In my state and many others, besides your faith, family and job, the topic that most people are most interested in is NOT digital currencies or Climate Change, the next presidential election or even a respiratory pandemic .... it's college football. Hands down.
It occurred to me that big changes are now engulfing this sport and that, as amazing as it seems to even me, college football might not be as popular in years or decades to come.
The "most important thing" could be screwed up ... so I took a stab at writing about this.
Mar 31, 2023·edited Mar 31, 2023Liked by Bill Rice, Jr.
Good piece.
There is, however, one country where football is fairly popular and has long roots (McGill University lays claim to having invented - or at least formalizing the rules of - football) outside the U.S. and that's Canada. The Canadian Football League is actually older than the NFL and the Grey Cup is the oldest trophy in North American pro sports.
Obviously, the game isn't a part of the cultural fabric as it is in the USA. The success of the NFL(and College football) is a phenomenon. In fact, it doesn't come close. The CFL has always lived a precarious existence. Hockey dominates here and lacrosse is the official national sport.
I'm generally fascinated with the history of sports here in North America and its 'Canadian-American' connections. For example, there was a lot of inter-collegiate play between universities from both countries.
Spot on; when my husband was coaching years ago, I remarked one time that I thought college football would implode.
NIL, portals, etc. are culprits.
College coaches are tasked with keeping their guys in line, but how when the players live all over the college town. NCAA shut down athletic dorms (specifically football one). When my husband played he lived in the athletic dorm; healthy meals provided, study hall w/ tutoring if needed,& a man & his wife were house parents (having an apartment in the dorm). There was a curfew & accountability. Just as a guy’s fraternity bonds it member together so did this arrangement. Get in trouble? - boys being boys - handled swiftly.
Today they are scattered across town.
One could say other students are scattered to, but they aren’t a team.
Sororities & Fraternities have dorms. But dorms for athletes are verboten.
In high school, we played touch football every weekend at Jane Reynolds Park. Years ago, our field was turned into a skateboard area. Which the local authorities filled with sand during the lockdowns 🤷.
“In a war, if one side’s soldiers grew up playing soccer and the other side’s grew up playing football, I’m betting that the nation of former football players will prevail. “ ...and those that played rugby...?
All major western college sports saw their origins arise from the private school system in 19th Century UK: such forerunners to the professional game were a deliberate tactic by the establishment to foster leadership and camaraderie, so as to supply the British Army and East India Company with officers, so the war analogy is en pointe.
Apr 12, 2023·edited Apr 12, 2023Liked by Bill Rice, Jr.
Hey Bill - do you know anything about that pee-wee football coach in Buffalo, NY who coached the pee-wee team called the "Bills Bombers" in the 1970's? That was the team I played on until we moved away. I think the "Kenmore Packers" were in the same league. There were 8 teams I seem to recall - some of the teams never seemed to win too many games. Another team had the name "Brighten" I think.....I remember the weigh-ins we had to go through to make sure we weren't above the limit. Everybody got on the scale and it was done in public and it was fair. Lots of lessons for kids to learn playing pee-wee football in the 70's especially.
I've tried to find info on the old league and the coach I remember whose name was "Quinlin" or some such, and have come up blank. For a moment, I thought it was the fella who was the defensive end for the Green Bay Packers (owned by the town or not I wonder, but I hope so), who was the coach of the pee-wee team I played on back then in the 1970's - Bill Quinlan. But, I can't find anything to place this fella in Buffalo, NY in the 1970's - he was from Lawrence, KS apparently and so I guess he wasn't my coach after all....but the coach we had was named Bill and his last name was Quinlin or some such, and he was a hell of a good coach for us kids - he really cared about us and so did the whole coaching staff and us kids we could tell.
So anyhow thanks for giving me a chance to share here my memories of pee-wee football as a youth. I treasure those memories.
I agree with you wholeheartedly. Football provides the toughness factor that does help a youngster grow in his capabilities. It also is a team sport which allows kids to bond with one another.
This article reminds me of the saying: Hard Times Create Strong Men; Strong Men Create Good Times; Good Times Create Weak Men; Weak Men Create Hard Times.
Apr 1, 2023·edited Apr 1, 2023Liked by Bill Rice, Jr.
That is a GREAT picture on the top of this article.
Oh, the stories I could tell about my "pee-wee" football days. Us kids, we took the games serious.
My pal, his name was "Cricket" he was the cornerback and I was the safety.
The two of us knew each other well, and when opposing teams played against our team of 11 players on the field, if they didn't know Cricket and I were top notch defensive backs, they learned it soon enough! The best part is we complimented each other on the field - we made each other better in a synergistic sort of way. The stories I could tell.......oh boy....it was so much fun.
I treasure the days I played pee-wee football. We had great coaches, it was in the 70's, and it was good all around.
Here’s where I think we’re headed in, say, 10 years. This will be the end result of all the “reforms” to benefit the student athletes:
You’ll have a “Big Boy” League of college football with maybe four super conferences of 16 “blue blood” or marque programs. These programs will do fine and continue to make plenty of money to fund their sports programs.
