>

Adults caring about professional sports in general is cringy and pathetic.
Why you care about the outcome of a game you have no involvement in?
If you like sports go play in a recreation League.
Putting on an Eagles jersey painting your face and pretending you're on the team is glorified LARPing its pathetic and embarrassing.
Why stop at college sports? Why do people like pro sports? Why do people like Olympic sports? They aren’t out there skiing their ass off for a medal. I think the reason is because we feel like those people represent us and are doing it for us (even if they couldn’t care less). I could never play in the NFL but I could live vicariously through my home town team. >

there are a lot of people who grow up in small college towns that don't have their own professional sports teams. they live hours away from major cities, but they have their very own, highly competitive teams right in their back yard.
it's also a sense of regional pride. those colleges and universities and big employers for these towns. they provide revenue for the towns and residents. they are part of that town's history and soul.
rooting for a local college team is regional pride for people who live in small towns far away from the larger professional teams. >

I grew up and live in a town of 13000 with a D1 basketball team right here, yeah I think it's cool when they do well but I dont care about it either way. Them doing well is like seeing a pretty rainbow while driving, kinda cool but I don't think about it or care after 5 minutes. >

alright well it still explains why other people in your town of 13,000 watch and follow college sports. do you have an NBA team? no? very few cities do. but you DO have a D1 basketball team. so why wouldn't people follow their "hometown" team instead of following a team that is thousands of miles away? >

You think adult college sports fans are hard to understand... let me introduce you to adult high school sports fans. Unbelievable! >

That's a thing???? >

Texas >

Clear eyes.. >

Full hearts >

18-21 year olds are adults >

Legally sure. But if you were fully matured at 18-21 you're in a rare minority. >

Agree but with all sports
Edit: except for solo sports like mountain biking, skiing, climbing, mma fighting, etc >

I hear ya. Two examples. Let’s say you’re from Alabama. Ain’t shit in Alabama except the crimson tide. That’s their “hometown” team. It’s likely who they grew up enjoying. 
The other is someone that went to the college. Let’s say you went to the university of Georgia. You spent 4-5 years there, maybe pledged a frat/sorority, met a spouse and or have lifelong friends from there. You graduated and have a decent job, mostly because of that degree. Hell in most cases people are in debt because college, why can’t they rep it or be into the sports. 
I don’t entirely disagree with you. I don’t watch college sports that much and don’t care about it like that, but I can understand why some do. >

All very fair points. I didn't attend a college with any D1 level teams so I might just not get it lol. >

I agree. You could make this argument about televised sports in general, but I think college sports adds an extra layer of weirdness. >

Because I didn't have an NBA team where I lived growing up, but the College Basketball scene was VERY competitive and interesting. >

Fair, I also have to remember it wasn't as easy to watch whatever sporting event you want live as it is now. So even though now anything can be accessed streaming it wasn't always that way. >

Popular opinion: people that care what other people enjoy as hobbies (legally) are weird. >

Oh I know I'm weird. Just not as weird as someone who cares about The Alabama Crimson Tide. >

Roll tide mf >

South Harmon Institute of Technology?
I see what you did there, very nice. >

I agree with the general vibe of this opinion atleast when it comes to the USA which is all i have experience with. That said I'm not much of a sports fan at all these days besides some combat sports. I do respect athleticism and skill. There is a component about the athletes being much younger than me that is part of it too. It does not feel natural to be looking towards athletes I am old enough to be the parent of on some sort of pedestal. Same thing for young pro's etc. My 2 cents. >

If you said that in Iowa you would probably get sent to the icu. I agree with you Im not a fan of football or really any sport. But Iowa is on another level the walmarts here sell college foot ball merch. Adults of all ages go to the games and its like half of their personality. >

College athletes aren't generally kids, especially in some sports like football the majority of the guys on the field are in their 20's.  If you are a fan of NHL hockey, NBA basketball, movies, music or almost anything else you are cheering for "kids" the same age. >

True the QB for the Georgia team was 47 years old. >

I think caring about all sports is weird. >

If we're being honest and we think about it too hard, caring about anything other than breathing, eating, procreation and drinking water is weird. We make up things to care about. >

Probably true. The number of things people pay attention to has increased dramatically since having to really focus on survival has not been much of an issue. >

As someone else already said, money is a huge part of it. But some people just like seeing good athletes perform. It’s pretty simple. Of course there’s the tribalism as well. But you can extend this opinion to say why do people care about sports? You don’t know anyone on the team. You’ve never even seen that team play in person. So why do you care? It’s because we like to watch other human’s endeavor in an athletic theater. >

I do get that, but I want to watch the best of the best do it and while sure most pro players have short careers I just can't bring myself to care about players that play college sports for 2-3 years and are done. At least in the pros there are common links that bind together the different generations. >

I like watching football, but my weekly capacity for watching football games is only so much. As a fan, the NFL is more than enough. >

If I'm looking at it honestly it's possible that's my problem with college football in particular. I kinda don't need anymore football in my life.. >

