Pros, schmoes

Commentary

I know that the majority of you think I'm a jerk and are reading this column to see how I'll offend you this week, but I'm not going to blast the football team this time.

What I am going to do is show you the superiority of college sports to pro sports, even if you're from Chicago and have never seen a winning college team in person.

College sports and amateur athletics in general are a much purer and more exciting form of sport.

The so-called pros of football and basketball are the worst offenders when it comes to working for their fans.

Professional basketball players don't even try for the first three quarters of most NBA games. You'd think your VCR was stuck on slow motion watching the pros saunter around the court.

You'd never see most college teams playing this lackadaisically, especially not Bruce Weber's Salukis, who go all out on every play and don't wait for the end of the game to turn on the effort like the supposed professionals.

A lot of NBAers are just tall guys who can't do much more than jump and dunk. I don't think this is how Dr. Naismith intended the game.

Basketball is meant to be a team game, and everyone on the floor should have some level of shooting ability, but don't tell Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins, the king of the upset victims.

This lack of fundamentals combined with some hubris and general inability to play as a team led to an American embarrassment last week at the World Basketball Championships.

Nearly all of our best players came up with excuses as to why they couldn't play for their country. No matter the stated reason, the unspoken reason for most of the players is that they aren't getting paid to represent their country.

"The money, greed of the NBA has had an effect," U.S. coach George Karl said as printed on the World Basketball Championship website.

NBA players are worried more about collecting their check and signing the next endorsement deal during most of the regular season.

Baseball is one area where I'll admit that the pros are more entertaining than the college version.

I'll never enjoy the ping of the aluminum bat used in college ball.

The best baseball to be had is in the minor leagues, especially in Triple-A. These guys make salaries close to the average Joe and usually are much more levelheaded. A lot of them even have to work real jobs in the offseason, something unimaginable to major leaguers.

And a regular working stiff can actually afford to take his family to watch a minor league game and watch from a seat where he can see the field.

The NFL is another example of professionalism only in pay. These guys are so uncouth as to celebrate every minute play so much that it appears to be their first and last career achievement. If you're a receiver or running back, show some professionalism.

An average working person doesn't celebrate when they do what their paid to do.

Another advantage of college sports is that you can actually watch games from teams around the country.

I'd take a Saturday afternoon watching college football over an NFL Sunday anytime.

You can't really watch more than three NFL games on basic cable on a given Sunday. With college football, you can actually watch your team play if you're a fan of a big-name team from another region.

Forget watching any out-of-market NFL teams unless they happen to be playing on a Sunday or Monday night.

All of us Bears fans could barely even watch our beloved team over the last few seasons after the hostile takeover of the airwaves by the St. Louis Rams.

And when we do get to watch the Bears, the dolts at the Fox affiliate cut away from the game-winning drive to show the Rams' pregame posturing.

It's not just the athletes that make college sports far superior to the professional game.

The college game must be better because the largest college football stadiums hold nearly 30,000 more people than the pro stadiums, and most of these aren't even located in major cities.

College sports are much more important to their towns than pro sports. The teams create a buzz within a college town unmatched by any city with its pro team with the possible exception of Green Bay.

Not only are the base ticket prices cheaper, but fans don't have to deal with the outrageous surcharges put on tickets by Ticketmaster.

And after they get in to the game, college fans are much more passionate about the game than pro fans, many of whom attend games just to be seen.

Picture the Indiana or Creighton games last year at the Arena. The crowd there was probably livelier than any NBA regular season crowd.

College crowds are many times more active than their pro counterparts, as many college football stadiums emit a deafening roar throughout the game.

Contrast that to the low hum heard at NFL stadiums during most of the game.

College fans also have some great cheers like the Florida State War Chant, Rock Chalk Jayhawk at Kansas or Wooooooooooooo. Pig. Sooie! at Arkansas.

From the players to the stadiums to the fans, college sports have it all over professional sports.

Ethan's views do not necessarily reflect those of the Daily Egyptian.