As usual, Kyle Maistri chooses to focus on the negatives and neglects the overwhelming positives about you, the college football fan. He fails to understand your unwavering passion and misconstrues your enthusiastic nature for something that it's not. Forgive him. He doesn't know any better. Unlike you and me, he doesn't embrace the joy of spending Saturday with 90,000 good friends.
So, Kyle, here are the top-five reasons why college fans are great:
5. Tailgating: College fans throw the best parties. There's nothing like a pre-game BBQ and a cold beer on a Saturday morning in the fall.
What could be more fun than throwing the football around the front yard with your best friends on game day? Or tossing ping pong balls into red plastic cups while the sounds of a marching band play in the distance. Not only are the food and beverages great but you couldn't ask for a better backdrop. The towering stadiums, the ivy covered brick campuses, flags flying from cars like they are heading into battle - the atmosphere just can't be beaten. And is there any other time in your life when you can walk around talking to thousands of people you've never met before and act like you have known them for years?
4. Rivalries: Nothing can even come close to the rivalries that litter college football. Oklahoma-Texas, Michigan-Ohio State, Florida-Georgia these are about more than football. They transcend sport. They divide families. They're personal.
Texas hates Oklahoma because the Sooners keep beating the Longhorns with players from Texas. Oklahoma hates Texas because the Longhorns win the Sooners' bowl games.
USC hates UCLA because the Bruins hired a cheater. UCLA hates USC because the Trojans still haven't been caught cheating.
The ACC hates that it hasn't become the SEC. The SEC hates that it leads the country in parolees.
Fans make rivalries and none are more heartfelt or hate-filled then college football's.
3. Students: The majority of college football fans are students. The players they cheer for on Saturday are their classmates and friends not professionals they have no interaction with. They go to class together. They eat at the same restaurants. They drink at the same bars.
2. Tradition: From the 12th man at Texas A&M and the War Eagle at Auburn to the checkerboard end zone at Tennessee and Chief Osceola's flaming spear at Florida State, it's the pageantry of college football that makes it great. College fans grow up with exciting and creative traditions that stay with them for life.
1. Passion: College fans care. They really care. Often times, they care more than is reasonable or logical. But can you blame them? They aren't just cheering for a team in the city they live in. They're pulling for their school or their alma mater. But most of all, they cheer for the memories. For many, college football is a fountain of youth. It takes them back to the days when they sat in the student section. When they were more worried about where the next party was than their next paycheck. And isn't that reason enough to love them?
