2011: The Year I Learned to Hate College Football

[Auggie]

Dave Zirin, The Nation, December 31, 2011

In a decade of sports writing, I’ve always used a very basic framework: don’t reject sports, reclaim it. In other words, no matter how greedy, hateful, or ugly sports become, you fight for it to change. No matter how many publicly funded stadiums or Redskin logos, or how much sexist doggerel is expectorated by the athletic industrial complex, you remember what you love about sports. You stand your ground and never forget the fun, fellowship and artistry these games have the potential to produce. That’s been my framework, until now. This weekend marks the pinnacle of the college football season. For more than twenty-five years, since a young Ohio State wide receiver named Cris Carter broke every Rose Bowl record, I’ve tuned in.

But not this weekend, and barring a major change, I’m never watching again. It’s not just because the bowl season has turned into an orgy of commercial branding that would shame a NASCAR event. It’s not the crass commercialism of “Chic-fil-A Bowl”, “The GODADDY.com Bowl” or “The Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas.” It’s not the ugly use of football to sell the business of war, with this year’s “Military Bowl Presented by Northrop Grumman” or “The Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl” coming to a television screen near you (these are not made up). It’s not the fact that today seventy teams, including fourteen 6-6 teams, get to play in bowls, making it about as special as a Cracker Jack prize. It’s not even everyone’s favorite complaint: the absence of a real playoff system to crown an actual national champion.

This year I was broken by just how disgusting the institution of college football has become.

MORE: http://www.thenation.com/blog/165380/2011-year-i-learned-hate-college-football

[Condem]

1. I've watched three games this bowl season....

...and I'm a college football junkie. My only surprise in the article, is the failure to place a good part of the blame on ESPN. They effectively made the college basketball season unwatchable (with the exception of The Dance) and are now doing their best to kill college football with these hideous made for TV bowls. Such a shame.

[joeybee12]

4. I agree...ESPN is to blame for this mess...nt

[JonLP24]

2. K&R

The bowls are fine, but he is right to call the NCAA on their shit.

[trotsky]

3. Excellent points throughout.

But money is the name of the game, and everything he hates about the bowl system is purposely designed to rake in more money. Until people stop going to the games (which it sounds like many did this year) and the ratings suck across the board, it will continue.

[OKNancy]

5. good article and everyone should click the link

and I agree.... but I will still watch, still curse, and still cheer for my favorites.

[bluedigger]

6. K & R

Good article.

We all have our moral dilemmas...watching the Orange Bowl...

[Brickbat]

7. As someone who grew up on Nebraska football, I found myself agreeing with this.

[DinahMoeHum]

8. I call most of these bowl games "Toilet Bowls". . .

I couldn't really watch any of them, except for the Rose Bowl, and that was mostly due to tradition. In the past, I was satisfied with the truly traditional major bowls (Rose, Sugar, Orange, Cotton, Fiesta)

BTW, was there even a Cotton Bowl game this year?

Ideally, ALL these bowl games should end on New Year's Day. Then, the media and pollsters should determine the No. 1 and No. 2 teams. THEN, 1 week later, both those teams should play for the national championship.

Just my 2 cents.

Oh, and by the way, BCS - Big Crock of Shit

[era veteran]

9. My favorite sport getting flushed.

It is the money.

[JonLP24]

10. To be fair

It has always been about the money. The reason why we had teams in Div-1A rather than Div-1AA wasn't about student enrollment or which school was larger but rather attendance and television ratings. The bigger schools have been fighting for more games on TV for the longest time.