We are in the heart of football season. For me that means comparing the teams that are doing well, hoping that my team can pull together a decent season and making it into the postseason.

In case you are curious, I am not talking about college football. I am talking about the NFL. In general, I would say that I prefer professional sports over collegiate athletics. I would go as far to say that I don’t necessarily like college football.

As a fan of Nebraska, you could say that we are having an off year, so I am jumping off of the bandwagon and in short, that is probably true. I understand that Nebraska has a “culture” and expected success when it comes to college football, and that was probably the reason Mike Riley got fired.

Mike Riley is still getting paid, even though he is no longer working for the state of Nebraska. Student athletes that are currently making the college money are not being paid.

Colleges in major sports conferences make millions of dollars providing entertainment. All they give the people that are providing the major labor for this entertainment is an “education.” Although this could be considered a hundred thousand dollar investment, I don’t think that it is enough. The education that student-athletes get at the Division I level is usually not the greatest. They major in general studies or something similar. A lot of these athletes are at college with the purpose of playing their respective sports.

When it comes to football, I 100 percent prefer the NFL over NCAA. Athletes in the NFL are usually paid proportionally to their talents and abilities. I have not missed a single Packers game yet this year, however I have not watched many UNL football games from beginning to end.

Another reason I prefer the NFL is the same team isn’t at the top year after year. Yes, Tom Brady is going to put the Patriots in the playoffs every year, but there is probably going to be a different Super Bowl winner. Since Super Bowl XLII (42), the Patriots are the only team with multiple Super Bowl victories. In the same time frame, Alabama has won the NCAA football national championship five times. That means since I can remember, Alabama has won a national championship as many times all the other teams combined. That isn’t fun. Alabama is at the top of the polls again this year and it looks like they will have six of the last ten if this holds up.

Basketball is a little bit different. I am a fan of pro basketball even though a lot of people say it isn’t the same as when Michael played. My response is that they are correct. An NBA game is more of entertainment and put on like a “show” whereas NCAA basketball is about the game itself.

I don’t really pay attention to either the NBA or NCAA during the regular season. I follow March Madness because it is sure to provide dramatic upsets and general Madness. The problem I have is that when you are in a single elimination tournament, there is often the possibility for the best team to not win. I think that every team is going to have a bad day, and if that bad day comes at the same day your opponent has a good day, you will get beat. You might be the superior team tomorrow, but you got eliminated.

The NBA allows the better team to win more often than not by making each round of the postseason a seven-game series. This means that the best team from each conference should be in the finals, even if the conferences are lopsided talent-wise.

Overall, I guess I just like the fact that the teams are generally more even in professional sports. I firmly believe that even though Alabama has won half of the last ten NCAA championships, the worst NFL team would win in a matchup with Alabama. Even when Kentucky went undefeated through the regular season, the worst team in the NBA would beat Kentucky in a head-to-head matchup.

Professional sports are better in my book, because the athletes are being paid and because the best team is more likely to win.