Watching the final NCAA basketball game Monday night, I realized there was something different about watching college players instead of the NBA.

There were no superstars the announcers kept praising. The ridiculous showmanship after a 3-point shot was absent. Each team was surprisingly respectful of one another, despite the immense pressure to win.

Colleges, it would seem, have far more respect for sports than professional athletes do. It’s quite the juxtaposition – people who are notorious for constantly being drunk and having little respect for society are civil while older, overpaid adults continue to act like oversized brats.

In an age where sports have become more theater than competition, colleges have kept their athletes in check, making sure they act like professionals. There are no fat paychecks, just scholarships and the chance to earn a degree. In a sense, college is the final place where sports are more about competitiveness instead of a paycheck.

How many times have you read about Kobe Bryant outside of the sports section, accused of beating his wife or making a scene in a bar? Or that Barry Bonds cheated his way to reach the most home runs in a single career, pumping himself full of steroids?

Each of these respective athletes may have enormous talent, but who cares? A good athlete without character is like a politician who can’t articulate words – annoying and altogether something you don’t want to be associated with.

I quit watching my favorite teams by the time I reached high school because of how absurd each sport had become. By then Barry Sanders had left the NFL, taking humility in all of football with him. The NHL had a lockout that was driven more by money than sportsmanship. A bench warmer in any sport made a cool million dollars without ever having to play a single game in his career. Athletes seemed more like television stars with the amount of endorsements they had, bombarding people with advertisements.

It wasn’t until I came to CMU and started watching college sports that I realized that sportsmanship still does exist, despite how miniscule it is. Don’t believe me? Take a look around at our own college. I have yet to see any of our athletes act unprofessionally during a game. I haven’t seen Dan LeFevour break into a dance after winning a game and I doubt I ever will. Instead of going to local bars and starting fights, college athletes participate in activities like Jock Rock and do some good for the community.

I find it hard to believe that so many professional athletes got to where they are today from playing college sports. If their coaches could see them now, I doubt they would be impressed that they trained the kid who has his face on eight different kinds of Gatorade.

We have some undeniably talented athletes at CMU who have the ability to become professionals. Hopefully, they will hold onto the humility they’ve had all through college.

I might actually be able to stomach watching professional sports once again.

E-mail the author: Will Axford