Cough, Sputter, Gasp, Gasp!!

Draw the curtain

About 6 months after getting married, my wife asked if we could get a TV. Not that I didn't have one, it was just that mine had an 11 inch screen and rabbit ears. For her the issue was football. I had married a football fan and Michigan football and Monday Night Football were fast approaching. So, happy wife happy home, I joined the flat screen nation.

Last night the college football season finally came to an end. We actually watched the game for about 30 or 40 minutes until the outcome became too obvious and painful to watch. That, and Tam just about choked on her own spit when they mentioned the coach having an annual salary of 5 million.

For us, we like to watch the college games in the fall when the colors are coming on, the temperatures starting to drop, and the tailgating is in full swing. It's fun to be naive and think about the games as great college rivalries and forget about media timeouts and schedules that revolve around viewer habits and network demands. But sitting here in January, on a Monday night, after 327 other college bowl games, and hearing about the coach's 7 figure income, it's too hard to overlook the real force behind college football: revenue. It's hard to connect with that ancient spirit of collegiate sports, the spirit that probably departed around 1967.

Walking away from the television last night was like that scene in the movies where the guy's been shot and you can't quite tell how bad it is. And then he starts to cough and gasp and sputter and then the blood starts to pour out of his mouth. Not sure about fatal, but the damage is serious and it don't look good.

We have almost 8 months to recover. Hopefully we can recover enough to overlook the commercial bonanza that is college football, settle in, and once again watch the Ducks and the Wolverines while listening to my wife yell at the TV.  But, as they saying goes, I just don't know if it can ever be the same again.