It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I know the college football season started Thursday, but I don't care. To me, that was the unofficial start of the year.

But the first Saturday of the season, now THAT'S the start of college football.

Just think about. When is there a time when an entire community of people, spanning the entire country stop one they're doing for one day, have some fun and go to a (American) football game? Okay, I guess people do that for the NFL too. But the atmosphere is different on Saturdays than it is on Sundays.

Sundays feel very corporate. The tailgates feel corporate. The stadium feels corporate. There are too many commercial breaks. You have prima donnas on the sidelines (you have a few in college too). And you get a lot of old, grump men at the stadium.

Saturdays. That's where it truly is at.

You have marching bands and pep rallies. You have the dance teams and cheerleaders. You have the inebriated co-eds (who doesn't like that?), who haven't let themselves go yet, because hey, at 21, life doesn't suck. You have drunk frat boys (who hates that? But they sure do make a lot of noise when called upon in the stadium). You have the old alums coming back to school and you have those hopeful 17-year-olds wishing they went to that school. And you even have the opposition on the other side of the stadium. I love it when the students from both schools start doing chants at each other an hour before a football game.

It's college football. The players don't get paid (usually). The game is at its purest (most of the time). And the feelings towards one's university or college is felt more and runs deeper than the ones connected to that professional team you follow (except, if you didn't go to college, then that's a different story). One is always going to be tied with his or her alma mater. It will always be there.

So, welcome back college football. I've missed you. We've missed you.

Oh, and GO BEARS!