If there was ever a post and a picture that encapsulated my hatred for the past few years of college football, it’s two people in this post:
Little Nicky went to Washington to discuss the state of college football and how it’s not playing by the traditional rules. You know, the ones that helped Nick become the GOAT of college football coaching.
To make things more nauseating, there was a word from Greg Sankey:
Are those the same standards and same rules that Alabama and Texas were held to during their days in the SEC? Inquiring minds want to know. Greg and Nick are not exactly the poster boys for equity and fair play that some may think they are. Just ask Georgia, who watched not once, but twice, where Alabama could insert a backup quarterback into a game to win a Championship when all was lost, which is not the standard in today’s game.
I’ll spare you all the video reminder of the 2018 (season 2017) National Championship game followed by the 2018 SEC Championship game. But I digress.
The level of hypocrisy being espoused by these folks is unrivaled. But, wait, there’s more:
If we’re talking about financial health, most SEC programs can claim to be healthy while Notre Dame is the Dom Deluise of the college football world. They aren’t hurting for money, with a revenue stream and TV contract in the billions, not millions. Arguing over ethics and equity when you’re the richest kid on the block is no different than a silver spoon living in an insulated tent for a night with the homeless and then spending the next 30 years empathizing with the “homeless plight in America”. Hanoi Jane comes to mind.
Spare me your sympathy.
We don’t care about athletes getting paid, or whether the transfer portal is closed or open, but we’re concerned about the experience. Focus less on payer compensation and more on ad revenue and disruptions to the game. Or amateurism, while we’re on the subject, being compromised when players are making business decisions to declare for the pros or find the next highest bidder (Miami) who will pay an NFL wage, isn’t as important as the idea of not knowing your starting roster’s names from one season to the next, like in college football or baseball.
It’s not about people with talent getting paid. It’s that we can’t keep up with the movement, or the fact that a team like Indiana, who has been understood to be a football afterthought, becoming National Champs while men play against boys, or when the fan faithful can’t tell you the names of half their roster even in times of accomplishment. Name one Indiana running back from this season’s championship. I’ll wait.
Now name a running back from any of the three Georgia national championship rosters. Even if your aren’t a fan of Georgia.
Pretty easy, right? Not so easy for the Hoosiers.
Now I’m not a homer for the good ole days of paying under the table, but when “Blue Bloods” become an afterthought and you have Maryland or the University of California Brisbane suddenly relevant because of one big money donor, and the whole scope of the season is lost because you couldn’t hire mercenaries to win a game, then the sport is cooked. Proper cooked.
I say all this to say, the same people whining at the table cultivated the problem we’re seeing today, it’s just happening above the table now. They hope to return to the good ole days, which are the days where we played our best, fought the good fight, only to lose to the haves while we were the have nots. It was roster management and talent acquisition 101, and Saban was the professor while Smart was the understudy.
Time and chance, as I said earlier this week, happens to us all. But I find it funny that this all shifted, from NIL to CFP expansion, once Georgia established the blueprint for success. Weird how that works. It seems once we sniff success, people find a way to burn the pathway to the ground.
Spare me your false woes, Notre Dame and Greg Sankey. What you’re speaking of has existed, will continue to exist, and will only perpetuate for years to come.
It just won’t happen where you want it to, will it?
How ironic that you used the word “nauseating” right above something from Heather Dinich. IMO.
As Ranger Russ would say, FTMFs
Every damn one of them
Just so we are on the same page, do you think that Kirby may have bent the rules in recruiting when he arrived in Athens? I tend to believe that Kirby learned and mastered his skills from Saban. Also, I believe that prior to the current state of college football, all schools were dirty. The only question was are you a little dirty, or are you filthy?
I’ve said it before. I think everyone was dirty to nearly the same extent and any outliers were obvious (Ole Miss 2013) I believe we won a lot of recruiting battles based on the intangibles. Intangibles don’t matter anymore because of ridiculous money.
I completely agree. I also think that if anyone is going to accuse Alabama of cheating, they need to take a long hard look at our program as well.
Sadly, your last sentence is so very accurate. Kirby’s super power has been rendered less effective due to NIL.
Ask Nicky about greyshirting and medical disqualifications. Fucj that guy with extreme prejudice.
Basically this is free agency going on. I agree totally on not knowing who will be our players year to year. I remember pro baseball when l was young, l could tell starting lineups from one year to next. Then Andy Messersmith challenged the system and it all went to hell. College football is there now, and sadly will never be the same game again. Dawg for life, but it ain’t as much fun as it used to be. All about the money from the top down.
So they went to DC and said we need an antitrust exemption?
How fucking profound….
Good luck with that.
You mean they aren’t there to rein in coaching salaries?
Satan, does not approve of your message….
Just get it over with already. Make them pros, put a CBA in place, screw the fans and have the taxpayers fund the whole thing.
Since the D.C. area is said to be the “swamp”, all those in attendance felt right all warm and fuzzy….GO DAWGS!!
I don’t know what the solution is. The one free transfer with no exceptions would be the place I would start. The problem was that they made so many exceptions that they lost the ability to manage the process.
If the NCAA wins the Trinidad Chambliss case, I believe that’s where this thing is heading. If they can establish eligibility rules, I believe we will see that change.
If they can get 5 years to play 5 (no redshirting) and 1 free transfer, I believe we can find stability in college sports.