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Battling My (College Football) Addiction

Denver_sc said:
There are not many enthusiastic CU communities, but I suspect that Allbuffs represents some of the most fervent CU football fans.

and this thread is full of diehards who haven’t renewed season tickets and aren’t going to go to games this year.

that seems…not good for the future of the program. Thanks Phil. Thanks Rick.
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My sense is that losing the interest of the fans isn't a temporary thing.

College football fans tend to be highly loyal due to the connections to their schools. It takes a lot to break those bonds but the strongest bonds can also be the hardest to repair or replace.

Once these people get into other fall weekend routines they aren't coming back.

A truism in almost every business is that it is easier to keep a customer than to replace them. Probably especially true here.
 
96 Buff said:
Really, ken? The reason you're not watching isn't because the Buffs have ****ing sucked for 15+ years, but rather because 'things have changed and i'm old and cranky'

If we were in the national conversation every week, like we were in the mid-90s, i expect all of us would be just fine with the changes to the landscape.
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Not me! I have morals and integrity! I LOVE watching things done “the right way”.
 
Went to the game. Tailgated, but didn’t bother to do anything to get in to the game before kickoff. Then they had the weather delay, so I made the kickoff anyway. Left the game early in the 4th quarter. Why should I put much effort and commitment into this program when the school itself couldn’t care less about it? Oh, and I’m watching Harry Potter today. There’s probably some college football on, but I can’t bring myself to care.
 
96 Buff said:
Really, ken? The reason you're not watching isn't because the Buffs have ****ing sucked for 15+ years, but rather because 'things have changed and i'm old and cranky'

If we were in the national conversation every week, like we were in the mid-90s, i expect all of us would be just fine with the changes to the landscape.
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I've asked myself that question a number of times. I don't know. I feel it's mostly about the state of college football, and the Buffs poor performance over the last decade and a half makes it a lot easier. If not, it wouldn't be the first time that I've lied to myself.
 
you can't address an addiction until you stop lying to yourself.
 
I absolutely love college football and despite all the changes it's still a great game when the games kick off. The disparity and imperfections, along with the emotion, rivalries, bizarre traditions and trophy games are all part of what makes the game so great. Some of the conference realignment moves suck and others are kind of meh to me. The late kickoff times drive me crazy but at the same I remember when I was younger and being so disappointed when college football on TV was done for the day after the 3:30 EDT game was over. So I keep that in mind.

NIL is great for the players but as we all know it's turned into much more then it was intended to be. As I'm sitting here watching Oregon-UGA or now Cincy-Arky I don't know who is getting what in NIL and I don't really care. If they're getting good money for doing virtually nothing, power to them.

I also get the decline in sports fanaticism and I'm right there with the NFL. I watch the Broncos almost every week but hardly watch any NFL other than that. Once in a while I'll have an early Sunday game on but will be doing other things around the house. And I very rarely watch Sunday night, Monday night or Thursday night games.

I also like NASCAR and I know most on here have zero interest in it. It's become full of gimmicks, a rulebook which seemingly changes by the week and they have start times all over the place. They've overcompensated with venue changes. But at the core I still love stock car racing particularly at certain tracks so I still watch almost every week.

I get and respect that everyone has different interests, and that interests change over time. CU's sucktitude is beyond disappointing but I've become numb to how bad we are anymore. I'm excited about getting out to a home game in a few weeks for the first time in 15+ years. Fortunately I love the overall game enough where CU being bad doesn't hurt my enthusiasm. Would the game be more fun if CU was a national contender? 100% yes. But my overall enthusiasm for the game persists and won't decline anytime soon if ever.
 
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Feel this on every level. I used to genuinely count down the days to the season starting. I'd park my ass on the couch and watch games for 12 hours every Saturday...and I'd genuinely anticipate getting to watch the Buffs.

As I watched the Pitt-WVU game the other night, a really good, competitive game, I was just...bored. By halftime if the game last night...I was just...bored.

I had the option to stay home today...I chose to come in to work instead, and I'm still here. Haven't seen a second of football all day, and I don't miss it.

College football doesn't matter anymore. Hopefully a lot of fans of a lot of teams feel this way and the ratings start to crater because that's the only way anything in this sport gets fixed.

I'd much rather watch an NFL game between two teams I don't care about than watch any college games anymore.

For the person who said we feel this way because the Buffs suck? No...I don't know how anyone could be a rabid 'Bama fan at this point, either. There's no competition. Winning something that's not even competitive year in year out isn't fun. The sport needs to devour itself and die already.
 
