We've talked about it before. I still maintain that the only thing college football has going for it is tribal unity.
The actions of a group of 18-22 year olds has no real effect on my life. The outcome of these contests doesn't change my station one iota. Why, then, do I get amped up, angry, giddy, and otherwise emotional before, during, and after?
That's my tribe out there. The colors, the cheers, the songs, the group are all familiar to me. It forms an identity that satisfies the human impulse to gregariousness.
In an attempt to look more "professional", colleges are destroying the identity of that tribe. Rather than hear the band play, they pump in hiphop music that, ordinarily, would be inspiring. This isn't the street, that isn't my identity, and that's not why I'm here. The colors and symbols are replaced by corporate logos in pursuit of money.
At some point, they tear through the "willful suspension of disbelief". I know I'm not really part of the team. Never was. I went to Texas for far too long, but that was far too long ago. I never attended Baylor at all (thus far). I choose to identify with that. As the symbolism becomes less and less, I'm more and more returned to the real fact that this is meaningless, and I'm better off casually viewing it from my living room where I can wander off when something more interesting (or meaningful) occurs.
