College Sports: The Overhyped and Boring Phenom
More stories from Hardik Singhal
With the end of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, commonly known as March Madness, foolish fanatics around the country have gone absolutely crazy about this repetitive competition.
Yes, there are upsets in March Madness. Yes, creating your own bracket is exciting. But if the 70 million fans that fill out a bracket each year couldn’t do so, would they still watch the tournament?
The actual sport isn’t what most people find entertaining. It’s their own bracket.
That is not the case with professional leagues like the NFL or NBA. Millions of fans watch these leagues but don’t partake in fantasy. According to YouGov, only 17% of NFL fans played Fantasy Football in 2021.
There’s still a large majority of fans of these professional sports that follow it because of the sheer enjoyment from the sport, not some extracurricular event that they find fun.
Additionally, unlike professional leagues, winning college teams often stay winning. The best high school recruits will be offered the best scholarships and will commit to the best schools, expanding the long-term success of the colleges.
Excluding outliers like the 1990s Chicago Bulls or the 2000s and 2010s New England Patriots, or teams who found a generational star, you often won’t see teams maintaining a high level of success for a long period of time.
Take the Philadelphia Eagles. In 2016, they placed last in the NFC East with a 7-9 record. The next season they secured a 13-3 Super Bowl victory. Then, with a record of 31-38-1 over the next four years, in 2022, they went 14-3 and got to the Super Bowl again.
Any given year is what keeps the NFL interesting. You never know what’s going to happen.
Since 2015, Out of the 133 Division 1 college football programs, an absurd nine teams have made the playoffs. Who wants to watch the regular season at that point when you have a clear idea of who’s making the playoffs?
To make matters worse, the number of blowouts and predictability within each game is nonsense.
In this year’s National Championship game in College Football, the line for Georgia was -13 against TCU. Georgia then beat TCU 65-7. 58 points. An absolute blowout in the National Championship. Just how exactly is that entertaining?
The last time there was a spread over five points in a Super Bowl was in 2009. Since that same year, the National Championship in college has spread over five points seven times.
Why would someone be interested in watching blowout after blowout?
Even if you face the best NFL team against the worst, any team can win. The Chiefs, 2022 Super Bowl champions, played the 3-13-1 Texans late in the season, and the game came down to the wire in overtime.
In the NFL, it’s any given Sunday. In college, you pretty much know who will win.
While college sports are still sports at the end of the day, they are extremely overrated and don’t hold a light when it comes to professional sports.
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Joining The Forest Scout for the second year, senior Hardik Singhal writes and designs in the niche of sports media and journalism. As a big Packers...
Jack Lucania • Apr 14, 2023 at 11:57 am
This is a horrible take. Put away the computer and get back in the gym Hardik.
Colin Peters • Apr 14, 2023 at 8:58 am
I disagree but understand where your coming from. Collegiate sports such as football, basketball and hockey have moments and atmospheres that would infinitely trump the best moments from the NFL. When it comes to the NFL, there are not moments that can compare to Michigan losing to Appalachian state, the kick six, miracle at Jordan-Hare, the Bush Push, and many many more.
Not only do collegiate sports have some of the best moments, it was the breeding ground for what became the modern NFL. With coaching legends such as Bobby Bowden, Knute Rockne, Bear Bryant, Lou Holtz and Nick Saban. They all made monumental steps forward for the game of football. Whether it be the first forward pass, air raid offense (RIP Mike Leach), or other game changing ideas. Many of them can be accredited to college football.
Last but not least I will mention the atmosphere, you will not have an environment anything like college football in the NFL. Its impossible to, while the NFL has an attendance crisis, much of CFB has found itself in the attendance rise. You will not find an NFL stadium capable of an 114,000 spectator game (Ex. Michigan Vs. Notre Dame 2014, first night game at the big house.), or a scene like the Penn State Whiteout where nearly 106K people fill Beaver Stadium with white for Penn States biggest home game of the year. I could keep going on about the environments and how much fun and how loud it is but it is simply something that cannot be described in words.