By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season
EUGENE, Oregon -- This is hardly a restaurant review, but as far as first nights in new cities have gone on the OGS tour so far, Tuesday at Taylor's was outstanding for me.
I met a cool dude who seemed very knowledgeable about Oregon sports, and then he told me he used to be a bookmaker in Las Vegas for 10 years. Another longtime Ducks fan was seated on the other side of me, and bartender Tim, a Ducks football season-ticket-holder, was cool as well.
While the Pasta Primavera was very good, the conversation was better. I've had the "pro or college?" debate many times over the years, but my dude the ex-bookie gave an argument in support of pro sports over college I'd not yet heard.
He acknowledged my appreciation of school spirit and other purist traditions, but disagreed with my claims that college athletes probably try harder and care more than their well-compensated counterparts. He said if he was a pro football player with a million or two dollars in incentives, he'd be more inclined to train smarter, eat healthy and play harder than if he had no such contract. And as a spectator, he'd rather watch athletes inspired by the ultimate reward -- fat paychecks -- not those who have a midterm in the morning.
YOUR THOUGHTS: Who Would You Rather Watch?
Dude's logic was just getting started.
I countered with something like, "Yeah, but what about college players busting their asses to get to that level where those incentives are available?"
Bookie: "Such a small percentage of college athletes even think they have a shot to get to that next level. So many of them have no chance. Do you really think they care more than pro athletes?"
Good argument. What do you think?