Since Kentucky, Ohio State and West Virginia all have their annual spring football "game" on April 19 (Marshall and Ohio follow suit April 26), now would be a good time to vent on this topic.

The weekend of April 12, some other colleges across the country held their spring football "games."

Not only did ESPN have a crew in Gainesville, Fla., they had an entire show there.  Our sports feed services offered highlights from Clemson, Alabama and Florida, among others.

I question what makes these programs--especially Clemson--so important that they deserve national attention.

Will Ohio State have their practice on a national feed?  Will West Virginia?  Will Kentucky?  These are all bowl teams from last year.  Is that the bar these programs need to hurdle?  If that's the case, Alabama's PetroSun Independence Bowl victory 5 months ago was definitely grounds for national attention.

The only thing more worthless than these college spring games is giving these college spring games national merit.

All these games should serve to do is tap a hibernating local fan base on the shoulder and invite them to the stadium to have some beers and watch some hitting.

If you think you're going to know next year's national champion by looking to see if their 3rd-string running back broke a tackle against his 2nd-string linebacker teammate, you're a bit too invested.

So if you're fortunate enough to go to one of these local spring football "games" in the next few weeks, take it for what it's worth: pre-practice practice.