By: JJ Lanier

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

If you had asked me back in September if I thought there would still be a college football season in December, I would’ve told you you’d be more likely to see a Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reunion with the original Aunt Viv.

The fact we are not only playing football in December, but it looks like most bowl games and the college playoffs are going to take place, is nothing short of remarkable.

Considering the difficulties, we all knew the NCAA would encounter to put any semblance of a season together, I think they’ve done an admirable job, overall.

They put together strict guidelines in regards to testing players and coaches multiple times a week, as well the protocols in place for those who tested positive.

They allowed programs to have the autonomy to cancel and reschedule games as they saw fit, which led to some interesting matchups, like Coastal Carolina and BYU, that we otherwise never would’ve gotten.

Still, for all those reasons I just gave the NCAA credit for, I have never been less interested, or watched fewer games than I have this year.

It’s been difficult getting excited for games where I had no idea what type of roster was actually going to be on the field or if the game was even going to be played at all.

It’s also been hard to care about the outcomes of games and how it affects bowl games and the college playoffs when there’s such a disparity in the number of games played.

The most difficult part has probably been the testing. While I applaud the NCAA’s testing requirements there’s something wrong when college kids can be tested three times a week, simply because they’re an athlete, while thousands of Americans wait in line 3-4 hours to get tested.

In many cases, they have to use sick or vacation time for work while they wait on the results because they are in quarantine.

I know it’s an apples to oranges comparison when it comes to the cost or type of tests being administered (public vs private) but I have to seriously doubt the motives of anyone who doesn’t admit the optics on that are bad.

When you take into account the billions of dollars to be made, or probably more important, to be lost, if there wasn’t a season, I completely understand why the NCAA proceeded with football and continues with basketball.

I just wonder for all those fans that were clamoring at the beginning of the season how much they needed sports so there could be some resemblance of normalcy in their daily lives, did it provide the escape they hoped for?

I, for one, felt that way two months ago, but my perspective has changed entirely since then.

Please understand this isn’t some sort of political statement on my behalf. I’m not arguing whether or not a season should have been played or advocating for any particular side.

The NCAA was in a no win situation and I give them credit for trying to make the best of it.

All I’m giving is my opinion on why my interest in caring about this season has basically been nonexistent.

Unless it was a topic I was going to write about, when given the choice to watch a football game or something else, I chose the latter.

After watching Aunt Viv be reunited with Will Smith, I have no regrets.