Don't get me wrong. I watch more college football than NFL on television. It's a wackier game, and more emotional. Plus, it's played in weirder locations than the pro variety. You'd never have heard of Tuscaloosa, Clemson or Norman were it not for their football powerhouses.
And, it's on at 11 p.m. on a Saturday, when I'm unwinding after covering a game at 11 a.m. on a Saturday.
Basketball-wise, if it's a regular-season game I usually have little interest in either the NBA or NCAA versions unless it's meaningful to doing my job. If it's an NBA playoff game or an NCAA tournament game, though, gimmee.
No, I like pro sports more because they don't pretend to be something noble. They're entertainment. They're raw commerce.
The players are the stars, not the coaches. Which means the players have certain amounts of leverage. Which is how the world should work. The people who draw the crowds get paid.
So I like the graduate-transfer rule in college sports. If you have earned a degree and still have athletic eligibility left, you can transfer somewhere if you continue your education there.
It's a watered-down version of free agency. Were I emperor of the world, all players could immediately play elsewhere the following season if they so chose. It would be chaos, and the players would be kings.
But that will never happen because the power is the power, and the power never has any intention of ceding the power. So, let's savor grad transfers. Iowa has certainly begun to do just that.
The Hawkeyes have dipped into the graduate-transfer pool again, with the addition of former New Mexico wide receiver Nick Quarells.
This is a relatively new avenue for Kirk Ferentz's program, but one it seems to now be embracing. Last year, the Hawkeyes welcomed punter Ron Coluzzi from Central Michigan, and he worked out beautifully for them.
Recently, Iowa added running back James Butler. Nice get. Butler is coming off two straight 1,300-yard rushing seasons at Nevada.
Quarells is a graduate with two seasons of eligibility left. That's a sweet deal for an Iowa program that desperately needs ball-catchers.
Quarells had 11 catches for 180 yards and a touchdown last season for the Lobos. That's more career catches in itself than any wide receiver on Iowa's roster other than Matt VandeBerg.
Graduate transfers have been a significant part of the college basketball landscape for the last few years. Iowa State has added Hans Brase of Princeton, Jeff Beverly of Texas-San Antonio and Zoran Talley of Old Dominion this year alone.
Grad transfers have become more of a thing in college football lately, it seems.
Purdue has gained a half-dozen grad transfers since Jeff Brohm became coach after last season. They have arrived from Baylor, Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Rhode Island, Northern Illinois and Western Kentucky.
Northwestern added offensive lineman Trey Klock from Georgia Tech and receiver Jalen Brown from Oregon.
Rutgers secured quarterback Kyle Bolin from Louisville, fullback Gus Edwards from Miami, and receiver Damon Mitchell from Arkansas.
Graduate transfer Chris Laviano left Rutgers for to play quarterback at San Diego State. That tells the world he not only is a college graduate, but he has common sense.
