Why we love college football

Best selling author John U. Bacon has a new book where he examines the cultures at four Big Ten schools, Michigan, Ohio State, Northwestern and Penn State. He spent a year with the programs, interviewing fans, players and coaches as the season unfolded. The book is called, Fourth and Long: The Fight for the Soul of College Football.

Today at Yahoo Sports he sat down for an interview with columnist Jeffrey Eisenband. Here are a couple of excerpts:

So, what is the ‘soul’ of college football?

BACON: It’s the unique relationship between the players and the fans, which I have always maintained is the closest relationship in all of sports in America or the world. You’re on campus, the players are on campus. They go to your classes, your restaurants and bars, your dorms. You run into the big men on campus. That doesn’t happen in the NFL or the NBA. The players are irrational about it. Taylor Lewan turned down millions of dollars at Michigan to stay. That’s an irrational decision based on passion. I talked to Tim Brown in the book, the ’87 Heisman Trophy winner. When he graduated from Notre Dame, he’s sitting there in his dorm room saying I do not want to leave this place. He said after the Oakland Raiders, “I do not feel this way.” That was after he was making millions and on the verge of becoming an NFL Hall of Famer. Likewise, the fans are irrational. The tailgates, the marching band, the amount of money we give and we pay to the universities’ athletic departments. It’s not based on mere excellence. You won’t see better football — obviously the Lions, the Bears, the Browns and so on will beat any college football team — but it’s based on the passion these fans feel. Our love for college football is irrational and that is where they’ve got us.

In an era of such controversies in college football, what positives can readers take away from this book?
BACON: If you want to go for a macro surprise — the micro would be Penn State — the macro surprise is almost all the players I met believe in the ideals of college football more than the NCAA does. The NCAA, itself, to me is hypocritical marketing organization. The players, almost all of them, are actually true believers. They go to class, they graduate. Look at Penn State, they all could have left, they all could have transferred, but almost all decided to stay even though they weren’t going to a bowl game. John Urschel, the offensive lineman, had a great line. He said, “Hey, I gave them my word. You don’t have much else beyond your word, you know?” 

The relationship between players and fans in college football is what makes it a unique and special game. The business, legislative and policy sides of the sport are excruciating, but teams, players, history and tradition, passion, and the stories are what bring us back. Mark Emmert doesn’t define college football for anyone. Marcus Mariota and De’Anthony Thomas do. It’s the songs, the chants, the colors and the memorable moments that make it beautiful. Players make the game, and it’s their passion that makes us care so deeply. Every day I feel privileged to write about such a great story from a fan perspective.

Saturday marks a new chapter in the Ducks bid for greatness in 2013. Nobody knows how it ends. There is nothing guaranteed about clashes with Washington, UCLA and Stanford. The story could end in heartbreak, ruin, injury, missed field goals or glory.

Can an unassuming, quiet, modest kid from Hawaii find the confidence and assertiveness to lead a national championship effort, handle the pressures and scrutiny? Can an undersized running back from the mean streets of Compton seize the right moments to unleash his remarkable talent?

There are so many amazing stories of toughness, courage, coping with expectation, overcoming injury, harnessing ability. What happens to Colt Lyerla, Josh Huff, Bralon Addison and Johnny Mundt? Thomas Tyner and Byron Marshall make a bid to become stars. Derrick Malone competes with a soul full of poetry and a heart of ferocity. Jason Quick of the Oregonian has another great story today about walk-on Ayele Forde earning a scholarship. Forde is 5-7, 171 pounds, and last year he led the kickoff team in tackles with 13. Special teams coach Tom Osborne said, “His heart is probably bigger than his whole body.”

Together they’re a remarkable story, 105 kids who care more than the NCAA, more than the accounting department, the licensing company, or the networks. Millions of dollars are bought and sold, but it’s their story. Amazing that a kids’ game could mean so much to so many people.