COLLEGE GAME IS SAVING WHAT’S LEFT OF FOOTBALL

September 4, 2019

By DINO COSTA

-Cheyenne, Wyoming

Don’t believe for a second that the headline to this column has anything to do with the fact that I was one of over 26,000 in attendance last Saturday

afternoon/evening in Laramie, Wyoming, as I watched and cheered my Pokes on to an upset victory over Missouri while having a great time doing so as the

first full Saturday of collegiate football play this year got underway.

Last Saturday was only the latest example, just the latest day where it should be clear to anyone with a brain that college football is America’s

saving grace when it comes to this dirtied up sport.

The National Football League gets underway with their 100th season tomorrow night in Chicago, and yet again, I find myself approaching another pro

season with a lot of trepidation as well as some disinterest believe it or not.

Not including the game I attended, I watched another 13 college football games (with the help of my DVR) from Saturday last week, to Sunday, and

on into Monday night this week.

I wonder how many NFL games I’ll watch this coming Sunday from beginning to end?

Of course, it used to be that I’d watch as many NFL games as my brain could take in, but those days ended long ago as the NFL became a quagmire of political unrest mixed together with the toxic fumes of societal elements,

not to mention a phony protest movement that hasn’t a shred of credibility or authenticity to it.

Like me, millions and millions of Americans considered the opening of each NFL season to be our default position, the start of a wonderful few months

of football played at the highest level possible, a national celebration of sorts, something that would carry us from the fall and into the winter

months and concluding with the biggest game in the country in February when all of America came to a screeching halt for Super Bowl…fill in the

number here.

So there I was this past Saturday at War Memorial Stadium in Laramie and the atmosphere well before the game was concluded was ebullient.

A new season was upon us, tailgaters everywhere you looked, a great crowd on hand that striped the seating sections in the stadium alternating between brown in one section with gold in the next, it truly felt like

football, it smelled like football, and only football, in every way imaginable. The fans were in a festive mood, people talked about their expectations for this coming season, and the stadium was alive with a

palpable sense of enthusiasm and excitement as kickoff neared.

I got home later on and watched a stupendous game being played down in Dallas with Auburn and Oregon doing battle, a great game full of great

plays, a game that went right down to the final seconds when the Tigers true freshman quarterback Bo Nix led his team on a last-ditch drive that culminated with a touchdown pass that gave Auburn the lead with only

seconds remaining.

I watched the Les Miles era kick off in Lawrence, Kansas and saw his quarterback, Carter Stanley, throw a touchdown pass for the Jayhawks with

only 2 minutes remaining to give Miles his first win as a coach in 3-years, a victory over FBS opponent Indiana State.

I watched Oklahoma and Jalen Hurts take down Houston.

I watched as it took 3 overtimes for Iowa State to come out ahead of Northern Iowa.

I watched Nebraska struggling in their season opener against South Alabama in Lincoln.

I saw Utah and BYU.

I watched Nick Saban’s team dismantle Duke as was the expectation.

Going back to what they now refer to as “Week Zero”, I saw Florida get by Miami in what turned out to be an entertaining game if nothing else.

Before any college games kicked off this year I found myself geeked up for the new season, I felt sincere excitement in the days leading up to

kickoff, the same feeling I used to get when an NFL season moved nearer to me, but a feeling I haven’t felt for the NFL for a long time now.

In all the games I watched since this year’s college season kicked off only a short time ago – the very best thing about these games no matter who won

or who lost – was that college football was providing this football fan with something that the NFL has lost touch with completely.

When I watch college games, when I read about the matchups heading into a new week, when I consider the possibilities in this game or that game, when I read over game stories or take in what a columnist in some newspaper has to say about any one of a number of games, you know what the emphasis is

always about? Football, and nothing else.

Yes, for the 20th year in a row I have my DirecTV NFL package making all of the games available to me, but with each passing season, it gets more

difficult for me to reconcile just why it is that I continue to pay for this exclusive package?

Over the last several years I’ve watched fewer and fewer NFL games from start to finish primarily because the NFL has become so less compelling to

me, everything from the quality of the product on the field, to the ridiculous rule changes, to the emasculation of defensive football, to the

awful lack of flow in so many games, to the poisonous commissioner, to so many noxious players, to the social justice warriors both inside and

outside the league’s headquarters, to an NFL which I have made the claim for years now is a hollow representation of it’s once glorious and

enchanting past.