The other 68 “have nots” of Division I football will be relegated to a AAA level and will rarely get to play one of the Big Boys. Fan interest in those programs will erode and economic realities will thin their ranks, resulting in fewer funded scholarships for intercollegiate male and female sports.
Fan interest in college football will still be pretty strong - at least among fans of the fortunate 64, but over-all “college football” will not be the great American pastime it once was.
The loss of interest in the smaller programs - exacerbated by non-stop transfers, NIL deals for the blue-blood programs and top players leaving the smaller programs - will filter down to the high schools, junior highs and recreation leagues.
More fans being “turned off” by trends in modern-day college sports will result in fewer kids taking an interest in the sport and playing it. Plus, the high schools are facing the same inflation-caused economic challenges.
Unlimited transfers - Another trend that is transforming college sports is the rule that allows athletes to transfer whenever they want and however many times they want - without having to sit out for a year.
At the surface level, this “reform” seems “fair.” After all, a non-athlete can transfer whenever he wants. If an athlete can increase his playing time or isn’t happy at his first (or second or third) school, let him transfer. My libertarian instincts say this is a good and fair thing.
However, in practice, this trend will also benefit the rich while harming the poor. It’s already happening. Coaches are now recruiting proven college players instead of reserving scholarships for high school athletes.
This trend will only increase as coaches know they better win in a hurry or they are going to be fired. The quickest way to improve your roster is to pilfer good players from the smaller schools. Plus, the best of these athletes know they can generate some NIL spending money if they transfer from, say, Louisiana-Lafetyette to, say, Florida.
This trend is now conspicuous in college football but it’s been common in college basketball for many years. Once upon a time, fans of college basketball had three or four years to get to know the rosters of their favorite teams. Now, at many schools, 70 percent of the roster turns over after one year.
Also, in basketball, the best players are going to only stay for one year (before they can go to the NBA). For me at least, the net result is I don’t know who half these guys on “my” team are and my interest in the program has waned as a result. I don’t get the feeling these guys really care one way or another about playing for “my school” … and the, shocking result for this life-long college sports fan is my interest in “my” team is beginning to wane. And if you are losing interest in “your” team, you are probably not keeping up as closely with all the other teams either.
Some of the changes transforming college football include ....
Name Image and Likeness (NIL) - This movement allows (a very few) college athletes to make money while in college. So, per conventional wisdom, these athletes are no longer being “exploited” by the big colleges that make tens of millions of dollars off the sweat of these athletes.
One problem with this narrative is the vast majority of colleges actually lose a ton of money by offering college sports. If you count Division III, II, I-AA and “mid-major” Division I athletic programs, 99 percent of colleges are spending far more money offering these sports than they make.
If you might have noticed, real inflation is now staggering so every week it is becoming more expensive to fund these sports. This is not going to change. It will become much harder for colleges to offer these sports not just to football players but to the female athletes and the males who play “minor” sports. This will require even greater tax-payer funded subsidies, which is the real money source that allows these colleges to offer these programs.
The rising costs of offering sports programs affects the big colleges just like it does the little colleges. Fortunately for them, the prestigious “blue blood” programs benefit from huge TV contracts.
If one wants to know the truth, ESPN (owned by Disney) is calling all the important shots in college sports. As long as certain games draw desirable TV ratings, the money will pour in … at least for the SEC, Big 10 and ACC schools. This is why we have ….
This list of unpleasantries..."topics like Name Image and Likeness (NIL), the wave of athletes transferring, conference re-alignment, TV networks increasingly ruling (and probably harming) the sport, etc."...is maiming the college game of football.
Hate to see it. All about money.
Because of the specter of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), I sometimes have an unhappy vision that the misguided people who shape things will turn contact football into a virtual version in years hence. I hope this is just some farcical negativity of mine which floats up based on all of the other inversions going on.
And I always thought it was "dag-blasted" and not dad-blasted. I'm sticking with dag-blasted in reference to the burgeoning dag-blastedness of things.
I have enjoyed your strolls down the lanes of football. Thanks for all the great writings, Bill.
In my state and many others, besides your faith, family and job, the topic that most people are most interested in is NOT digital currencies or Climate Change, the next presidential election or even a respiratory pandemic .... it's college football. Hands down.
It occurred to me that big changes are now engulfing this sport and that, as amazing as it seems to even me, college football might not be as popular in years or decades to come.
The "most important thing" could be screwed up ... so I took a stab at writing about this.
Now back to Covid topics!
Good piece.
There is, however, one country where football is fairly popular and has long roots (McGill University lays claim to having invented - or at least formalizing the rules of - football) outside the U.S. and that's Canada. The Canadian Football League is actually older than the NFL and the Grey Cup is the oldest trophy in North American pro sports.
Obviously, the game isn't a part of the cultural fabric as it is in the USA. The success of the NFL(and College football) is a phenomenon. In fact, it doesn't come close. The CFL has always lived a precarious existence. Hockey dominates here and lacrosse is the official national sport.
