June 09, 2025
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I am going to offer some random thoughts re: the most recent developments in the “Gordian Knot” / “Landfill Fire” otherwise known as Big Time College Athletics. I am not so presumptuous to imply that I could resolve this inglorious mess. I’m just an Internet Legend … not Alexander The Great who “untied the Gordian Knot” with one might slash of his sword.
I am making one unusual request regarding any/all comments you’ans care to make. Please avoid the oh-so-trite “it’s all about the money” … and “college football and basketball are just minor leagues for the NFL / NBA”.
Versions of those two comments have been made well over 1,000,000 times since we first heard those insidious words “NIL” and “The Portal”. …… forever shattering any naive illusions that there was anything pure and wholesome about major college football and basketball and those involved in those pursuits be they players, coaches or administrators … or “boosters” … or “fans”..
Speaking of fans …. YUCK! …. the only sport at UNC that I have any interest in is Baseball … “The Moochies”. I begin following them when The Road To Omaha begins. This year UNC’s Road To Omaha ended at 3 PM on Sunday with a heart-breaking late-inning loss to Arizona. … within MINUTES of the loss the team went from “our team / we” to “them/they” as whiny fans did what whiny fans always do …. whine. Reminding me why my overall interest in “sports” is melting faster than snow in a microwave.
Judge WhoZit in California has finally ruled on some proposition allowing / requiring college athletics department to “pay their athletes” directly. No more middle man. The term “Collectives” is no longer applicable. “Collectives” was a fancy term for “big bags of booster bucks”.
Even though the athletes will be paid directly by “the school”; they are NOT “employees” …. yet. That will involve several more “propositions” and Judges’ rulings over the next few years.
At some point in the next few weeks, the young men and women athletes at “your school” – most of whom you have never heard of or need to know since many/most will be gone by this time next year – will begin receiving whatever “their individual deal” calls for directly from your alma mater … not in brown paper bags of “Benjamins” or bearer bonds or “pieces of eight” or whatever method they’ve been getting “paid”.
IMO … Wouldn’t it be cool if ECU pays their “Pirates” in “pieces of eight” …. ?
I haven’t bothered to dissect the yadda yadda in the Judge’s ruling because, frankly, I don’t care that much. Apparently there WILL be a “Commissioner of College Athletics” – NOT named Nick Saban – who will head up “the Commission” that will enforce this new way of doing things.
Some guy with MLB has been selected to that lofty perch. I have it on solid sources that neither “Boo” nor “Bubba” were contacted re: this new position.
This new guy cannot be any worse than the “empty suits” that have bungled the NCAA for decades,
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Q: Does this new development affect your current concerns about College Football / Basketball?
A: NO. Not that I can tell. Assuming that you wish “it” would go back to “the way it was … or that you thought it was…” THAT ain’t ever gonna happen – PERIOD.
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I was hoping this ruling would forever outlaw the use of the term “student-athlete” for any athlete participating in major college football or basketball. Students participating in various other “non-revenue” sports that “board monkeys” don’t care about could use the term IF they are enrolled in legitimate degree-granting curricula. …. and not ridiculous “eligibility majors”.
I found zero reference to “actually being a for-real student” in this new ruling. If, by chance, a FB/BB player wishes to attend a certain class, he/she/it can pay for it out of their “deal”.
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Speaking of NIL … you might recall that term was suppose to apply to “Name – Image – Likeness” … meaning a player could be paid if he/she struck a deal with a local business or booster to shill for a product service. That specific application of the term lasted about a week …
Under the new ruling … any athlete regardless of academic proficiency – can “cut a deal” with a Power4 instituition to play for them UNTIL another Power4 institution offers them a better deal … and so on ad infinitum. “Signing with XYZ school” makes a nice photo op and. excites “board monkeys” but means zilch.
Perhaps you read that “some kid with a hypen in his name” played for “Hubert” this past year but has now “signed” with NC State for next year. NC State will be his 4th school in 4 years … and he is by no means the only vagabond to change schools every year …. will players eventually “commit” to one week at a time … based on “the best deal”?
Remember the “old days” when the argument for “paying players” was (1) if his grandmother dies, he can’t afford a bus ticket home to her funeral …. or (2) he can’t even afford to go out for a pizza with his dorm mates. ….. NOW players drive home to granny’s funeral in a Lambo … and can buy a Domino’s franchise.
This new ruling does NOT change the fact that a player can “cut his own deal” with whatever school makes him/her the best offer … and that “deal” is renegotiated every year.
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How does this new ruling effect Booster Clubs … previously only able to pay for “tuition, books and fees” … since neither tuition nor “books” (YIKES!) are relevant any longer? … assuming naiviely that they have been for the past 20 years.
Fans who felt “warm & fuzzy” helping young people receive a college education will now simply be dumping their bucks into a big bucket from which players will grab fistfuls of cash for fancy cars, et al.
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One issue I have brought up several times over the past 3-4 years is SUPPOSE an academic institution chooses NOT to play Big Time College Sports Poker ??? What then?
The University of Virginia has lost not one but TWO coaches who won National Championships for the school in Mens Basketball and Baseball. MBBHC Tony Bennett resigned a year ago citing the present and future of Major College Basketball was not to his liking. … Last week Brian O’Connor who won a NC in Baseball several years ago and had an annual top tier program resigned to go to Mississippi State … where he has been promised the $$$$ necessary to be a top tier program. ….. UVA Football appears mired in mediocrity …… Is UVA saying it does not intend to commit to “paying whatever it takes” to field competitive teams? …. Will other schools be considering that same path ???
No mention in the new ruling regarding re-conferenceization. Of all the absurdities in all of this …. the re-conferenceization is – IMO – the MOST absurd. Just a modicum of common sense coulda prevented transcontinental conferences ….. alas … that horse too has left the barn … never to return.
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All of the. above notwithstanding many (most?) of you still care about “your school’s teams” and their on-field-court success “matters” to you. Especially relative to “hated rivals” ….. You likely already have your season tickets and are planning your tailgate menus. I don’t share that “caring” … but I absolutely understand why you do.
If you choose to financially support “your school” for any reason other than access to preferred seating in their stadium / arena that is your choice … your business.
You will be “cheering for laundry” …. your school’s colors being worn by nameless mercenaries who do not / and will not share any degree of nostalgic commitment to “your school”.
All I ask is – stop kidding yourself that Major College Football / Basketball is ANYTHING like you chose to believe it has been the past 20+ years. And NEVER EVER WILL BE AGAIN!
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The Best of BobLee …….. HERE
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