The Sad Evolution of Sports as Viewed by an Old Timer

[aucat]

Growing up as a kid I really enjoyed both professional sports and college sports. For basketball I was a Celtics fan—Bob Cousy, John Havlicek, Tommy Heinson, Bill Russell, Sam Jones, Kevin McHale, Larry Bird, Robert Parrish. In baseball it was the Milwaukee Braves who became the Atlanta Braves—Warren Spahn, Eddie Matthews, Lou Burdett. For football my team was the Washington Redskins—Eddie LeBaron, Sonny Jergenson, Billy Kilmer, John Riggins, and I also liked the Green Bay Packers—Bart Starr, Paul Hornung, Ray Nitschki, Willie Wood, Herb Adderly, Jim Taylor.

I respected and admired the Yankees but for some reason I hated them. But I loved their players—Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris. The players back then didn’t hop around and change jerseys.

When I got to college the football and basketball players attended some of the same classes I was in. The players were students and classmates and eventually graduated just like you did.

Years later it began to change for pro sports. The players started changing teams all over the place. My passion for pro sports declined. In fact, I stopped following the NBA and my interest in the NFL and Major League baseball declined.

But I still loved college sports. Players didn’t hop around.

Today it seems to be all about the money. While I still follow professional sports, I can take it or leave it. I like it but I’m not passionate about it. An old friend of mine provided a good analogy the other day. He said if you had a stuffed golden lab, you might really like it. You pet it, hold it, enjoy it. But if you have a REAL golden lab, you love it, you are passionate about it.

These college players of today who switch jerseys and hop around from team to team like to say they “love” the school they are playing for. Do they really? Or do they simply “like it” during their team hopping careers? How many players today are really “passionate” about their schools the way the “real” students who go on to become alumni are?

Through it all, I am amazed at how loyal the fans remain. I think some of them today take the games a lot less seriously than they used to, however. I know that applies to me.

[MSU01]

For every player who plays for three or four different teams during his college career there will also be guys like Tommy, Brody, and Troy who stick it out, graduate, and become legendary players. I suppose the question is whether our enjoyment of the sport is diminished by the increased player movement and we'll all have our own individual answers to that question.

I think the transfer portal creates a lot of frustration during the off-season but when it's the first Saturday in September and the Bobcats are running onto the field for Gold Rush I get the same thrill out of it today as I ever have even if I have to spend a little more time looking over the roster to learn who all the new players are.

Women's basketball is the sport I've become much more interested in and invested in over the years, maybe the greater continuity that program has had over the last 20 years is a big part of why. Or maybe women's basketball is just awesome and it took me a bit longer to realize that than with other sports that generally have larger audiences.

[BobcatDel]

Growing up as a kid I really enjoyed both professional sports and college sports. For basketball I was a Celtics fan—Bob Cousy, John Havlicek, Tommy Heinson, Bill Russell, Sam Jones, Kevin McHale, Larry Bird, Robert Parrish. In baseball it was the Milwaukee Braves who became the Atlanta Braves—Warren Spahn, Eddie Matthews, Lou Burdett. For football my team was the Washington Redskins—Eddie LeBaron, Sonny Jergenson, Billy Kilmer, John Riggins, and I also liked the Green Bay Packers—Bart Starr, Paul Hornung, Ray Nitschki, Willie Wood, Herb Adderly, Jim Taylor.

I respected and admired the Yankees but for some reason I hated them. But I loved their players—Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris. The players back then didn’t hop around and change jerseys.

When I got to college the football and basketball players attended some of the same classes I was in. The players were students and classmates and eventually graduated just like you did.

Years later it began to change for pro sports. The players started changing teams all over the place. My passion for pro sports declined. In fact, I stopped following the NBA and my interest in the NFL and Major League baseball declined.

But I still loved college sports. Players didn’t hop around.

Today it seems to be all about the money. While I still follow professional sports, I can take it or leave it. I like it but I’m not passionate about it. An old friend of mine provided a good analogy the other day. He said if you had a stuffed golden lab, you might really like it. You pet it, hold it, enjoy it. But if you have a REAL golden lab, you love it, you are passionate about it.

These college players of today who switch jerseys and hop around from team to team like to say they “love” the school they are playing for. Do they really? Or do they simply “like it” during their team hopping careers? How many players today are really “passionate” about their schools the way the “real” students who go on to become alumni are?

Through it all, I am amazed at how loyal the fans remain. I think some of them today take the games a lot less seriously than they used to, however. I know that applies to me.

