Are College Students Too Wrapped Up in The NFL?

Life takes us through many different venues and directions.  Many of us that have already “grown up” have come to realize that some get the lucky breaks and others have to put up with stress, bills and more stress our entire lives.  Despite a horrendous recession, our workforce is still made up of a mix of people that (for the most part) followed the system and worked their way up the totem pole.  Most of us who did attend a college remember working hard for our grades, remember late night studying for tests, cramming for midterms and finals, staying up until four in the morning on a Sunday for Monday morning’s exam.  

Whether or not all of that work “paid off” is beside the point, and if you have children that are in college, good luck trying to get the point across to them.  Most kids nowadays could care less about their parents work ethic, or how much they studied in school, or how late they stayed up for an exam.  In fact, most college students (at least the majority of males) would probably laugh if you told them you were stuck in the library on a Sunday night.  Why?  Well the answer is obvious, isn’t it?  And quite simple too.  

Football.  The National Football league runs a preseason as well as a regular season, and there is one thing you can count on for sure.  College students wont be gripping the edge of their seats because they are trying to understand the genocide in Darfur or work their way through Sarbanes Oxley modules, it will be because they are intensely waiting on Tom Brady’s every move, all the way to his one point loss against the Colts with only 13 seconds left on the clock. 

Now don’t get me wrong.  I am a college student myself, and I enjoy watching the Patriots play just as much as I enjoy watching any other team play.  When I watch football, I more enjoy the game itself than the individual player or certain team.  And ask yourself, does that player that you worship so devoutly really give a damn about his team or about you cheering for him?  Maybe.  But more than likely the answer is no, and the simple reality is that they go where the money goes.  It’s a fact, and as a fan you should expect no less of them.  After all, it’s the smart thing to do, and you wouldn’t want to be rooting for an idiot would you?  

The point here is this.  College students should be spending less time worshiping a certain team and more time doing what most NFL players are doing – and I do not mean play in the NFL.  Money does not fall from trees, and most college students presently take an opinion that they are entitled to just that, some sort of magic tree in their backyards that will sprout beautiful Benjamin’s and lovely Lincoln’s.  It just does not happen. 

So the next time the Pat’s play their rival and lose by one point with only 13 seconds to go in the fourth quarter, don’t go to bed angry or depressed, threatening your own health for the sake of someone that will never even know or care that you exist.  Instead, rejoice in the fact that you are on the track to success, that you stayed in the library Sunday night studying for that big exam Monday morning, and that you are not under the illusion that you are entitled to mass amounts of wealth and by the mere fact that you constantly remind yourself and your roommates aloud that you “will be rich” when you are older.  Instead, be diligent, work hard, stay determined, and create your wealth by utilizing the world of opportunity that lay beyond the 52 inch plasma screen TV.  And then, when all is said and done and you have created your wealth, look me up and grab me some tickets for the Super Bowl!