Last week, college football gave me the game, just the game, and only the game. How fucking wonderful, eh?

Now, as I get set to enter into the perilous and rotten world of the NFL landscape for another season, what is it that awaits me at the door?

Well, for starters, the league announced only a few weeks ago that they’ve joined forces with yet another individual who views the world through

nothing but a black and white prism 24-hours a day. Rapper JAY-Z has been selected to orchestrate upcoming Super Bowl halftime shows. This is the same JAY-Z who took an ax to the NFL’s stained shield previously, barking about things like inequality and his support for Colin Kaepernick, as well

as a host of other racially-motivated talking points.

As I alluded to in a previous column here, this should be big fun with JAY-Z being in charge of NFL Super Bowl halftime events. If Mister Z is

anything like his also famous wife, perhaps we should prepare ourselves for more in the way of celebrating the criminal Black Panther movement, as Mrs.

Z so brazenly decided to do only a few short years ago when she was the main attraction during halftime at the Big Game.

https://vault.fbi.gov/Black%20Panther%20Party%20

In Dallas right now, I guess its good news for Cowboys fans, right? Running back Ezekiel Elliot is said to be close to a new contract with the club.

Elliot, of course, didn’t show up for training camp and demanded that he get a new deal while ignoring the fact that he signed a contract only a few

years ago that makes him rich for life. But he wants to be richer, he demands that he be richer, and he vows not to put on the helmet with a star

on the side of it until he gets richer. Apparently Elliot was snorkeling down off the coast of Mexico someplace these past few weeks while making the claim that he is underpaid. So much for contracts, so much for a man’s

word, so much for honor and decency. Then again, how naive of me? Honor and decency? Those words went out with the garbage in this country and in the

NFL years ago. But the Cowboys are apparently ready to cave to Elliot’s demands, which not only makes the paper he signed his name to worthless,

but it also sets a terrible precedent not only for the Cowboys – but for the entire NFL as well.

Not to be outdone, Chargers running back Melvin Gordon is attempting to make the contract that he signed completely worthless as well. He too never

showed up for training camp, and Gordon says he won’t be suiting up anytime soon until he gets a new deal which nullifies his current deal – and the Chargers can go suck on an egg if they think he’s going to play for the

chump change ($5.6 million this season) that the Chargers and Gordon agreed to not so long ago. In a refreshing twist, however, the Chargers

have told Gordon to go take a hike and they’ve also told him that he’s free

to negotiate a trade to any one of a number of other teams that just might bend over and give Gordon what he demands.

Yes, here comes another season of NFL football, and with it, ESPN’s 40th year of being a television partner with the league has them giving us, who else? Snoop Dog. Apparently Snoopy will be rhyming his way through an opening act and juicing up NFL fans for the new season in the ways that

only Snoopy can. Of course, Snoop Dog’s criminal rap sheet has always been dismissed by those at ESPN like it never happened, so I guess this isn’t

that big of a surprise? Perhaps fairly new ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro will invite Snoopy over to his house for a personal concert in front of the

Pittaro family as Snoop bellows loudly and clearly with so many of the wonderful lyrics that embody his cutting edge music? By the way, I love

music of all kinds, but can someone tell me when rap music started running the country?

Here comes another NFL season, and with it, news out of Houston that Texans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, he tells GQ Magazine that in lieu of the

words spoken by former Houston owner Bob McNair (now deceased) during a turbulent period in the NFL’s not so distant past, Hopkins explains in this

GQ Magazine story that McNair’s words made him feel like a slave. McNair, of course, spoke the words and a phrase that has been commonly spoken for years with nobody ever batting an eye. McNair, if you remember, said about

the NFL’s protest movement that the league’s owners could not allow the “inmates to run the asylum.” Of course, in this age of utter insanity and

manufactured racial outrage that is so often heaped upon us, McNair’s words were completely taken out of context and conveniently used as a weapon against him which was employed by the victimhood crowd with Hopkins apparently a part of this misleading chorus. A slave? DeAndre Hopkins signed a contract back in 2017 for a total of $81 million dollars with a total of $49 million guaranteed. A slave? Just a little bit over the top,

dontcha think? For Hopkins to equate the late Mr. McNair’s words with anything having to do with slavery is beyond the pale, no? Oh, by the way,

in that same GQ story, Hopkins did go on to say that Bob McNair was a good man who had done a lot of good for black people. But no matter how good

McNair may have been, DeAndre Hopkins said that McNair made him feel like a slave. I see. Funny, but if Bob McNair’s words caused DeAndre Hopkins so much despair I can’t help but wonder what Hopkins thinks of many of the

lyrics in Snoop Dog’s music library?