Oh I loved the Yankees. You left out Moose Skowrun, Elston Howard, Bobby Richardson, Clete Boyer, Tony Kubek, Tom Tresh, Ralph Terry, etc etc. And on our old black and white TV all we got was the old Black and Blue Division games Packers, Lions, Vikings, Bears…happened to be a Packers fan. For most of my adult life I was passionate about catching those games whenever I could, including when we moved to Denver for almost eight years and the Bronco fire was ignited. Like you, after free agency set in and I couldn’t keep up with the teams and “my heroes” the interest gradually wained….whereas I would plan on watching a game it got to where I hardly ever watch a game now….the playoffs yes but regular season no….and I can take it or leave it.

I remain excited about the Bobcats for now even though my “fandom” took some tough hits this year….but as time, money, attrition, gravitation towards semi-pro players rather than true student athletes who care about education as much as sports……..as that starts to take a bigger toll on the teams I suspect I will be a less ardent fan and funder ….similar to my interest in the pro game. But I am old school too.

[nevadacat]

OK, you guys have a few years on me. Cousy, Spahn, Starr, and company were a bit before my time, but I understand the sentiment. Baseball has always been my first love and I grew up a Dodger fan. The great thing about the Dodgers was that you knew year after year the bulk of the lineup. The Infield was Garvey, Lopes, Russell, and Cey. The rotation would adjust a bit each season, but Yeager was behind the plate. And they built the team with a strong farm system. No more.

I lost interest in NBA in the 80s — the premiere league of spoiled brats. NFL was quick to follow, then MLB. I haven’t watched a complete pro baseball game since before COVID. I will watch a Golden Kinghts game on occasion. I watch pro rodeo a lot and there is only one competitor in the whole system that even comes close to the self-absorbed children in today’s pro sports. Quite refreshing.

At least college was a temporary refuge. The portal is merely the death blow — college sports has been on borrowed time for a couple decades.

Don’t think it can’t happen to high school.

[Bobcat4Ever]

It isn’t just we who remember when dinosaurs roamed the earth. I don’t understand who the caretakers of college sports are, and why they are willing to watch it or help it all fall apart. This is seeping into the younger ages, too, and no one seems to be paying attention.

My 46-year old nephew lives and works in Syracuse where he makes solid money. He’s an active marathoner who just completed the Big 6 in Tokyo this year. He is a Syracuse basketball season ticket holder and attends football games when he can — so a pretty serious fan. We’d just traded a few messages about swapping Lamson for Zephir when I sent him a copy of Zephir’s NIL comments from the Chronicle. His response just gave me chills for collegiate sports. “SU basketball definitely needs some help. NIL and the transfer portal have kind of put me off of sports these days.”

[Colter_Nuanez]

The wildest part of all if this is that it might only last for a few years...then a true doomsday scenario might play out....

Right now, Power 4 schools have endless money to spend. The top 40 women's basketball programs have several million dollars each to spend. And they are trying to give it to developed, veteran players because if they bring in freshmen who don't play right away, those freshmen will just leave. So better to spend $$ and bring in the Marah Dykstras and Taylor Feldmans of the world. They likely won't leave even if they don't play because they have 1 or 2 years left.

On the men's side, most of the Power 4 are projected to have $16-25 million each to spend. That's almost $2 million per kid. I'd be shocked if Bryce Zephir, who produced no discernible memories as a Bobcat and had a high of 11 points in conference games, plays at all for Syracuse. Yet rumors are he got Raequan Battle money to join the Orange. Think of that

This will likely all go in-house. Then there will be salary caps, contracts, structure...which on the surface seems like what's necessary for any level of fair play. But here's where the doomsday scenario comes in....if there are in-house salary caps and contracts, athletes become employees. Once an athlete is deemed an employee, they will be able to sue to say that eligibility requirements are unconstitutional. That case will win. It's already happening in New Jersey.

If an athlete renders eligibility null and void, then you'll have the death of college sports. Good players who can't go pro (or don't want to because the money is better in college ie Caitlin Clark, Carson Beck) will stay at colleges for 8, 10, 12, 14 years. They might have to be some sort of college student, but certainly will be non traditional and probably getting endless undergraduate degrees. Or they won't have to go to school, they'll just be part of some club that's the loosely affiliated club team attached to a specific university.

The other thing that will mess this whole thing up is if/when the NCAA men's basketball team becomes privatized. The NCAA uses the revenue produced by March Madness to fund all other 31 Division I sports tournaments. If the NCAA no longer administers the biggest tournament in the world, bye bye to all non-revenue sports.

Why would the tournament become privatized? Because we've somehow disgustingly as a society decided that the only thing that matters is money. And although the world of sports fans love the Big Dance because of the Cinderellas, I can tell you right now the people that don't like the NCAA upsets are the Power 4 basketball coaches and athletic directors. A future exists where you have to earn a baseline number for revenue production to be eligible for a tournament. I can tell you these conversations have been being had since Brian Fish was at Oregon. He let me listen to a conference call with all the big dog coaches and even then, 8-10 years ago, the powers that be were doing their best to lobby out any mid and low-major tournament qualifiers.

