Pageantry of College Football / College Draft


Pageantry is defined by Webster as an elaborate display or ceremony. College football with pep rallies, speeches, parades, bands, alumni clubs, expensive club seats, homecoming, media, and endless hype has morphed into a winners’ and losers’ industry at all levels (fortunately or unfortunately). There is no comparable sport; and although money, social and sports media hype every first down, the sport is exciting and unpredictable. Teams must play well to win. A caromed pass with a team in the Red Zone that is picked and run back is a startling 14 – point turnaround. This makes the sport (unpredictability).  Is there a parade, loud music, dance after the game, and alumni parking lot bragging rights? Yes, and that will never change. Oil barons will use tax write-offs to support 2nd place, a rivalry defeat, or a Bluebonnet Bowl win. Fall splendor, expensive tickets, visiting dorm and frat friends, beer, and an escape chance to act unruly for 3 hours will salvage my life. The pageantry began along the sidelines November 1869 at the Rutgers (sister school to Queens in England) field v Princeton. Why isn’t Rutgers or Princeton an Ohio State?