This is the kind of dialogue that really impresses me as a member on this board. Folks lock on to a topic and stay there, giving pros and cons, not throwing a bunch of BS around.
Talk about the SEC and its reputation can be fast and furious on other sites. For example, check out some of the blogs from the other conferences about the SEC and its underhanded ways. Whether true or not, probably both in some cases, the SEC is offically a target of the outsiders and that includes the NCAA.
Truth of the matter is this, there are many terrific football players in the South, Southeast and Southwest. Really eats at many in the North and Northeast. Sort of like a renewal of the Civil War, for different reasons of course. These young, talented kids don't go to the Northern schools like they once did. Times have changed, now the good guys stay home. One example that I can give is this . . . . if this was thirty or forty years ago and a Crowell type player was available, he would head to a Northern school. That decision now appears to be between Alabama and Georgia, not Michigan, Notre Dame or others. Speaks well for not only us as individuals, speaks well for the SEC.
OSD, a lot of these college football players are better than the pro players. Could name many off the top of my head. Defensive lineman, first pick Detroit Lions. What a difference he is making in his freshman year in the pros. Quarterback for the St. Louis Rams (still hard for me to visualize the Rams in St. Louis) taking over the quarterbacking duties in his first year. Defensive back out of Tennessee, making a splash. Point being, these kids, I call them kids, physically they are men and are so far ahead of where football once was back in the day.
Back in the day we had an all star game where the college elite formed a team and played the pros. If the college elite played in a game like that today, pros would be hard pressed to win. My opinion.
Sorry, easy for me to get off on a tangent, as all of you know.
GeorgiaBoy1285, God bless you and all Veterans. Proud to say that I served. FlyingDawg, you da man . . .