NCAA vs. NFL:

Football is back in town!  Ruling television sets all over the world.  Die hard football fans sporting jerseys representing their favorite player.  Little kids idolizing the team quarterback all in hope to one day be just like them.  Then there are those fans that bad mouth the opposing team but all for the simple love of the game and their beloved football team.  Football the sport that drives people insane but without a doubt produces the most loyal fans in all of sports because no matter how far ones team makes it, they'll stick by them.  College or professional, football will be football and fans will always maintain themselves as fans, but is there a difference or better put a preference of which fans prefer to watch?

         National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Football, is an association made up of 120 teams containing to 12 different divisions.  Each university plays each other depending on which division they belong to.  In the NCAA, though, universities play in different tournaments, something not done in professional football. In the National Football League (NFL), there are 32 professional teams that are divided into two divisions, the American League (AL) and the National League (NL).  Both divisions play for one goal and one goal only and that's to get to the Super Bowl, every teams dream.  So which is more entertaining to fans, watching college students play with so much heart and intensity or watching experienced professionals dominate the 100 yards that is the football field?

         "They (collegiate players) are doing it to make a name for themselves all the time, not just when it comes down to getting a contract extension," Julio Fuentes, a UT Austin Longhorn Fan, said about the collegiate level football.  Fuentes believes college players play for the love of the game, with much more intensity than a player from a professional team would.  Phillip Anthony, a high school junior Dallas Cowboys fan, prefers professional football to the collegiate level.  He agreed with the point that about college players trying to make a name for themselves so they can one day become a professional player.  Anthony then brought up a good point, "College players might not be playing for a contract or big money, but they are playing just as hard to make themselves a future prospect for the NFL, meaning they are playing with the same intensity a professional player is playing with."  So at the end of the day, football players, collegiate and professional, both play for the pride and passion they have for the game of football, for the big prize of a championship, that is all. All the other stuff that comes with it, money, contracts, endorsements, those are all just bonus things.  They play for the fans that buy and wear their jerseys.  They play for all those little kids out there that idolize them.  They play for all the fans that pay money to go and watch them score touchdowns.  Football will be football no matter if it's in the collegiate or professional level.  The intensity and love for the game does not change!

(Cassandra R. Zepeda may be contacted at czepeda@dusty.tamiu.edu)