College football is (mostly) back so let’s enjoy the uniqueness rather than complain
College football is mostly back and while it’s easy to complain about the unique situation, let’s choose to enjoy what we have rather than don’t have.
If I give you a five-pack of your favorite beer, are you going to complain and wonder what happened to that sixth can? Or are you going to be thankful that you got five ice-cold beers?
Well, you’re probably going to make a fuss about the five-back and give me some crap about my surcharge for delivering the brews, but then you’re going to sit back, relax and enjoy some ice-cold suds.
Why can’t we do the same for college football?
With apologies to The Killers, I’m Mr. Brightside and looking at the positive things we have in the craziest college football season of our lives.
Look, I get it, this is going to be a weird season, and some fans will have to do without their favorite teams, at least for the time being. Big Ten, Pac-12, MAC, Mountain West and all the fans from the FCS, D-II and D-III levels that aren’t playing, they get a pass to be upset.
Ohio State football fans, in particular, have a right to be upset with the reality their team, one of the most talented in program history, may not have a chance to compete for a national championship. That doesn’t mean they get to bully reporters for reporting the news that their team isn’t playing.
It’s one thing to be upset but channel that frustration and anger into something productive, like going on a walk outside or remodeling your basement.
And hold on to the optimism that maybe the season starts after all. Wouldn’t you be happy you get football at all, even if you have to wait a few extra weeks, than not at all?
I mean, wouldn’t you rather have a pizza in a month rather than next September? I know I would.
The reality of the coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing efforts to play safely and have fans in the stands and perform effective testing and contact tracing is going to be an ongoing battle. There will be some wins, there will be some losses, but at least we’re keeping score and will have games, right?
Sports is the reflection of a functioning society and if you’ve watched the news for the last six months, we’re not performing at a high rate of efficiency or effectiveness. And yet, we can still sit down on our couches with our favorite beverage in hand and our favorite snacks within reach for 12 hours.
Imagine if we had no college football at all and how miserable (how much more miserable) we would all be. I really don’t want to think about that after going through nine months without college sports, and hopefully, we’ll never have to go through a stretch like that again.
The early-season is always full of sloppy play, timing isn’t quite there and the chemistry isn’t as tight as it would be in late November. That’s where we’re at right now, but I keep looking at the positive side of things when the negativity starts to invade my thought process.
I don’t want to think about why Ohio State and Justin Fields aren’t getting ready to play right now.
I’d rather choose to think about Clemson and Trevor Lawrence playing right now and his pursuit of a Heisman Trophy and of the Tiger’s quest for a third national championship in the last five years.
Instead of lamenting why I don’t get to see Penei Sewell, the best offensive line prospect since Joe Thomas, claim some souls in the Pac-12 this year, I’m going to choose to focus on the great offensive line play in the SEC, ACC, Big 12 and the other leagues in action this fall.
Rather than complaining about not seeing Micah Parsons live up to Penn State’s LBU nickname, I’m going to choose to enjoy watching Alabama’s Dylan Moses return to the middle of the Crimson Tide defense after missing all of 2019 with a torn ACL. I remember when Moses was offered scholarships by LSU, Alabama and Texas when he was a 7th grader and now he has one more season in college to prove he’s the next great defender to play for Nick Saban before going to the NFL.
I’m choosing to be happy that I get to watch Myles Brennan try to step into Joe Burrow‘s shoes at LSU and see if he can pick up where last year’s Heisman winner left off.
I want to see if Spencer Rattler can continue the Oklahoma quarterback Heisman legacy at Oklahoma after Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and 2019 runner-up, Jalen Hurts, set the bar exceedingly high.
I’m done being upset about what we don’t have and will continue to focus on what we do have.
It’s easy to get bogged down in the negative and feel like you’re in a rainstorm with black clouds all around you. But you have to stay focused and remember that every storm runs out of rain and the clouds will part, the blue sky will give way and the sun will shine again.
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