CarolinaBuff said:
I absolutely love college football and despite all the changes it's still a great game when the games kick off. The disparity and imperfections, along with the emotion, rivalries, bizarre traditions and trophy games are all part of what makes the game so great. Some of the conference realignment moves suck and others are kind of meh to me. The late kickoff times drive me crazy but at the same I remember when I was younger and being so disappointed when college football on TV was done for the day after the 3:30 EDT game was over. So I keep that in mind.

NIL is great for the players but as we all know it's turned into much more then it was intended to be. As I'm sitting here watching Oregon-UGA or now Cincy-Arky I don't know who is getting what in NIL and I don't really care. If they're getting good money for doing virtually nothing, power to them.

I also get the decline in sports fanaticism and I'm right there with the NFL. I watch the Broncos almost every week but hardly watch any NFL other than that. Once in a while I'll have an early Sunday game on but will be doing other things around the house. And I very rarely watch Sunday night, Monday night or Thursday night games.

I also like NASCAR and I know most on here have zero interest in it. It's become full of gimmicks, a rulebook which seemingly changes by the week and they have start times all over the place. They've overcompensated with venue changes. But at the core I still love stock car racing particularly at certain tracks and I still watch almost every week.

I get and respect that everyone has different interests, and that interests change over time. CU's sucktitude is beyond disappointing but I've become numb to how bad we are anymore. I'm excited about getting out to a home game in a few weeks for the first time in 15+ years. Fortunately I love the overall game enough where CU being bad doesn't hurt my enthusiasm. Woudl the game be more fun if CU was a national contender? 100% yes. But my overall enthusiasm for the game persists and won't decline anytime soon if ever.
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See, I'm of the mind that college football at this point is essentially pro football with way worse players, and I've never really thought that college championships or bowl trophies really meant anything.

I'd rather watch high level football...and no college team can achieve an NFL level of play.
 
Uncle Ken said:
How it started:

My Fall seasons have been devoted to college football for about 35 years. It's all that I've wanted to do all-day on Saturdays - the Buffs and beyond.

For whatever reason, I just never got around to renewing my season tickets this Spring (it's not a big investment - it's an easy walk to the stadium for me). And then, USC and UCLA left the PAC 12.

I did an inventory of what I loved about college football. I love the feel of a crisp fall day. I loved the quirky traditions and the regional alignments. I loved the engagement of schools, students and alumni coming together. It somehow managed to feel like the most important thing in the world and somehow not important at all - both at the same time. I loved that feeling.

What it didn't feel like was the NFL. Sterile. Instead, it was just some student athletes going out and creating stories on college campuses across our country.

None of that is there anymore. BCS and then the playoffs made it feel that teams weren't creating stories anymore, but instead embarking on a singular quest for a championship. And if you weren't in the hunt, then it didn't matter. The games and the stories used to matter - now I feel they've been dismissed. And those quirky fun traditions? Now they just feel exploited for ESPN/Fox Sports' bottom lines. Maybe I've reached a level of 35-years-old that comes with a bit more cynicism, but it didn't used to feel so exploited.

So I decided not to watch or participate this year. At all.

How it's going:

As Brad mentioned in the game thread, it felt really sad last night. The energy in our neighborhood was great. The next door neighbor girls had a party. I could hear the stadium.

I followed the score/possession/down/yardage while watching Only Murders. Certainly more than I intended - at least in the first half. As the third quarter ended, without hope, I put my phone down and went to bed.

I feel great this morning. Sad for the loss of what I once loved about college football (in the big picture) but there's nothing I can do about that. I can only control how I engage with what's left...

...and ESPN, FOX Sports, the SEC, and BiG and Texas and Oklahoma and USC/UCLA and The Buffs are making it really, really easy not to engage at all. That's what I'm learning today.
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I appreciate you sharing this perspective. You have a real talent for communicating your thoughts. Much of it resonates with me. But I’m struggling with how to engage with my new feelings. Can I go cold turkey? Should I go cold turkey?

I chose to watch the game on Friday night. But it was done in a way that was not normal for me. I found myself watching more out of curiosity than anything else. No real “fan” reaction. Just observational. Almost detached. I wanted to see if there were any surprises. Would Lewis look different? Would Shrout play and how would he play? For some reason, I stayed up until 1am and watched the whole thing. I wasn’t angry. I was a bit sad that something I used to care about so deeply, no longer generated those emotions.

I told myself that I had no interest in watching any other games. But old habits die hard. I flipped channels and watched a few minutes of several different games, unsatisfied with any that I came across. I ended up watching the entire fourth quarter of the Delaware/Navy game. And was entertained. I’m not sure if it was the nostalgia of the young mids that they showed in the stands, or the nostalgia of option football. Or maybe the nostalgia of student athletes. Huh. Maybe it’s the nostalgia.

