College Game Is Dying/How do we save it [RIP NCAA Catchall Thread]

The real problem today is that you old guys have your view in your mind of what college football should be even though it’s all a fairytale of your own making. College football is awesome to watch and attend like always which is why the numbers are up. Just because you have nostalgia for a bygone era doesn’t mean everyone feels the same way. Bama was dominant and buying players in the 70’s and they are dominant and buying players today. Players didn’t attend classes or had work done for them 40 years ago and it’s the same today.

Next season, there will be 11 players on the field wearing GT uniforms playing a football game, just like as always. I’ll be rooting them on whether they are a true 18 year old freshman or a 12th year 30 year old, 8 time transfer. It’s all entertainment and I could care less if any one of them become a future CEO or homeless, no different than how I cared about the player I sat next to in class in the late 80’s/early 90’s or how he cared about me. If in your mind you can’t stand the sport then just stop. I use to love the NBA and watch and attend. Haven’t for 20 years now. But that’s not the sports fault, that’s a me issue and I’m happy and they are obviously continuing to be a successful sport.
In the old days, football players and other athletes attended classes and invested in the school experience shared with other students. This shared experience built loyalty and investment by the students into the teams.

Now it’s just another pro team with no connection to the school but the name. Sure it’s entertaining, but the loyalty and emotional connection isn’t there.
 
The real problem today is that you old guys have your view in your mind of what college football should be even though it’s all a fairytale of your own making. College football is awesome to watch and attend like always which is why the numbers are up. Just because you have nostalgia for a bygone era doesn’t mean everyone feels the same way. Bama was dominant and buying players in the 70’s and they are dominant and buying players today. Players didn’t attend classes or had work done for them 40 years ago and it’s the same today.

Next season, there will be 11 players on the field wearing GT uniforms playing a football game, just like as always. I’ll be rooting them on whether they are a true 18 year old freshman or a 12th year 30 year old, 8 time transfer. It’s all entertainment and I could care less if any one of them become a future CEO or homeless, no different than how I cared about the player I sat next to in class in the late 80’s/early 90’s or how he cared about me. If in your mind you can’t stand the sport then just stop. I use to love the NBA and watch and attend. Haven’t for 20 years now. But that’s not the sports fault, that’s a me issue and I’m happy and they are obviously continuing to be a successful sport.

The raw entertainment value does feel like it is decreasing though. Even if it were so that the level of parody is exactly the same as it was in the 70's, the way things have gotten to where we are now causes it to "feel" like it has gone down. The nature of entertainment is our feelings toward it don't need purely objective reasoning to change and vanishing nostalgia is as good a reason as any.

For myself, I watched a lot less football this year and neither semifinal game. I only started watching football in 07, so there's no golden age nostalgia for me, just a feeling that the system is shutting down changes for upward mobility for the status of GT within the football world. Watching anything that isn't a Tech game going forward is probably going to be more the exception rather than the rule.
 
The raw entertainment value does feel like it is decreasing though. Even if it were so that the level of parody is exactly the same as it was in the 70's, the way things have gotten to where we are now causes it to "feel" like it has gone down. The nature of entertainment is our feelings toward it don't need purely objective reasoning to change and vanishing nostalgia is as good a reason as any.

For myself, I watched a lot less football this year and neither semifinal game. I only started watching football in 07, so there's no golden age nostalgia for me, just a feeling that the system is shutting down changes for upward mobility for the status of GT within the football world. Watching anything that isn't a Tech game going forward is probably going to be more the exception rather than the rule.
Parody. I'll allow it.
 
The raw entertainment value does feel like it is decreasing though. Even if it were so that the level of parody is exactly the same as it was in the 70's, the way things have gotten to where we are now causes it to "feel" like it has gone down. The nature of entertainment is our feelings toward it don't need purely objective reasoning to change and vanishing nostalgia is as good a reason as any.

For myself, I watched a lot less football this year and neither semifinal game. I only started watching football in 07, so there's no golden age nostalgia for me, just a feeling that the system is shutting down changes for upward mobility for the status of GT within the football world. Watching anything that isn't a Tech game going forward is probably going to be more the exception rather than the rule.
I get it. But you at least understand that’s a you issue. My son is at GT. I still remember the first time he texted me his freshmen year when he walked by Gibbs. It was the same feeling I had 35ish years ago walking by Todd Rampley and Shawn Jones, then Kenny and Dennis. He texted me the other day how he saw Haynes King and Jamaal Haynes on campus. And he sees Key all the time because he is always walking by Edge.. It’s all in our own personal view. My son is having a blast at GT and enjoyed this past season as much as I enjoyed seasons 35 years ago. He’s not bitter that Gibbs went to Bama for a year or that Leftwich is going to UNC. He’s rooting for the GT players of today, like I am. I enjoyed this past season and the playoffs although it would have been nice to see an ACC team in there especially one that went undefeated. For me the experience has not changed at all. When I drive to ATL to go to a home game, it‘s the exact same experience it was 20 years ago. And when I watch from home, my Blackstone works the same and I enjoy the full day of college football. That the players change teams more often and that payments are now known instead of unknown is just noise. I have known for every Saturday for the past 40 years that Bama, UGA, OU, Ohio St, Michigan are gonna win jus5 about every Saturday. I know GT is gonna be in a battle every Saturday whether we play FSU or Georgia State. None of that has changed one iota in 50 years so I just don’t get the sky is falling attitudes other than that the ACC is on borrowed time, but even then GT will still be playing someone and I’ll still watch.
 
In the old days, football players and other athletes attended classes and invested in the school experience shared with other students. This shared experience built loyalty and investment by the students into the teams.

