Sitting on my couch, day 10 of battling this cold, I’ve been watching college football. Happy that Cal won and disappointed that Michigan lost, I’m left wondering how college athletics became such a part of the American lifestyle. We seem to be the only country to have such an established and widely watched network of college athletics. Why is that?

Is it the strong system of state universities? Each state (with the possible exception of Alaska and Hawaii) has two state universities. This allows a large portion of students in a state to attend either institution and create those rivalries that fuel sports. And with three dominant college sports in the U.S. (I’m excluding college hockey because programs and popularity don’t extend much past the northern border states and the Northeast) each school or division can excel in a particular sport.

Maybe it’s the American capitalist drive for competition, the need to see the best succeed and to feel a part of that success. But we could feel that through our professional teams. There’s the argument that college sports are a purer version of the game. Is that really true anymore? Why doesn’t that argument work for women’s athletics? Perhaps allegiance to a college team is easier to sustain as more and more Americans move further away from their hometown. Or maybe it’s because we are a decadent and indulgent society and professional sports just can’t satisfy our Caligulian appetite.

Whatever the reasons may be, college athletics are another American peculiarity. For all our faults and deficiencies, we really are an interesting and unique country.