FanNation - The Republic of Sport

  Am I the only person in this fading republic that gets weary every December when all the regular season games in College Football have been played and Chris Fowler, Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit host that program that has all the All-American football players?

  Argue all you want to as to what conference is the second toughest in the country after the SEC; you can say it's the Big 12 or the Pac 10. Whatever conference is 2nd or 3rd doesn't matter, really, for this argument because both are better than the Big 10; what matters is that the Big 10 conference is at best the 4th toughest conference in NCAA College Football.

  That said, why is it that Penn St, Michigan and Ohio St always have the most All-Americans? The SEC is a far better conference with much more competition and talent, yet they always get snubbed by voters come All-American time. And I think I can give you a couple good, solid concrete examples to this argument:

   First of all, to me, "All-American" means tops at your position; the best player at a certain position on the field. Every year, the Big 10 has by far the most All-Americans, yet when Draft day comes in April, those Big 10 All-Americans are rarely ever drafted as high as the kids from the SEC, or even the Pac 10 and Big 12, particularly in the skill positions.

    Why is that?

   And, if these Big 10 "All-Americans" are so good, where are they in the NFL when the Pro Bowl comes around? Check out where the majority of the great football players in the NFL are from and played college ball.

   Better yet, check out the rosters on the really, really good teams in the NFL, such as New England, Indy, Pittsburgh, New York Giants, Dallas and any other traditionally good team that comes to your mind: where are their best players from, and what colleges did they play for? Particularly the skill positions. The majority are from the South, Texas and California, yet these key areas of vast talent in this country lack the All-American votes that the Big 10 teams of midwest America get year-in and year-out.

   I'm so tired of Joe Pa's "linebacker-U" Penn St getting two-thirds of the linebacker votes for All-American, and then those same players get drafted behind SEC linebackers almost every April.

   I'm so weary of Michigan getting half a dozen All-American votes, like they did two years ago (because their defense was soooo incredible), and then going to the Rose Bowl and getting demolished and torched by an above average quarterback named John David Booty.

   And what about Ohio St? If you care to check just about any College Football magazine such as Street and Smiths or Athlon, you'll see they have more All-Americans, or "potential" All-Americans than anybody, yet LSU just demolished them in the National Championship.

   What's up with that?

   Sounds to me like more biased media from rediculous, hopeful fans projecting some sort of a wished-for outcome, rather than what is actually at hand.

p.s. Why is the College Football Hall of Fame located in Notre Dame's backyard? South Bend? I think that's a sacrilege. I think NCAA Football should be given more respect and move the Hall of Fame to either Florida, Texas or California--some place that produces the most and best ballplayers. In the very least the College Football Hall of Fame should be moved to Mississippi, that state that, per capita in the form of its population, puts out more football players than any state in the country.