Now it’s just another pro team with no connection to the school but the name. Sure it’s entertaining, but the loyalty and emotional connection isn’t there.
Maybe you are talking about a long time ago. But when I was at GT in late 80’s the athletes were in no way part of the student experience. I lived in Woodruff with many of the athletes and they were in their own bubble. They weren’t at the student bowling with the commoners or working out at the SAC. Kenny and Dennis were more pro than any athlete we’ve had on campus in the past 20 years (maybe Parada).
 
The real problem today is that you old guys have your view in your mind of what college football should be even though it’s all a fairytale of your own making. College football is awesome to watch and attend like always which is why the numbers are up. Just because you have nostalgia for a bygone era doesn’t mean everyone feels the same way. Bama was dominant and buying players in the 70’s and they are dominant and buying players today. Players didn’t attend classes or had work done for them 40 years ago and it’s the same today.

Next season, there will be 11 players on the field wearing GT uniforms playing a football game, just like as always. I’ll be rooting them on whether they are a true 18 year old freshman or a 12th year 30 year old, 8 time transfer. It’s all entertainment and I could care less if any one of them become a future CEO or homeless, no different than how I cared about the player I sat next to in class in the late 80’s/early 90’s or how he cared about me. If in your mind you can’t stand the sport then just stop. I use to love the NBA and watch and attend. Haven’t for 20 years now. But that’s not the sports fault, that’s a me issue and I’m happy and they are obviously continuing to be a successful sport.
I’m one of these old guys of which you speak. You are correct that our view of how college football was from the 70’s is now different. I will also warn you that as you age many things change which almost always gives you a different perspective. I will also say that I still watch college football and still enjoy it even though it is different.
 
Yeah, we don’t need them to do our dirty work anymore. Key gonna start an in-state win streak next year.
Ga St yes …. I think we knock off UGA in 2025 when they have a new QB and it will be at Grant Field. I was 42 the last time we beat the mutts at home.
 
Maybe it’s BS to you, but that doesn’t mean it is to everybody else. If you took a poll and the average person not from Alabama was offered a good paying job in Seattle vs. a good paying job in Tuscaloosa, you might be surprised at the results.
I’ll take Tuscaloosa any day of the week. Seattle is a woke cesspool.
 
muh metrics
muh nuh uh

Tony Altimore cuts the crust off his peanut butter and Saphir sandwiches.
 
The real problem today is that you old guys have your view in your mind of what college football should be even though it’s all a fairytale of your own making. College football is awesome to watch and attend like always which is why the numbers are up. Just because you have nostalgia for a bygone era doesn’t mean everyone feels the same way. Bama was dominant and buying players in the 70’s and they are dominant and buying players today. Players didn’t attend classes or had work done for them 40 years ago and it’s the same today.

Next season, there will be 11 players on the field wearing GT uniforms playing a football game, just like as always. I’ll be rooting them on whether they are a true 18 year old freshman or a 12th year 30 year old, 8 time transfer. It’s all entertainment and I could care less if any one of them become a future CEO or homeless, no different than how I cared about the player I sat next to in class in the late 80’s/early 90’s or how he cared about me. If in your mind you can’t stand the sport then just stop. I use to love the NBA and watch and attend. Haven’t for 20 years now. But that’s not the sports fault, that’s a me issue and I’m happy and they are obviously continuing to be a successful sport.

You really don't care if football players attending and presumably taking classes at GT end up homeless after they leave our school?

Or take any pride from seeing SA's like Calvin Johnson who used their education and time at Tech to invent and popularize inventions that meaningfully improved lives?

Maybe it's a me problem like you say, but I've always felt great pride in student athlete at Tech who exemplified both aspects. And I definitely would care if we were churning through students who became homeless because we did such a bad job educating them.
 
The real problem today is that you old guys have your view in your mind of what college football should be even though it’s all a fairytale of your own making. College football is awesome to watch and attend like always which is why the numbers are up. Just because you have nostalgia for a bygone era doesn’t mean everyone feels the same way. Bama was dominant and buying players in the 70’s and they are dominant and buying players today. Players didn’t attend classes or had work done for them 40 years ago and it’s the same today.

Next season, there will be 11 players on the field wearing GT uniforms playing a football game, just like as always. I’ll be rooting them on whether they are a true 18 year old freshman or a 12th year 30 year old, 8 time transfer. It’s all entertainment and I could care less if any one of them become a future CEO or homeless, no different than how I cared about the player I sat next to in class in the late 80’s/early 90’s or how he cared about me. If in your mind you can’t stand the sport then just stop. I use to love the NBA and watch and attend. Haven’t for 20 years now. But that’s not the sports fault, that’s a me issue and I’m happy and they are obviously continuing to be a successful sport.
You are exactly correct. Many old guys like myself will check out or reduce interest. Settle for TV because you are right it is entertainment. It is not for many old folks college football with an emotional investment. Choice is a great thing. To each his own. The real question/consequence is how will the next gen of fans support the team? It does not matter why old folks bail. If old folks bail because college football is no longer the nostalgic experience they seek it is their choice. I also suspect that the financial contributions and attendance dollars spent by old folks will not be matched by the new generation that loves this new semi pro football masquerading as college football. Time will tell. I personably know at least 7-8 old folks who have bailed on their attendance and travel investment. I cannot speak to their other financial commitments. Are they still being made? A private matter of course. But what I know is their seats are empty and if their prior commitments have also vanished finding new gen fans to fill the void might be a a challenge? Time will tell.
 
Not like it's anything new but the end of "college" football is all but certain. I am really not sure what the next few years for the game will look like. I've been trying to put some thought into it but can't come up with an obvious answer.

 
I spent two days in Seattle a couple years ago before an Alaska cruise, it seemed like a pretty cool place to me
 
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