places don't really have a good college team at all - I'm racking my brain to think of one in or around NYC, and there isn't a heck of a lot. But there's two pro teams, so if you wanted to see games, that's probably where your fandom would fall.
August 30th, 2009 at 2:38 AM ^
I got your point, I was replying to the guy above me mostly.
I think that's a solid metric. God knows people in New York, San Francisco and Boston usually aren't college football fans. But obviously that's just a single circumstance.
Given the number of living Michigan alumni, I think it's safe to assume a fair number of graduates of schools with major college teams who do care more about the NFL. They all have individual reasons and I don't think it's possible to count them all.
August 30th, 2009 at 3:40 AM ^
I have a problem with a league that designs it's championship game around everything but the game. The tickets are sold so early before the teams are even decided that corporations buy them up and give them away to client who don't care about football.
Last year we heard more about a washed up has been playing the halftime show more then we heard about the amazing story that was the Cardinals for even making it to the super bowl.
I watch the NFL to pass the time Sundays thru Wednesdays when no NCAA football is live.