College or the Pros

+ Which do you Prefer?

I have had countless arguments with all different kinds of people between which level of sports they preferred more, college or the pros. Typically, these discussions only encompass football and basketball as they are the two most prominent sports where both the college and pro levels have similar popularity. In my experience with the people I have talked to, it seems that there is a 50/50 split in support of these two levels.

The first aspect that I am going to talk about is going to a live event. In the pros, the problem most fans encounter are the ticket prices. I myself, have yet to have a decent seat for any pro event because I can?t afford to drop a couple hundred dollars on a sporting event. In my mind, this takes away from the event as a whole. The fans that do end up getting nice seats are usually upper-class families or employees of corporations who buy up good seats. This demographic of fans tend to be tamed and act like normal human beings. There is no doubt that you will get plenty of crazy fans sitting in the nosebleed sections who do help shakeup the atmosphere, but from my experience, its nothing like college.

I recently graduated from UConn and have attended countless college basketball and football games. There wasn?t anything I enjoyed more than going to big games at Gampel Pavilion. The atmosphere was electric and unmatched by anything I have ever experienced. Now when it comes to football, UConn isn?t exactly USC or Ohio State but that didn?t stop me from going to the games. Rentschler Field only seats around 40,000 fans, but when there are thousands and thousands of rowdy drunk students united together, it is quite a site. Now imagine that, except at The Big House, Beaver Stadium or The Horseshoe where each of these stadiums are usually filled over 100,000 capacity every game. That is an atmosphere that cannot be beat by any arena in the NBA or any stadium in the NFL.

The second and more important aspect is judging the preference of the overall game at each level. I am going to be blunt here, I love watching the pro game. The gap in the level of play is just too great. I enjoy watching the most talented players going at it at the highest level. In college, even when the best teams square off, I find it hard to watch. Defense is a concept that college football teams still don?t seem to understand. Some fans enjoy watching high scoring games where both teams are going back and forth, but I personally can?t stand watching this poor level of play. But in the NFL, gimmicky offenses like the spread don?t work because there are just too many great athletes on defense. Even the wildcat is only successfully run by one team, and that team didn?t even make the playoffs last season.

For basketball, college and the pros play two very different styles. College is a team oriented game where the talent of the individual is overshadowed by the chemistry of the team. Whereas in the NBA, they play more of an isolation game where the most talented players dominate night in and night out. I prefer the ladder. Many of fans who defend the college game tell me that NBA players are lazy and don?t care because they already have their paycheck, whereas college athletes do it for the love of the game. That is complete bullshit. NBA players don?t make it as far as they have without caring. For me, as mentioned earlier, it comes down to the disparity in talent. I much rather watch Kobe square off against LeBron than Duke play Butler. Maybe I?m just weird like that.

What it always seems to come down to is just an individual?s personal preference. I have never successfully argued somebody over to the pros side and nobody has successfully converted me over to the college side. That?s why the college vs. pros debate will live on forever.