SPORTS COLUMN
ith college football in the limelight over the weekend, a few thoughts. It is a sport out of control, but also something extremely entertaining. I’ve been watching it for over 50 years and am convinced the action has never been better. So, why it is out of control? Recent defections by coaches and outrageous salaries being paid them. Ten million dollar yearly contracts, plus more benefits than you or I would ever see. It has become an arms race for athletic departments all over the country to find the right coach. Even the attitude of the players have changed. If they are not getting enough playing time, it is not uncommon for them to transfer. An allegiance to good old State U is gone. They are really no different than their coaches, other than the fact they are basically free labor. Taking your
SPORTS ROUNDUP
Hawk wrestlers begin season 3-1 Oregon High School’s wrestling team opened the 2021-22 season at Morrison facing the host Mustangs and the Mendota
GUEST VIEW Andy Colbert
ball and going elsewhere is more of a reflection of society. However, society loves college football, with many of us getting our indoctrination as undergrads. Tailgating, homecoming, halftime with the band, storied rivalries and the heady atmosphere of sitting in the stands with thousands of others becomes addicting. Then with nonstop games on TV from early to late on Saturday, the habit continues through our adult life. I admit it, I’m hooked and spend far too much time worshiping the gods of college football than I should. At least I am not as bad as some of
Trojans on Nov. 30 and came home with two wins. On Dec. 2 Oregon added one more win in their home opener, but lost to Colfax
“CONGRATULATIONS ON STATE CHAMPIONSHIP BYRON TIGERS”
the adult males I heard on a University of Utah football postgame radio call-in show. The team just won the PAC-12 title and for the first time ever qualified for the Rose Bowl, the so-called “Granddaddy of them all.” Grown men were in tears on the phone, as they shared what this meant to them. With the Utah football team headed to Pasadena on New Year’s Day, it was a lifetime dream fulfilled. I wonder if things such as weddings, family births and children’s graduations rated as high? I do know this. People in Salt Lake City will pay any amount of money to see their beloved college team at the Rose Bowl. That is the power of college football. Those of us NIU grads sure got excited when the Huskies made the Orange Bowl in 2013. I don’t remember much about Christmas that year, but the trip to Miami for a New Year’s Day
Bowl by my alma mater sticks with me. Before the 40-plus bowl games (that’s absurd in itself) commence, one more regular-season game will be played. It is Army and Navy going at it this Saturday. You would think that with all the feverish devotion to college football, these two service academies would set themselves above it. Not so. Their game might be the most intense of them all, with true bragging rights at stake. Even a best-selling book was written about it by John Feinstein. There is no escaping the stranglehold college football has on us. TV knows that and holds colleges hostage by paying them billions of dollars for the right to show their product. And to think Teddy Roosevelt nearly outlawed the sport more than 100 years ago.
Ridgeview on criteria moving their record to 3-1 for the young season. At Morrison, Oregon ripped through Mendota 72-0 with Griffin Marlatt, Preston
LeBay, Jackson Glendenning, Collin Winterland, and Seth Rote all winning by forfeit. On the mat, Lane Halvorson pinned in a See SPORTS, Page 23
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OGLE COUNTY NEWS Ogle County Newspapers / oglecountynews.com • Friday, Dec 10, 2021
College football out of control, but entertaining W
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