I'd love to say its fascinating if I didn't think it was so utterly depressing...

[AFCAT]

The wildest part of all if this is that it might only last for a few years...then a true doomsday scenario might play out....

Right now, Power 4 schools have endless money to spend. The top 40 women's basketball programs have several million dollars each to spend. And they are trying to give it to developed, veteran players because if they bring in freshmen who don't play right away, those freshmen will just leave. So better to spend $$ and bring in the Marah Dykstras and Taylor Feldmans of the world. They likely won't leave even if they don't play because they have 1 or 2 years left.

On the men's side, most of the Power 4 are projected to have $16-25 million each to spend. That's almost $2 million per kid. I'd be shocked if Bryce Zephir, who produced no discernible memories as a Bobcat and had a high of 11 points in conference games, plays at all for Syracuse. Yet rumors are he got Raequan Battle money to join the Orange. Think of that

This will likely all go in-house. Then there will be salary caps, contracts, structure...which on the surface seems like what's necessary for any level of fair play. But here's where the doomsday scenario comes in....if there are in-house salary caps and contracts, athletes become employees. Once an athlete is deemed an employee, they will be able to sue to say that eligibility requirements are unconstitutional. That case will win. It's already happening in New Jersey.

If an athlete renders eligibility null and void, then you'll have the death of college sports. Good players who can't go pro (or don't want to because the money is better in college ie Caitlin Clark, Carson Beck) will stay at colleges for 8, 10, 12, 14 years. They might have to be some sort of college student, but certainly will be non traditional and probably getting endless undergraduate degrees. Or they won't have to go to school, they'll just be part of some club that's the loosely affiliated club team attached to a specific university.

The other thing that will mess this whole thing up is if/when the NCAA men's basketball team becomes privatized. The NCAA uses the revenue produced by March Madness to fund all other 31 Division I sports tournaments. If the NCAA no longer administers the biggest tournament in the world, bye bye to all non-revenue sports.

Why would the tournament become privatized? Because we've somehow disgustingly as a society decided that the only thing that matters is money. And although the world of sports fans love the Big Dance because of the Cinderellas, I can tell you right now the people that don't like the NCAA upsets are the Power 4 basketball coaches and athletic directors. A future exists where you have to earn a baseline number for revenue production to be eligible for a tournament. I can tell you these conversations have been being had since Brian Fish was at Oregon. He let me listen to a conference call with all the big dog coaches and even then, 8-10 years ago, the powers that be were doing their best to lobby out any mid and low-major tournament qualifiers.

I'd love to say its fascinating if I didn't think it was so utterly depressing...

...and it's then possible that college football becomes the UFL and college basketball becomes the NBA G league. Fans become disinterested and move on to other stuff and the money dries up. College football and basketball go back to their roots as flag football club teams or intramural activities with no scholarships and it all starts over again.

[MSU01]

A bunch of basketball players who were supposedly out of eligibility have entered the transfer portal the last few days. Trent McLaughlin of NAU is the latest today. Is there about to be a lawsuit challenging the four year eligibility rule so these guys can just keep playing and playing and playing?

[Colter_Nuanez]

A bunch of basketball players who were supposedly out of eligibility have entered the transfer portal the last few days. Trent McLaughlin of NAU is the latest today. Is there about to be a lawsuit challenging the four year eligibility rule so these guys can just keep playing and playing and playing?

Yup. It's being ruled on in New Jersey as we speak....

[MSU01]

A bunch of basketball players who were supposedly out of eligibility have entered the transfer portal the last few days. Trent McLaughlin of NAU is the latest today. Is there about to be a lawsuit challenging the four year eligibility rule so these guys can just keep playing and playing and playing?

Yup. It's being ruled on in New Jersey as we speak....

My understanding of the NJ lawsuit was that it's not challenging the 4-year eligibility rule itself, but the 5-year "eligibility clock" that requires players to play their four years in a five year period. But perhaps the ruling will go beyond the specific situation the player is suing about. Can't wait to see the first 35 year old college basketball player in his 16th season! It'll be like the movie Old School in real life.

[tetoncat]

A bunch of basketball players who were supposedly out of eligibility have entered the transfer portal the last few days. Trent McLaughlin of NAU is the latest today. Is there about to be a lawsuit challenging the four year eligibility rule so these guys can just keep playing and playing and playing?

Yup. It's being ruled on in New Jersey as we speak....

My understanding of the NJ lawsuit was that it's not challenging the 4-year eligibility rule itself, but the 5-year "eligibility clock" that requires players to play their four years in a five year period. But perhaps the ruling will go beyond the specific situation the player is suing about. Can't wait to see the first 35 year old college basketball player in his 16th season! It'll be like the movie Old School in real life.

If there is a 5 year click not sure how we have 6,7,8 year players