Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
I’m a fan of pretty much any football game, on any level, at any time, but I’ve always found the opening weekend of the college season particularly thrilling. Back when I was being raised by an Indiana alum, it meant I could briefly walk proud among the Michigan, Michigan State, and Notre Dame fans in my school, since no one had administered any drubbings yet and all was possible, even a Hoosier victory or two for the health of my poor father.
Somehow he’s managed to hang on all these years, and I still love that sense of possibility and impending craziness—the buildup, the bands, the fans rooting for their states and regions along with their teams.
- As a Big Ten product and fan, I’d love to see one of our teams finally winning the championship. But rooting for such an outcome is fraught with moral ambiguity this year. Based on the analysis of the experts I just got done mocking, Ohio State, unbeaten in 2012, is far and away the league’s best bet. This is a problem. Where I’m from—the great state of Michigan—a Buckeye is a hairless nut.
