Last night I had the Duke game on while I was slaving over the hot stove making dinner (Butternut Risotto, Yum!). Meanwhile Beard Boy was napping! on the couch. Sure the game wasn't that close, but it made me think that there's another serious debate simmering between us. The greatest spectator sport on earth: College Basketball vs. College Football?
Of course my sister and bro-in-law are on Beard Boy's side on this one. Those crazy crackers! The three of them might have liked attending Football Tradition schools, but personally I think it is sad that those poor basketball teams (OSU & Alabama) have to live under the cash cow shadow, despite the fact that they are pretty good teams in their own rights (OSU is top 25 right now!). Sure, college football is better than most sports, I'll give them that, but come on! 13 games a season? Slow, slow games played outside in the freezing cold many times with no beer allowed in the stadium? What the Hades is that all about? And then there's the lame championship "series" that is 2 hundred months away from the actual season. Lame beyond lame.
No, no, no. College basketball is where it's at. The game is fast paced, anything can happen, beautiful mayhem. Full court press, turnovers, half-court hail marys that slip through the net. 10 point comebacks with less than a minute to go. That shit's awesome. And the tournament? Hells yeah! You aren't seeing any Cinderella teams like Gonzaga, Valpo, and Eastern Michigan in the BCS series. But every conference has a bid, every team a chance in March even if Coach Rat-Face does get 7 All-American players every damn year.
Apparently I'm having this argument with my new city of residence as well. The Huskies football team won maybe one game this year and yet there was coverage on the team. So far, the Huskies basketball team has gone 9-0, is number one in the Pac-10, and has beaten some great teams, but I got nothing, not even half of the UW games are televised. What's up with that nonsense? Seriously. What is UP?
Tough call for me, since I was in OSU's marching band and my best memories of OSU sports is consequently football. However, I became an OSU fan as a kid following the Jerry Lucas/John Havlicek basketball teams. I've got a "Buckeye Blogging" category on my site with a story about that and a bunch of other Buckeye posts.
The other tough thing is that attempts to turn basketball programs into cash cows, like the Schottenstein center, yield just horrible places to watch basketball, with somnolent alumni and fat cats squatting in (or awol from) the best seats. Cameron Indoor is an exception, as is, I think, Oregon's venue. I haven't been to Hec Ed since they remodeled a couple of years ago - how do you like it?
Posted by: Phil | December 20, 2005 at 01:44 PM
Haven't been to Hec Ed yet either.
I did go to the Schott last winter though. The view from my company's box was actually pretty good. I was impressed, but wouldn't have wanted to be above us or anything.
Posted by: C Ro | December 23, 2005 at 11:17 AM