THE FINAL 20 DAYS: 14

by WCT, The Ship of Fools

The longest off-season in sports is almost over and we are psyched. Today is August 14th, meaning there are now exactly 14 days until the beginning of College Football season.

To commemorate this, we are counting down the 20 (or so) things that make College Football so addictive that it gets us up out of our beds and into a bar at 12 noon on fall Saturdays. Today's edition: The stupid trophies!

I admit, I might be completely alone on this one. But College Football can vary a lot from region to region, and I grew up in Big Ten country, so this is what I am used to. In the Big Ten, we are used to cold, gray October games, three yards and a cloud of FieldTurf, and games having their outcomes attached to some ancient inanimate object.

Its almost impossible to keep these trophies apart. Whether its a bucket, or a jug, or an axe, or a pig (yes, Iowa and Minnesota play for a pig every year), it seems like every Big Ten game ends with someone leaving the field parading...something with them.

While these trophies are all over the Big Ten Conference, these traditions aren't unique to the Midwest. Down south, Ole Miss and Mississippi State play for an egg. Out west, UCLA and USC play for a victory bell. And of course, we all know about the Commander-in-Chief's trophy between the three major service academies.

It isn't just the big-time schools either. Did you know that since 2005, Boise State and Fresno State have been playing for a freaking milk can? Almost every Saturday, somebody, somewhere is playing their asses off, just so that they can do a lap around the field carrying a boot, or a spittoon, or a turtle, or something else that you, or I, or any other sane person would consider a piece of garbage. And that is something you just can't find in any other sport.

So this fall, when your favorite team wins the Old Bronze Little Brown Oaken Jug-Bucket, or whatever, you beam with pride. Because you just can't get a feeling like that for winning a regular season game in any other sport.