Can you believe the college football season is almost over? It seems to be flying by at greatneck speed.

Sure, there's still a good four weeks left but if the speed is anything like the first eight, then diehards are in for a big letdown come December.

And without a playoff system, college football makes for one intense seasonal clash, which makes it so much more special than other sports--including other college sports.

One can almost look at college football as the eye of a hurricane. We've got the NHL in a union-owner free-fall, which is gutting out the season.

And if that isn't enough, a murder-for-hire guilty plea by Mike Danton or Todd Bertuzzi's literal blast from the past coming up.

We've got Shaq and Koby to make the usual boring NBA beginning just a little juicier.

In the aftermath of the Olympics, we've got blood doping scandals galore.

The NFL has started but it's got such a long, hard trail ahead. Professional sports are difficult to get passionate about when they play such long seasons--then we have the playoffs.

How about tennis? It would be nice if we understood the Davis Cup rules and layout.

The Red Sox gave us a thrill but now it's over. That's yesterday's news.

Even CNN's election night coverage reminded me of watching ESPN's gameday. Wolf Blitzer was so excited I thought he was going to say, "Not so fast my friend" when showing us Bush's lead in Ohio.

And here we still have girls in short skirts with pom poms shaking like a back running in hopes of an NFL career.

It's state versus state and school versus school. Colorful, traditional helmets as traditional as the leaves that change like emotions in the stands.

We couldn't get tired of it all, even if we tried.

There still can be heard the old college cheers and bands that take pride in their steps, on the grounds where pomp and circumstance live forever.

Even amidst the probation blips that appear on the screen from time to time, college football seems to weather every storm.

I guess we have ESPN to thank for that. Or to go back even farther, the lawsuits by Oklahoma and Georgia in the 1970s, for the right to have their own television contracts. It was a good thing. More freedom for the schools right to be seen.

Back in the old days, unless your team was one of the Old Boys Network, you hugged the radio as legendary voices were born.

My, how those days have changed as teams like South Florida playing at Alabama-Birmingham are playing on a Wedsnesday night. And they're the ONLY game in town.

Could playoffs be far behind? Lets hope not but we'd better come up with a better system than the one the BCS has come up with, or changed to-again, I might add.

For now, lets just enjoy the remainder of the season while the professionals work out their kinks, cash, contracts, egos and domed stadiums.

We'll just sit back and soak up those intense SEC games on ESPN-Saturday nights, or those late-night Pac-10 games or any of your favorite teams, and thank them for extending these precious, fall Saturdays, late into the night.

And thank goodness for replays!

Filed by J.D. Long