An autumn breeze blowing, barbecue smells lingering in the air, men filling up on alcoholic beverages, and football on Saturday is the recipe for eternal happiness.
There is nothing in the sports world that can make a true football fan more excited than a Saturday in the fall, on the campus of his alma mater, anxiously waiting for the opening kickoff.
Game Day Atmosphere
Being in the parking lot of the Meadowlands is one thing, but standing on the green pasture of Notre Dame elevates one to a completely different level.
How about Landshark Stadium?
Try spending an afternoon on the Quad at Alabama, with southern cuisine finding its way to every last one of your taste buds while the sound of the marching band echoes throughout campus.
Tailgating is wonderful, and every man should engage in this form of socializing, eating, and beer-consuming at least once a year. Taking part in these activities on your former college campus just makes the experience that much greater.
As a young one, I first went to a Cowboys vs. Giants game, and I left thinking I had fallen in love.
After a few years of obsession with the NFL, my next step into football was attending USC vs. Notre Dame. At that point in my life, my passion was football, in any of its forms. College or professional, as long as touchdowns were scored and cheerleaders were involved, I was content.
A game day experience in South Bend, Ind., was all it took for me to realize what passionate football was all about.
Girls were not yet overtaking my life, but, because of this game, I was able to figure out what the word "love" finally meant.
The butterflies, excitement, and anxiousness have all stayed with me to this day.
Tradition
Making the case that tradition exists in the National Football League is an easy task. However, the college game offers traditions that display boisterous pride and fiery passion found nowhere else.
The pride one takes in his school's traditions would be found overly obsessive to many outsiders.
Alma mater songs, stadium entrances, past championships, legacies, monuments, and statues. They all contribute to the meaningfulness of tradition in the college game.
Without it, passion and pride in the schools would have almost nothing to fuel it, resulting in more similarities to the NFL.
Rivalries
Rivalries are a part of every sport, but, with 119 teams, college football has many of the greatest in history.
Texas/Oklahoma, Michigan/Ohio State, Army/Navy, Notre Dame/USC, and Alabama/Auburn are just some examples of the masterpieces created in the world of college football.
Current records mean almost nothing in terms of a rivalry, and double-digit leads in the win category of the series are rather common.
What does the NFL have to offer in this argument? Bears-Packers?
How can you label a rivalry great if the game takes place twice in one season?
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