Football on Saturdays is Better!

College football reigns supreme in November. From what the LA-based Yard understands, pro football is starting to become interesting as well. We will take that under advisement because all we get to see most weekends are the Raiders and the Chargers and that is NOT that interesting. The Raider juggernaut managed 77 yards in total offense this afternoon in a scintillating display of ineptitude. And Norv Turner will never coach a team to the Super Bowl.

Los Angeles has had great college football for over 120 years. LA will always have great college football. Over a million people will see a college football game within the county this season. SC Fan is having a much better time these days than the public school across town. The Bruins were a solid 2 point favorite during the bye week and they did not disappoint.

After winning their first NFL Championship in 1945, the Cleveland Rams became the Los Angeles Rams in 1946. Cleveland had two teams when they could not even support one. The Rams moved to Los Angeles and even the Browns moved years later to Baltimore. Who would have thought at the time that the Cleveland-Los Angeles Rams would never win another title during the next 48 years in LA? The Rams built a loyal fan base including one impressionable 13 year old sports geek. The Rams lost every year to the Minnesota Vikings in the playoffs and never got to the Super Bowl until 1979. Vinnie Ferragamo had his 15 minutes of fame but the Steelers won the game. It was a cruel, bitter time from what we have been able to cobble together during therapy.

When the Rams arrived, USC had already been playing football in front of other humans for 58 years. The USC-Notre Dame Rivalry was the stuff from which legends and movies are made. College football dwarfed the NFL. UCLA, USC and the Rams all played in the Coliseum for the next 33 years. The Rams moved to the OC in 1979 and for all intent and purposes so did pro football’s mind share in LA. Snake Oil Al Davis snuck in and out of town for 16 years but that Faider moment is about as relevant in LA sports history as the Clippers.

Los Angeles has not missed pro football. Our collective ambivalence was spawned from years of hopeful teams, mediocre results and ridiculous ownership. The NFL has missed an entire generation of youth in one of the nation’s largest media markets. Did they not learn anything from Big Tobacco? Yard Axiom: Men chose their team allegiance for pro baseball, basketball and football by age 12. Hockey and NASCAR come later if ever.

48 million people went to college football games last year in every state in this nation. There are 619 college teams playing football at some level in America. The Yard only has basic cable but there were 17 college football games available for viewing this Saturday. There were seven unbeaten D1 teams going into Saturday’s games. #1 Texas was playing #7 Texas Tech in of the game of the year or just about any year.

The NFL is played in 32 metropolises in front of corporate customers who priced out Joe the plumber years ago. And then the NFL apologizes for the likes of Michael Vick, Travis Henry and Pac Man Jones.

We all know about Michael Vick but Travis Henry is going to have some amazing Father’s Days in the coming years. Mr. Henry at age 28 has fathered 9 children from 9 different women in four different states. That is almost logistically and biologically impossible, but T-the Henry got the job done while trying to play football and deal coke. He was talented enough to sign a $25 million contract with a $12 million signing bonus from the Broncos. Travis was also stupid enough to be indicted for cocaine distribution. Darwin Award Hall of Fame, Emeritus.

Pac Man has been suspended for getting liquored up and fighting with the guy who was hired by Dallas to keep Adam from getting liquored up and fighting. P-Jones has been taken in for questioning nine times by some form of law enforcement since 2005. We are sure those are all isolated incidents and the Pacster was misquoted and misunderstood each time until an attorney was present. In his defense or least through his defense, Pac man has never done any jail time. He was at the center of a shooting during the NBA All Star game that left three wounded and one person paralyzed for life and it was an unfortunate event for everyone but Pac man. Jerry Jones lobbied the NFL and Commissioner Goodell to have this noble warrior reinstated and on the Cowboy’s 2008 roster. In Pacman’s defense, he did make it through nine games before getting suspended for the season. Darwin Award Honorable Mention.

January belongs to the NFL. That is the month of perdition where we forgive the guilty if they can win three in January. College football is one of those precious gems that restores our passion, gives hope and excavates our youth for 3 ½ hours on any fall Saturday. Every state has a team to follow and a player with a story. There will be more exciting college games with miracle finishes next weekend than there will be in an entire season in the NFL.

This coming week famine, pestilence and locusts will be arriving in the financial statements your postman will bring you. We are suggesting that you surf the channel guide for the innocence of college football rather than open the stark metrics of your personal economic perils. Whether your chosen college team wins or loses or the new stadium does not get built, they will never threaten to relocate. Whether your team’s players leave early or stay and graduate, there will never be a labor dispute. And no matter how dark it seems, the only LA Team to beat their rival eight times in a row in football plays at the Rose Bowl.