Speaking of Houston, that’s now the new home of wide receiver Kenny Stills after Miami traded him there this past week. Stills was one of the few

players who still decided to take to a knee last year, a year in which we thankfully saw many fewer players refusing to stand for the national

anthem. But Stills remained resolute last year on the matter and now that he’s going from liberal Miami to overwhelmingly conservative Houston – and

it should be interesting to see how he’s received by the Texans fan base this year.

Yes, these are just some of the NFL talking points on the precipice of a new campaign. And just think, the first week of the season has yet to be

played and so how many other great storylines like these can we look forward to?

It’s beyond depressing what the NFL has become. Almost unthinkable, really. Yes, the NFL continues to not only pander to the social justice warrior

crowd, it not only continues to allocate funds to various special interest groups, cowering in fear of what the possible resulting consequences might be should they ever refuse to be a part of that scenery – but in addition –

the NFL insults any rational person’s intelligence by actually endorsing the many phony and misleading elements that tie the protest movement together, enthusiastically endorsing much of this bullshit as though it is

completely real and totally sincere.

The NFL continues to promote the false ideas that systemic racism is alive and well in America and that inequality is the calling card in this country

and the league is very determined to be a part of some perceived solution…to a problem which simply doesn’t exist.

Of course, the NFL will also continue to conveniently ignore the indisputable facts that clearly show that the United States Of America is the most tolerant and inclusive society on the face of the earth. People

don’t risk life and limb trying to get into a country that is inherently racist or oppressive, however, they do come to America (or try to) in order to live within a society that provides for opportunities like no

other country on the planet.

Then again, some also come to America knowing that if they can gain entry here there are any one of a number of loopholes within the system that they

can take full advantage of, living off of the government teat as well as living off of the law-abiding taxpayers in this country.

I digress…

Through its insistence on playing the racial-identity politics game, the sobering reality for the league has become crystal clear over the last few

seasons – and it boggles the mind to consider that the NFL doesn’t appear to be ready to tap the brakes on any of this stuff anytime soon. The

actions of this league over the last several years are so bizarre that If someone found some papers that proved that there is a wilful and aggressive

movement from inside the NFL to eventually kill the league off – I wouldn’t be shocked in the least because at least that would make some sense when

considering where this league is at right now.

As a football fan, as a long-time NFL fan, what the NFL either doesn’t understand or is completely ignorant of is that the only thing I want on a

Sunday afternoon after church is a football game – period.

Like on Saturday’s when I can count on the college game to deliver me the college football product, this is the only thing that I and millions of

others want from the NFL. As I have long said on radio shows over the years, the main issue with the National Football League is that they have

forgotten who they are – and what they are.

I’ve also said that the very best thing that the idiot in charge could do, is to hold a press conference as soon as possible to announce that the

league is getting back to its core roots – and those roots are football and football only.

Roger Goodell should announce that the league he presides over is eschewing any involvement at all in politics, in social concerns, in racial matters, in any and all kinds of ideological issues in all sectors of American life. Goodell should announce that his league is in the business of football

exclusively and that there are many well-paid people in positions all over the country to handle matters that should clearly be outside the NFL’s area

of concern.

As the league continues to shoot itself in the foot and become a polarizing magnet that divides and separates people of all walks the consequences of their egregious involvement in matters that it has no business being a part of has resulted in an NFL that millions have walked away from with others

teetering on the edge of doing the same

Television ratings which used to be universally high year-after-year have dropped, in some cases considerably from the once lofty numbers the league

used to register.

