[Orleanian In Exile]

I concur fully on the emotion level of the college game. You just don't get that same buzz off an NFL game from either team or fans (yes even the ones who dress in costume). I dislike the phony, over-the-top displays put on by NFL players strutting about just when they make a tackle or manage to gain an extra five yards, which strikes me as egotistical theatrics for TV as opposed to the palpable thrill when a college runner manages to break through to the endzone over a last-ditch stand by the opposition defensive line for a critical touchdown or the genuine heartbreak you see coming from the losing side in the Army/Navy Game just before that final exchange of alma maters as people realise that a good number of them have played their last game before gaining their commissions in the service. By contrast, the sense I get from an NFL team is that for them it's just a day at the office.

I have also been decidedly put off in recent years by the crap officiating of the NFL, their very poorly-designed-and-executed instant replay system and the number of artificial breaks in the action simply to accomodate more TV commercial time. I was able to swallow that last year to watch my New Orleans Saints get almost within reach of the Super Bowl. That was also the first year in a long while I'd actually had any desire to see the final championship game and missed out on it due to a misprogrammed VCR, which made me a bit upset until I read the recap and saw just how badly Fumbles Grossman and the Bears threw away that game to Indy. After that I couldn't get worked up about missing the Super Bowl —I'd already seen far better on-field performances in the Sugar Bowl and the BCS game.

For me, the colleges are where the real football is to be found these days. I can watch a college game and find three hours have zipped by without my noticing it. I tune into an NFL game to find it the longest four hours of my life which I'll never get back again.