Quote:
Originally Posted by Longy
Last night i was flicking thru the sports channels and there was some college basketball on and it got me thinking.
The whole idea of college sports being so popular is completely lost on me, how did this become so in the US? How do you pick which college you follow? Surely the pro sports are better to watch and a better standard.
Basically as a Brit it is all a bit alien to me and i would rather ask it here than get flamed in Sporting events.
Labor market is controlled, salaries can only equal tuition + a small stipend, athletes are hungrier, less of the ego/agent-controlled competitors that the average person identifies with less (of course the coaches are free to use whatever leverage possible to get paid millions of dollars, but that strikes people better than teenagers getting millions). Also, college sports better reinforce the societal power structures that a lot of people identify with.
You pick your team based upon where you went to school, what region you grew up in (regions/states without a pro football team in particular have tons of rabid fans from said state/region - Alabama, Oklahoma, etc.), what team you grew up rooting for, etc.
Blah, blah, the atmosphere tends to be more vibrant at many big college games, the corporate/pro game tends to get more emotionally sterile (with a number of exceptions). More history/tradition on average too in college sports, it's not just about the money as often as pro sports.