Season ticket waiting lists for most NFL franchises used to run into the thousands – but no more. While there are still some teams that do have a thick roster of season-ticket hopefuls, people waiting for years to have a chance to get into the season-ticket club, this is becoming increasingly

rare around the league. These days you’re able to buy an NFL ticket in the

days leading up to a game – or even on the day of a game, which is something that never used to be during the halcyon days of this once great

league.

NFL stadiums were always once full – every game of every week. Now? The various social media sites Online make it a habit these days to spray

pictures all across the internet of the thousands of empty seats at the majority of NFL stadiums on most Sunday afternoons.

Politics and an insistence on being an agent for phony change has insulted millions of fans. You want football on the NFL level these days? Well, you

can get some of that football you seek, but understand that with that football comes a healthy dose of one-sided political jargon stuffed down

your throats as you enter and exit the stadiums or as you flip through various channels watching the games on TV.

In short, the NFL not only welcomed the culture war inside their house – but they also enthusiastically partnered with those wars when every

instinct they possessed should have told them to do everything within their power to lock the doors and to never let these issues get anywhere near

their league.

As far as the clash of cultures in America over the years, where at one time a man like Pete Rozelle kept the NFL clear of these kinds of divisive features, and rightly so, now, Goodell and the owners have turned their league into a microcosm of society with all of the fires that rage outside

the NFL’s doors now burning wildly inside the NFL’s castle as well.

Never in the history of the league under previous commissioners like the aforementioned Pete Rozelle and under the watch of his predecessor Paul

Tagliabue, has the NFL ever involved itself in the political and social landscape of the times.

The NFL steered clear of the Vietnam War, the fight for Civil Rights, the counter-culture revolution of the sixties, Malcolm X, the Cold War era,

Watergate, the horrible 1972 Munich games, the desultory years of the Jimmy Carter Presidency, the Ronald Reagan era in America, the AIDS epidemic, the

war in Iraq, The LA riots in 1992, the foibles of Bill Clinton, the Centennial Olympic Park bombing at the 1992 Olympics in Atlanta, the

disastrous George W. Bush presidency, the Columbine High School massacre, Hurricane Katrina, and the election of Obama as President, just to name a

few things.

But now the National Football League strives to become involved in almost every divisive and controversial piece of news in the country. Again now,

remind me how this is good for the business of football…the business that is allegedly preeminent in the minds of the league, its commissioner, and

the owners?

As I’ve also noted many times on my previous radio shows, I don’t care where you reside politically, Democrat, Republican, Independent, Communist,

Socialist, Marxist, I don’t give a shit who you find favor with or who you vehemently disagree with when it comes to politics or social concerns and what you think is right or what is wrong. None of this stuff is appropriate

within the confines of a professional sports circuit. None of this stuff should be of any concern to a professional sports league.

As a conservative myself (not a Republican mind you) I have gone on the air countless numbers of times and told my audience that although nearly

100% of all political and social issues involved in the world of sports are talking points advanced by the political left, that if on the flip side of

the equation, anyone was promoting what could be considered a conservative cause in professional sports, that I would feel the exact same ways about

all of this stuff. It doesn’t have a place at the table in pro-sports.

Just last year a pro-Trump banner was unfurled at Yankee Stadium and later that evening I emphatically told my audience on the radio that the banner had no place being shown at a baseball game, at Yankee Stadium, or at any

other ballpark for that matter.

What has the introduction of all of this bullshit wrought us? It has made stadiums, ballparks, and arenas, become as toxic and divided as any town hall meeting you might think of on occasion. It has pitted one fan against

the other, it has pitted fans against players over political and social issues, and these stadiums where people used to go to games to be connected

by the common denominator of joining together under the umbrella of a common cause, instead, we now have a heavy concentration of the political apparatus that is a part of the sports mainstream dividing people as though

they were attending a political rally at stadiums.

In addition to the fan disagreements and infighting among fan bases how about the consequences that players are required to face?

There’s now conflict inside of NFL locker rooms, right? What side are you on? Who do you like and endorse and what do you think should be done? Should a player speak out or should he keep his mouth closed for fear of

coming under the wrath of other players as well as the media? If you’re a white player are you in solidarity with the black players in the league?

Oh, by the way, please name for me another organization or business in America that has made more black men multi-millionaires over the last

30-years than the National Football League.