I'm a brit and I don't understand why American people care about college sports either.
The whole getting into college/uni because you're good at sports is also wild to me. >

in britain they do the same thing with football clubs. it's almost identical >

Please explain.
I do not understand anything about college sports aside from attending college and playing sports on the tv >

loosely put:

professional sports are a bunch of the best players in the world working for rich people
college sports are locals playing each other

it scratches a tribal itch for a lot of people to cheer for "their" guys >

Okay. So college sports is like a lower league played by college students? 
Do they ever play the higher league teams? and what's this about needing a college education to become professional? >

people can skip college and go straight to professional. that's what lebron james did.
the best players who aren't afraid of permanent brain damage end up playing for the pros. >

how many football starters are taking calculus courses..?
and the answer to your u.o. is: gambling. >

I mean playing football doesn't imply them being stupid. >

college football players mostly major in football. the athletes generally have fairly simple classes/schedules. at least the ones i knew in college did. >


18-21 year old kids

think you mean 18-21 year old adults >

No, I mean kids. If you are less than a quarter of your way through your life (which statistically they are) I think its fair to call you a kid. >


less than a quarter of your way through your life (which statistically they are)

in the US,  the average life expectancy is sitting at around 76 - not 100. 1/4 of 76 is in fact exactly 19. not sure where you got that arbitrary quarter life benchmark, but if that's what you're going by, 18-21 year olds are therefore adults. >

College sports are just more fun then professional leagues alot of the time >

I disagree but respect your opinion. I find a lot of the fun from the higher level of talent in the pro games. >

College basketball at points might as well be a different game than NBA lol also the setup of college bball is way more interesting. Individual games actually matter. >

Personally, I prefer college football to the NFL. To me, college football is far more exciting due to the atmosphere and traditions of each school. I didn't attend the school I cheer for. I grew up watching them play every Saturday with my dad, and I plan on watching every Saturday with my kids. >

I respect it even if I don't understand lol. I'm glad you have those happy memories cheering with your dad! >

Your opinion is true in the rest of the world. College sports are not well watched or supported outside of North America. There are very few university games in the UK that attract more than the player’s partners and housemates. >

Do you think it could partially be because the most popular sport in the UK allows their players to skip college and go straight to the soccer orgs?
I'm sure a lot less people would watch college football if all the players just went straight to the NFL >

Frankly, adults caring about any sports is weird. It seems so childish. Why is watching people chase different size balls around interesting? >

Because games are fun and watching people play games is also fun >

I used to think the same as you before going to the University of Iowa, having my dorm insanely close to Kinnick Stadium (where they play), my first and only apartment across the street from Kinnick, etc. 
It’s a whole culture on game days, and I didn’t even go to a school that amazing at CFB like Alabama ND, etc. You just kind of adopt it, and even though I live in Colorado now, I still follow the Hawkeyes because of the shared bonding experience I have with others, the carefree memories, etc. 
I get why people think it’s weird, but whatever. It doesn’t hurt anyone 🤷🏼 >

I definitely understand why people who attended the schools feel that way!! >

Omg man I’m an idiot, sorry for not seeing that part of the sentence! Not proudly repping a Hawkeyes education right now with my illiteracy 😬 >

I don't think rooting for a team that represents the city you happen to reside in is any less arbitrary than following a team of a school you don't attend. 
Fans like to think they have some connection to their teams, but it's imaginary. The guy who likes a particular team because their uniform look cool has just as valid a reason for his preference. >

Ya it's super weird for grown adults to willingly and passionately buy in and support what is essentially marketing for schools.  
What's way more fucked up imo is how readily exploited these college athletes can be - the schools are making money hand over fist and the students get, what, a chance to get drafted and go pro?  If those were actual professional leagues filling the consumer demand, the athletes would actually have careers and get a salary worth considerably more than some scholarship.
I'm not American so maybe that's part of why I don't understand.  I'm pretty sure this doesn't exist in any other country. >

They also can get a scholarship which some never would have gotten if they didn’t play a sport and now with NIL money it’s going to be a lot better for some players >


They also can get a scholarship which some never would have gotten if they didn’t play a sport and now with NIL money it’s going to be a lot better for some players

They wouldn't have gotten a scholarship, but if fans were supporting minor leagues instead of schools, they would have opportunity to have a professional sports career, worth far more than their scholarship.  For example, annually Texas A&M brings in $147m from football - if even 10% of that revenue was to go to player salaries, between 85 players that's an average of over $150k per year.
I don't believe that whatever scholarship they are getting is worth anything near that. >

I never said it was a totally fair system I just was saying they get more than just a chance to get drafted and like I said the new NIL rights are letting players make some money off playing now. Paying college players is hard because there are upwards of 90 players on some teams and the top few colleges don’t represent the majority. Some players are playing because it’s fun or a passion like a lot of guys know they aren’t going to go pro and can try and focus on using this shot to get an education. Like I said not a perfect system by any means but it’s starting to give the players more >

Yeah fair enough, you aren't even really arguing with any of the claims I've made, you are right they do get a scholarship I just think it's a super weird and convoluted system. >

It’s a weird system but with smaller leagues continuing to try and start up they will give players other options for where to go and possibly make some money and stuff. There is a rule in the nfl that you need to be 3 years out of college of something too so there’s that