Under my circumstances as a sports fanatic, I have fallen out of love with college sports. I find myself liking the best of the best -- professionals. The National Basketball Association; the National Football League; the Professional Golf Association; and, from time to time, even Major League Baseball are far more interesting to me than watching a September football game that might eliminate a team for the ultimate prize -- the crystal ball. Or watching a some basketball team named Sienna (sounds like a shampoo brand) on Championship Weekend that is going to get eliminated within the first two rounds of the tournament.
The truth is this: I will watch the Final Four to it's entirety. I will watch the football National Championship to it's entirety. I might gaze at the television screen when the four-letter network is airing the College Baseball World Series. But I am mildly interested in college sports.
Nevertheless, this is not a tangent, and I am trying to express that watching all these players in college is NOT that entertaining anymore -- especially when you know, for the most part, two players that MIGHT make it in the pros -- but give me a break that it's so exciting! It's not. Whatsoever.
I watch more tennis, golf, and soccer. Why? I find myself more attached to athletes who are performing the best at what they do. These days, I will watch a replay of the 2005 Australian Open before I let my eyes stare at a non-interesting, profoundly insignificant, college basketball game in the middle of January.
(Note: I used the Australian Open example because this actually happened. Thanks to DirecTV, I am blessed with the Tennis Channel (Channel 217), albeit in High Definition, because I find it more intriguing.)
Think of it this way: eventually you will get to watch those guys who went to the Texas', Alabamas', and Notre Dames' of the nation. But why sell yourself into it so deeply when just two percent of the players will be playing their sport for a living? The whole "These guys make a salary/living off of what they do" and "These guys are close to my age (grown-ups) playing their sport" argument is captivating to me.
In a Malcolm Gladwell case, I guess I have hit my "Tipping Point." College sports are becoming like tail backs in the NFL; it's sad but true. College is a dime a dozen. I can watch all kinds of college athletics, but my opinion is too simplistic in the end. I like to have to think about what is occurring on the television set.
Specifically, I enjoy the art aspect of pro sports. The pros are just more enjoyable now, and to look in the future of this new decade, I would like to think I will be more -- if not completely -- sheltered in pro athletics on television.
As you get older, you have more perspective due to intelligence and longevity. I may have missed a lot in the 19-years have lived, but I can guarantee this: I will no longer swallow up all the college sports as I once did. Why would I? I want variety. I want to have more perspective of life. And I want interesting. By in large, we know who is good every year in college athletics. With the few exceptions, can we agree that it's actually boring when you step back and look at it from a broaden perspective?
Tell me that I am wrong by feathering away from college sports -- and I may be -- but at least I am trying something new; it's a "Tipping Point" in which I am going to explore as this new decade takes off.