But I also still have a bit of an appreciation and awe of seeing elite level athleticism and talent. I watched the entire Georgia/Oregon game and was genuinely excited to see what Georgia could do, both schematically and just the sheer athleticism that their players had.

So where does that leave me, in my college football addiction? I don’t know. I despise the monetization of the sport I once loved, but I’m aware that it always existed and I’m happy that players are getting compensated in some way. I admit that if my university valued athletic excellence as much as the schools that they claim as peers, that my feelings might be different. So maybe this is just sour grapes. Maybe it’s just old, jaded guy.

I’m genuinely excited to attend the Air Force game next week. My in-laws used to have season tickets there and I know they are excited to show us the game day atmosphere and I look forward to traveling to spend time with them. So I’ll enjoy that aspect and then just see what happens from there.

At the risk of parroting an overused phrase, what will be my “new normal”?
 
SpacemanSpiff said:
I appreciate you sharing this perspective. You have a real talent for communicating your thoughts. Much of it resonates with me. But I’m struggling with how to engage with my new feelings. Can I go cold turkey? Should I go cold turkey?

I chose to watch the game on Friday night. But it was done in a way that was not normal for me. I found myself watching more out of curiosity than anything else. No real “fan” reaction. Just observational. Almost detached. I wanted to see if there were any surprises. Would Lewis look different? Would Shrout play and how would he play? For some reason, I stayed up until 1am and watched the whole thing. I wasn’t angry. I was a bit sad that something I used to care about so deeply, no longer generated those emotions.

I told myself that I had no interest in watching any other games. But old habits die hard. I flipped channels and watched a few minutes of several different games, unsatisfied with any that I came across. I ended up watching the entire fourth quarter of the Delaware/Navy game. And was entertained. I’m not sure if it was the nostalgia of the young mids that they showed in the stands, or the nostalgia of option football. Or maybe the nostalgia of student athletes. Huh. Maybe it’s the nostalgia.

But I also still have a bit of an appreciation and awe of seeing elite level athleticism and talent. I watched the entire Georgia/Oregon game and was genuinely excited to see what Georgia could do, both schematically and just the sheer athleticism that their players had.

So where does that leave me, in my college football addiction? I don’t know. I despise the monetization of the sport I once loved, but I’m aware that it always existed and I’m happy that players are getting compensated in some way. I admit that if my university valued athletic excellence as much as the schools that they claim as peers, that my feelings might be different. So maybe this is just sour grapes. Maybe it’s just old, jaded guy.

I’m genuinely excited to attend the Air Force game next week. My in-laws used to have season tickets there and I know they are excited to show us the game day atmosphere and I look forward to traveling to spend time with them. So I’ll enjoy that aspect and then just see what happens from there.

At the risk of parroting an overused phrase, what will be my “new normal”?
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When are you flying out to Denver for the AFA game? I think I leave later Friday morning on Frontier.
 
I am not a real mega fan, but I would always watch the Buffs and then at least follow the other games each week. The way things are going I have lost any enthusiasm I had for CU football and I kind of miss getting excited about watching them play. I have lived 45 minutes from Athens for 25 years and never really paid any attention to UGA or even thought seriously about going to a game. I don't think I could name a single player on their roster. in any event, I think it's time for a change. I saw tickets for this weekends UGA game are selling for $35 so I bought a ticket. Hopefully its a nice day because the game will probably suck, but I am going to go see how the other half lives. Go Dawgs
 
steph said:
I am not a real mega fan, but I would always watch the Buffs and then at least follow the other games each week. The way things are going I have lost any enthusiasm I had for CU football and I kind of miss getting excited about watching them play. I have lived 45 minutes from Athens for 25 years and never really paid any attention to UGA or even thought seriously about going to a game. I don't think I could name a single player on their roster. in any event, I think it's time for a change. I saw tickets for this weekends UGA game are selling for $35 so I bought a ticket. Hopefully its a nice day because the game will probably suck, but I am going to go see how the other half lives. Go Dawgs
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Good luck. They're one of the SEC schools I hate the least.
 
steph said:
I am not a real mega fan, but I would always watch the Buffs and then at least follow the other games each week. The way things are going I have lost any enthusiasm I had for CU football and I kind of miss getting excited about watching them play. I have lived 45 minutes from Athens for 25 years and never really paid any attention to UGA or even thought seriously about going to a game. I don't think I could name a single player on their roster. in any event, I think it's time for a change. I saw tickets for this weekends UGA game are selling for $35 so I bought a ticket. Hopefully its a nice day because the game will probably suck, but I am going to go see how the other half lives. Go Dawgs
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I married into UGA nearly 20 years ago. They have carried me through basically the last 20 years.
 
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