Issues featuring everything from morality – to race and culture – to just about everything is now out in the open and up for debate. But not really,

because anyone with a working brain knows that under the construct of ideas and concepts there is only one way for any player to make his voice known these days. Either side with the rabble-rousing segment of players fronting a false and phony narrative about all of these things or become the outcast

that the media will make sure such a player becomes, he who has the unmitigated gall to disagree with a narrative he might openly question.

A consistent buzzword that is routinely used by many of those who hope to brainwash others into believing that America is this awful and horrifying

country is; “inequality.” Really? Inequality for who exactly? For black people in America? Surely these people are simply uninformed, yes? Let the

record show with every bit of evidence and every measurable piece of criteria one may wish to consider that black-America has never been more

prosperous and more relevant than at any time previous in our country than they are right now in this moment of time.

Black people in America hold more of an important role in society than ever before in the recorded history of this country. Black people are police chiefs, bank Presidents, school Presidents, television anchors, country

club members, head coaches, and black people are business owners at a higher rate than ever before in our country’s history.

Today in this country black people are found on all levels of government, many are CEO’s and titans of industry, black people in America have a voice

in the United States unlike ever before, so now tell me about this inequality and where do I go to find it? Show me with clear definition and

with inarguable evidence that this country is oppressing not only black people – but anyone else of any other color or background.

Do you know why these consistent cries about institutional racism in America, or systemic racism in America is nothing more than a covert power-play, a story of fiction by those proposing to push such a story?

Because they really cannot find any of what they claim is going on – and secondly – because there are laws on the books which prevent this kind of

stuff from materializing, something called the Civil Rights Act which was established back in 1964.

These days, and for a very long time now, those who traffic in racism when it comes to a host of issues in the social, political, and business world,

are sued and sometimes placed in jail for their acts of defiance in lieu of decision-making based on racial preference.

While it is undoubtedly true that the United States has a history of institutional oppression against minority groups in past decades,

realistically speaking, that was a very long time ago. This is a country that without the support of millions of white people would never have seen

the election of the first black President in this country’s history.

But the rules of engagement? The rules are the same for everyone, my friends. Yes, there are people who are born into low-income households (people

of ALL colors), and while others may be born into more upper-crust households, never think this doesn’t change the fact that everyone plays by

those same rules in America that I mention.

Any able-bodied individual can accomplish things with hard work and responsible decision-making. There is a huge difference between inequality

– and injustice. While I have no anecdotal evidence to support my claim, I’d bet a lot of money that an individual’s likelihood of success or

failure – depending on how one might describe each of those things – can be determined not by skin color or by some other immutable trait – but by

personal responsibility and decisions that are made one way or the other.

In summation as far as this one piece of controversy is concerned, as if the National Football League hasn’t done enough to damage its product with so many other ill-advised moves it has made over the years, someone please

tell Roger Goodell to take a bow, because his league has also become a primary conduit in terms of ratcheting up racial division in America. Well

done, Raj.

But the NFL versus college football as I sit here today? It’s not even close, the college game is so much more rewarding and satisfying its not

funny.

One area where the college game is so much better has to do with the flow and the pacing in the college game. While you’ll sometimes find college games that are full of flags, the majority of college action is absent the

incessant amount of penalties called in just about every NFL game you watch.

Also, the fandom on the collegiate level has well surpassed that of the pro game and the biggest reason why this is is because of something called

Fantasy Football.

In college games, fans are rooted in their teams, fan bases live and die with the game-in and game-out results of their favorite teams. They

identify with their favorite college teams above and beyond that of the typical pro football fan these days. Why is this the case? Because today

the average pro football fan seems less interested in the actual team they claim loyalty to, and instead, their interests are motivated more and more by individual performances of players from across the league, players on various teams who make up their fantasy squads. I have never played a

second of fantasy football in my life – and I never will.

The NFL has turned off fans in so many ways that I’m almost convinced that they have a blue-ribbon panel somewhere whose job it is to think up as many

ways to alienate fans or potential fans in as many ways as possible at all hours of each day and night.

College football? I walked into a stadium last weekend after buying my ticket, sat down, and then enjoyed the game. The NFL? The ticket purchasing

process can be a bit more complicated.

