Why College Football Fans Are Idiots...

I love college football. To me it is by far the greatest sport of them all. I love the fact that there are 117 schools competing. I love the upsets (except when my Nitts are on the losing end). I love the traditions. I love that there are "big games" each week which makes the whole season one giant playoff. Coincedentally, I'm probably one of the few college football fans who doesn't really care that there isn't a post-season playoff. I love the bowl games. From the New Orleans Bowl to the Rose Bowl, they're all great. I wish there were more. I look at it as one of the reasons college football is so unique and special... but I digress.

One of the things that is so great about college football (and really any sport for that matter) are the debates... Who would win if so and so played so and so? Do you think we'll get blah-blah-blah recruit? Etc, etc. But one thing I can't stand about college football fan debates are the idiots. Fans who change their attitudes/opinions with the direction of the wind. Short-sighted idiots who never look at the big picture. I think it has a lot to do with the chat room/sports talk culture we live in these days. People feel they have this entitlement to tell other people what they are doing wrong... and yes, I recognize the irony of saying that in a "Blog". I bring this up because for a while now I've had to endure an onslaught of criticism of my beloved Nittany Lions and their legendary coach, Joe Paterno. I'm just completely bugged out by "fans" who are constantly negative about the Lions and just want to see Joepa fired. They point to programs like USC and Oklahoma and say, "Why can't we be more like them?" So it occured to me, do all of these schmucks suffer from long term memory loss? You can look at every "great" program in the country and point to a time in their not to distant past when they were less than stellar. Many for a good long time. I found a great resource for www.cfbdatawarehouse.com. Here's a quick breakdown...

1. USC. Does everyone forget the Larry Smith - John Robinson-Paul Hackett era of the 90s when the Trojans were perennial PAC-10 also-rans? I remember when the excuse for USC being so bad was the fact that they were located near Compton, CA. Here's some low-lights...

• 1991: 3-8 (Including a loss to Memphis!)
• 1992: 6-5-1 (Tied San Diego St)
• 1999: 6-6
• 2000: 5-7

2. Oklahoma. Another team that has achieved "flavor of the month" status but until Bob Stoops arrived... they sucked out loud for years!!

• 1995: 5-5-1
• 1996: 3-8(Lost to TCU, Tulsa, San Diego St, & Kansas to start the season)
• 1997: 4-7 (Lost to Kansas again and beat Baylor by 1 freakin' point)
• 1998: 5-6

3. Nebraska. These guys were unstoppable in the 90s and then fired their coach because the fans were dissatisfied with 9 wins... that makes a ton of sense.

• 2004: 5-6 (including a loss to Southern Miss)

4. Miami. The Hurricances have always seemed to be on top... but in 1997 a Butch Davis led Hurricane team finished a disappointing 5-6 with losses to the likes of Pitt & West Virginia.

5. Ohio State. The John Cooper era was full of up and down seasons. Including:

• 1988: 4-6-1 (with losses to Pitt & Indiana)
• 1999: 6-6

That doesn't even include the well documented shortcomings of programs such as Notre Dame and Alabama.

The bottom line is this no one is "entitled" to anything and sooner or later a few bad seasons happen to every program. I'm okay with people who are critical of the Lions/Joepa following a game or a season but the idiotic dog-piling that has gone on for over 2-years now is ridiculous.

Go Lions!