NCAA: College Football's Unrivaled Element

Hey, Michiganders! How ya doin'? Let me toss out a few rivalries that are  unique to your neck of the woods, and particularly to your biggest city,  Detroit.

Tigers-Yankees. Blackhawks- Red Wings. Pistons-Bulls. Pistons-Celtics. Lions-Packers. Lions-Bears. Michigan-Ohio State.

Which rivalry, year-in and year-out, produces the most consistently fervent  passion? Ican't claim to think like a Michigander, let alone a Midwesterner,  but I couldn't possibly imagine an answer any different from "Michigan-Ohio  State."

Let's take another professional city, say, Houston. Is Rockets-Spurs the  biggest thing down there on an annual basis? What about Astros-Cardinals or  Astros-Braves? Biggest thing in town, right? Bigger buzz than Texas-Texas  A&M? Can't claim to be a Texan meself, but I reckon that when the Horns try  to hook the gig-minded Aggies, the passion produced in the Lone Star State  is hotter than the annual Aggie Bonfire, and more colorful than any election  night metaphor that Dan Rather took from his Texan roots. (Author's reminder: The Longhorn-Aggie game won't be until Thanksgiving  Friday, but it's a signature college rivalry just the same.)

And what about the sleepy folks in Los Angeles, the mega-city that it is?  Dodgers-Giants probably rates pretty high on the rivalry scale, but does it  always generate the passion--and moreover, the filled seats--that USC-UCLA  consistently does? More than a few alumni care about that game more than any  revisited professional rivalry.

These examples--all of which take into account larger cities--ignore the  countless number of rivalries that undisputably dominate small towns,  college towns, rural areas and regions, ingraining themselves into the  fabric of American culture at the most localized levels. In fact, some towns  in the United States are dominated by high school football more than college  football. Massillon, Ohio, and Odessa, Tex., serve as two particularly good  examples.

See the trend? As big-time as college sports has admittedly become, there  will always be a place, a safe and secure niche, that scholastic sports will  always inhabit in the American cultural landscape. The pride, glory and  honor of playing for school and community will always possess passions that  are inherently more robust and natural than anything contrived by any  professional rivalry, with a very few exceptions.

Outside of Yankees-Red Sox and Cowboys-Redskins, it's very hard to identify  a professional sports rivalry in America that usually dominates the  conversation of each participating city every time the game comes across the  calendar. In fact, the only place in the country where pro rivalries might  eclipse college rivalries is the Northeast--New England combined with New  York and New Jersey--where the dominance of Ivy League schools, and the  staging of big intersectional rivalries like Notre Dame-Army at Yankee  Stadium, are things of the distant past, confined to the Grantland Rice era  of sports journalism.

This week, the populations of most of our states are digging into the  history books and recalling rich memories, happy and sad, of rivalry games  past. Washington state residents are reminiscing about the Apple Cup.  Hoosiers are talking about the Old Oaken Bucket. Iowans and Minnesotans are  talking about a trophy named after a pig. Bay Area residents, if they aren't  attending black-tie dinners, are exploring what it means to take back the  Ax. South Carolinians are gearing up for the Clemson-USC war. And in some of  our nation's lesser-known towns, such as New Haven, Conn., Amherst, Mass.,  and Lehigh, Pa., academics is taking a backseat to football in rivalries  that have been played since the time football was invented.

In 1869, the first college football game on record was played, as Rutgers  defeated Princeton, 6-4. In 1870, Lafayette and Lehigh began a rivalry that continues to this day.  Tell the folks in southeastern Pennsylvania that Lafayette-Lehigh isn't the  biggest thing in the world each time the game approaches.

College football rivalries manifest the passions of a nation that used to be  rooted in the small town, not the mushrooming metropolis. The college game,  which has its roots in the 19th century and was a national sensation long  before pro football ever became widely enjoyed, can be traced back to  Reconstruction times. This simple reality explains much of why Southern  states and their constituent cities throw themselves into college football  the way they do. And even in bigger cities with professional teams that lie  outside the South, these rah-rah conflicts still spark incredible emotions  and recollections.

Right, Detroiters? Right, Houstonians? Right, Angelinos?

College football rivalries. Few spectacles are more dramatic and compelling.  Few things are more American. Don't let the greatness of this slice of  Americana pass you by in the next few weeks.