The NFL Hall Of Fame in Canton, Ohio, has many members inside its hallowed halls. But it says here that the NFL has yet to properly credit the

individual who came up with the scam of the PSL, something that has enriched team owners, a form of legalized extortion, and the NFL should induct whoever it was that came up with this idea into their Hall Of Fame

as soon as next season.

My New York Jets are now – and have been for a few years – selling season tickets (in the past you could NEVER get Jets season tickets and had to wait on a list until a slot became available) to people without requiring

them to also purchase a PSL as a part of their season-ticket deal.

The Jets are offering tickets the last few years to anyone willing to buy them because the supply of Jets tickets has now outpaced demand for them. When the Jets opened their new stadium as partners with the Giants back in

2010 anyone who wanted to become a Jets season-ticket holder was required to first purchase a PSL. But no more. Recently, many of the season tickets they have sold to new ticket-holders are seats that are right next to other

people who were indeed required to purchase a PSL a few years ago before being permitted to then buy a season-ticket. Think this has made for some

uncomfortable introductions between people inside of ugly MetLife Stadium?

Where they play.

In college football, the majority of games are played inside college football stadiums in this country. Alabama and Auburn won’t be moving the Iron Bowl to Brazil anytime soon. USC and UCLA aren’t talking with people

in Germany to play the next L.A.college football intracity rivalry game in Munich. Ohio State and Michigan aren’t seeking out investors in Scotland

hoping to bring that game there.

But the NFL? In yet another great idea, one where the league again goes out of its way to alienate their core audience, the NFL apparently cannot get

enough of internationalizing their game.

What started off as a trickle and a novelty is now on the verge of what you may consider being a full-blown money grab with the league looking to

schedule more and more games around the world.

The Jacksonville Jaguars screw their fans in that city out of a game every year when the Jags go and play in London. This upcoming season the NFL will

play a total of 4-games in London and 1-game in Mexico City.

Recently, Roger Goodell made the claim that so many cities around the world want the NFL to play in their locales, however, according to Goodell, the

league simply doesn’t have the inventory to fill the orders even though he wishes that they did.

As the league continues to prostitute itself to the dollars they generate with these games they do so without regard for the fan bases that have supported the rise of this league over the decades, not to mention the

inconvenience they place on the players, coaches, and staffs, by playing these games in places they really have no right to be played in.

Whereas college football seems pure, or, as pure as football can actually be these days, by comparison, the NFL is more and more distant, more cold

and calculating, more transparent with their true agendas with each and every season that comes into view.

So, as the league gets set to open up another season in about 24-hours – will the protesting crowd of players re-engage this season with more energy

than they showed last year?

I think it’s important to remind anyone reading this that as I’ve made mention of before, if any player, in any sport, wishes to utilize their

free time to go about doing whatever it is that floats their boat,

protesting, organizing, making speeches, or anything else along these lines, no matter what they’re message happens to be, I have zero issues

with that.

However, at the stadium and adorned in official team clothing and colors, before many thousands of people all with their own ideas about this thing

or that, it is within the stadium environment when players are in effect; “on the clock”, and wishing to get political, that I won’t tolerate such

grandstanding. But on their own time? I don’t care what they do and I’ll support their right to do whatever it is they deem important to them no

matter if I agree or disagree with them.

It was only a few short years ago that I would have never considered a college football Saturday to be more anticipatory than that of an NFL

Sunday.

But times change and decisions come with consequences, and the more decisions that Roger Goodell’s NFL seems to make, everything from rules, to

self-absorbed players – to law-breaking players – to games that lack compelling theater, to the introduction of people and elements that are not

in line with the NFL environment, to the consistent pandering to the SJW crowd, to the way the NFL has lost touch with the common middle-class fan

base around the country, all of this and more has pushed me further and further from being able to truly enjoy the NFL environment as I used to for

so many years previously.

It’s heartbreaking when you get right down to it what has happened to this league.

So, thank goodness for college football.

While I’ll watch the season-opening game tomorrow night with the Bears and the Packers, and while I’ll tune in some games this coming Sunday, I look

forward to this upcoming NFL season with much reticence and skepticism.

Here comes Week-1 of the new NFL season.

But I’m much more fired up for Week-2 of the College Football season.

Thank you, college football, for still being mostly about the game itself.

The game…of football.