Being a Trojan fan is better than being a NFL fan

If stomping on opposing players’ arms or faces is part of professional ball I’ll stick to college games, thank you.

I went to the USC-UCLA football game last night, and saw lots of excitement and color—the tailgate feasts, the reunions—planned and unplanned—of old college pals and acquaintances, the bands playing, cheerleaders cheering, and the USC crowd exhorting star quarterback Matt Barkley to return, chanting “One more year.”

Then there was the game: exciting for a while if you were, like me, a Trojan fan, but without suspense as the Trojans won, 50-0.

How different if you were a fan of the long-doormat Detroit Lions of the NFL professional football league. The Lions are 7-4, well placed to make the playoffs for the first time since 1999. Their offense is led by quarterback Matt Stafford, their defense by the ferocious Ndamukong Suh.

But it’s no fun cheering for Suh, who along with his formidable talent is one of the dirtiest players in all of football—or any other sport. Thursday in a rage, he stomped on the unprotected arm of an opposing player who was flat on the ground. The play is sickening enough to suck all the joy out of watching the game.

I’ll stick to college ball, where the best coaches, like Oregon’s Chip Kelly and LSU’s Les Miles, punish dirty play with suspensions or expulsion from their teams. Read more at http://goo.gl/soCi7