As the negotiations proceed, it is looking more and more like the NBA will not be having a season this year. With this news, it’s important to remember that we are so much better off losing the NBA season than we would be if we lost the college basketball season. If this scenario was switched around, many Americans would be lost in a David Stern-led world where pouty NBA stars don’t really care about anything but themselves. With that I release my top 10 reasons why college basketball is so much better than the NBA with a little bit of Pac-12 sprinkled in.
But first, as always, the Mueller genuine call of the week. Sean Miller, head coach of the Arizona Wildcats will win at least 800 games in his college coaching career. One of the bigger stories of the week is Coach K’s historic 903rd victory. My thoughts are that Sean Miller is young, a great recruiter, and an outstanding coach. He looks like he will be a lifer in college athletics (hopefully with Arizona the entire time) and will hold a lot of records by the time he is finished with his career. Including 800 W’s.
Without further ado, here are the top 10 reasons why college basketball is better than the NBA:
10. Male Cheerleaders: These guys actually look like they should be playing football for their University. Instead, they get to throw around 80 pound girls and look up their skirts during the games. Some people may call them losers – but I say it’s pure genius!!
9. Colin Cowherd: Getting to hear Colin Cowherd bitch about having to watch college basketball for a few months will make the entire NBA lockout worthwhile. He will have to actually pay attention to how fun college basketball is and stop yelling about how the UCLA center is “actually overweight”. Yeah, he may be overweight, but if you did your homework, Colin, he is a pretty good player that will make the NBA.
8. Kevin Parrom: For those of you that don’t know the story, get out from under your rock and go look it up. These are the stories that we live for in college athletics. It’s not that it is a new situation; in fact, I would bet that a lot of teams throughout the country have a story on par with this one. The great part about it is how teams will rally around a fellow player when they face adversity. Good luck with that one, NBA.
7. Price: You can go to a college basketball game for a lot cheaper than an NBA game and you know that you aren’t going to pay $10 per pop for beers.
6. Mascots: Wilbur the Wildcat is a pimp–we all know this. Sure the Phoenix Suns Gorilla can dunk a basketball in a pretty awesome way, but can the Gorilla ignite a crowd by getting into a fight with his rival, Sparky the Sun Devil? Often times Wilbur even has to save Wilma from Sparky. These heroics and others like them make Wilbur and other college mascots the beloved fan favorites that they are today (Except for maybe the Stanford Tree. That thing is just plain and downright weird).
5. Cinderella Teams: If you have one true future NBA player on a college roster these days you have a chance to make a run in the tournament. This means that Cinderella teams who have hit a home run with a recruit may actually go deep during the Big Dance. It is now your time if you are a small school so take it and run with it. In the NBA, the Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State Warriors, and Minnesota Timberwolves will never get their time.
4. Bubble Teams: Washington State, Oregon, Arizona State (ok, so maybe this one is a stretch), etc…these teams and similar “average” teams throughout the nation get a chance to have their dreams come true on Selection Sunday. Then they get the chance to win a game or two in the tournament. But hey, you get to believe in your team for a little while. You’ll never get the excitement of bubble teams in the NBA – they’re either in or out.
3. University Fight Songs: These songs are the closest thing that we have in the United States to resembling international soccer stadiums. We all know our teams’ individual songs and we embrace them any chance we get to sing them. It truly is a wonderful thing!! Sing it with me now Wildcat fans: Bear down Arizona, Bear down red and blue, Bear down Arizona, hit ‘em hard let ‘em know who’s who….
2. The Love of the Game: The students play for the love of the sport and the love of their school. The politics and business side of the sport is saved until pro basketball (well, for the most part). We have all seen the commercials stating that college athletes always go pro in something else. It is true. These students play for the love of the game and it shows in every single match up during the college basketball year. As for the pros, look at the where we are right now. Is that love? Yes, it is: money love.
1. March Madness!! The true greatness of college basketball is expressed in these two words.