Trouble is lurking in college sports and it could cause long-term health issues

I hear people say it all the time.

“I like college sports much better than the pros.”

While I lean in the opposite direction, I respect and understand why some might feel that way.

Well, I used to. The way things look nowadays, I’m not so sure favoring college over the pros is a sane thought.

You can thank Alabama football and Duke basketball for that.

In college football, it appears we are all just waiting until the day when the Crimson Tide win the national championship. No one has challenged them and I seriously doubt anyone will.

There seemed to be hope when a rugged LSU team welcomed Alabama into Death Valley about a week and a half ago. This was the week; finally the Crimson Tide would come back to earth.

It never happened.

Now, as we’ve been trying to do all season, we’ll once again manipulate our brains into thinking that perhaps Auburn, like it did last year, could take down almighty Alabama in the final game of the regular season the Saturday after Thanksgiving. If not, then surely it will be Georgia in the SEC Championship game, right?

Give it up. It’s false hope.

OK, so maybe an undefeated Clemson or Notre Dame or a one-loss Michigan or Ohio State can knock off the Tide in the College Football Playoff. Nope. Not gonna happen.

Well, at least college basketball has started. Yeah . . . there’s a problem there, too, it appears.

A Zion Williamson- and R.J. Barrett-led Duke team is looking just as unstoppable. What the Blue Devils did to a supremely talented Kentucky team in both teams’ season opener was jaw-dropping. It was like watching the No. 1 team in the nation, which Duke is now, taking on a Division II squad.

OK, so maybe I’m embellishing a bit, but it was extremely lopsided from the opening tip.

Yes, I know it’s a long season and it’s difficult for a team to bring the proper focus and enthusiasm each and every game. But I think this team can do it; it is that stacked. The Blue Devils could very well go undefeated and finish by cutting down the nets in the national championship game in the spring. I wouldn’t be shocked one bit.

That being said, at least the Connecticut women’s team is no longer the monopoly that it was for so many years. Now, there’s perhaps three or four teams that could win it all in women’s hoops. Wow, what parity!

And this is all coming at a time when the NFL and NBA are showing more parity than was expected by many, including myself.

A Kansas City Chiefs-Los Angeles Rams Super Bowl is no longer looking like the sure bet it did earlier this season. But we’ve come to expect such ebb and flow from the NFL.

In the NBA, yours truly wrote about how predictable the season was looking on paper, with the Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics traveling at a high speed toward a June collision. Well, other teams, most specifically the Kawhi Leonard-led Toronto Raptors, are looking like they might just have something to say about that prediction.

So here we are. Pro sports are looking less predictable than the college games. Who woulda thunk it?

This leaves us with questions when it comes to college sports. One, will it last or will everything even back out? Two, is it good or bad for NCAA athletics?

Time will tell on both. If the college sports universe realigns via a major upset or two, we have nothing to worry about. If not, I’ll have some worry on the back burner, because monopolized sports are no fun if it goes on for years. Just think about women’s college hoops.

Perhaps it’s too early to hit the panic button, but having teams built like Alabama and Duke are scary propositions. Let’s just hope this doesn’t become the norm.

We don’t need all the fun sucked out of college sports.

David Wetzel: @MYBSports, 843-626-0295