I'm generally fascinated with the history of sports here in North America and its 'Canadian-American' connections. For example, there was a lot of inter-collegiate play between universities from both countries.
Spot on; when my husband was coaching years ago, I remarked one time that I thought college football would implode.
NIL, portals, etc. are culprits.
College coaches are tasked with keeping their guys in line, but how when the players live all over the college town. NCAA shut down athletic dorms (specifically football one). When my husband played he lived in the athletic dorm; healthy meals provided, study hall w/ tutoring if needed,& a man & his wife were house parents (having an apartment in the dorm). There was a curfew & accountability. Just as a guy’s fraternity bonds it member together so did this arrangement. Get in trouble? - boys being boys - handled swiftly.
Today they are scattered across town.
One could say other students are scattered to, but they aren’t a team.
Sororities & Fraternities have dorms. But dorms for athletes are verboten.
In high school, we played touch football every weekend at Jane Reynolds Park. Years ago, our field was turned into a skateboard area. Which the local authorities filled with sand during the lockdowns 🤷.
“In a war, if one side’s soldiers grew up playing soccer and the other side’s grew up playing football, I’m betting that the nation of former football players will prevail. “ ...and those that played rugby...?
All major western college sports saw their origins arise from the private school system in 19th Century UK: such forerunners to the professional game were a deliberate tactic by the establishment to foster leadership and camaraderie, so as to supply the British Army and East India Company with officers, so the war analogy is en pointe.
Come on. Most of the football team was in my calculus class (I was only in the pep band), and they took 4A state that year.
Don't underestimate the stupidity of politicians.
I'm sure you know Teddy Roosevelt saved American football. Without that politician Bear Bryant would have stayed a cub.
Hey Bill - do you know anything about that pee-wee football coach in Buffalo, NY who coached the pee-wee team called the "Bills Bombers" in the 1970's? That was the team I played on until we moved away. I think the "Kenmore Packers" were in the same league. There were 8 teams I seem to recall - some of the teams never seemed to win too many games. Another team had the name "Brighten" I think.....I remember the weigh-ins we had to go through to make sure we weren't above the limit. Everybody got on the scale and it was done in public and it was fair. Lots of lessons for kids to learn playing pee-wee football in the 70's especially.
I've tried to find info on the old league and the coach I remember whose name was "Quinlin" or some such, and have come up blank. For a moment, I thought it was the fella who was the defensive end for the Green Bay Packers (owned by the town or not I wonder, but I hope so), who was the coach of the pee-wee team I played on back then in the 1970's - Bill Quinlan. But, I can't find anything to place this fella in Buffalo, NY in the 1970's - he was from Lawrence, KS apparently and so I guess he wasn't my coach after all....but the coach we had was named Bill and his last name was Quinlin or some such, and he was a hell of a good coach for us kids - he really cared about us and so did the whole coaching staff and us kids we could tell.
So anyhow thanks for giving me a chance to share here my memories of pee-wee football as a youth. I treasure those memories.
Ken
I agree with you wholeheartedly. Football provides the toughness factor that does help a youngster grow in his capabilities. It also is a team sport which allows kids to bond with one another.
This article reminds me of the saying: Hard Times Create Strong Men; Strong Men Create Good Times; Good Times Create Weak Men; Weak Men Create Hard Times.
This is the cycle of life we are in today.
That is a GREAT picture on the top of this article.
Oh, the stories I could tell about my "pee-wee" football days. Us kids, we took the games serious.
My pal, his name was "Cricket" he was the cornerback and I was the safety.
The two of us knew each other well, and when opposing teams played against our team of 11 players on the field, if they didn't know Cricket and I were top notch defensive backs, they learned it soon enough! The best part is we complimented each other on the field - we made each other better in a synergistic sort of way. The stories I could tell.......oh boy....it was so much fun.
I treasure the days I played pee-wee football. We had great coaches, it was in the 70's, and it was good all around.
Regards,
BK
So much to say about this, it's hard to know where to begin.
In general, Bill sizes stuff up very well. As here. He sees linkages/effects that most others don't see.
Here’s where I think we’re headed in, say, 10 years. This will be the end result of all the “reforms” to benefit the student athletes:
You’ll have a “Big Boy” League of college football with maybe four super conferences of 16 “blue blood” or marque programs. These programs will do fine and continue to make plenty of money to fund their sports programs.
The other 68 “have nots” of Division I football will be relegated to a AAA level and will rarely get to play one of the Big Boys. Fan interest in those programs will erode and economic realities will thin their ranks, resulting in fewer funded scholarships for intercollegiate male and female sports.
Fan interest in college football will still be pretty strong - at least among fans of the fortunate 64, but over-all “college football” will not be the great American pastime it once was.
The loss of interest in the smaller programs - exacerbated by non-stop transfers, NIL deals for the blue-blood programs and top players leaving the smaller programs - will filter down to the high schools, junior highs and recreation leagues.
More fans being “turned off” by trends in modern-day college sports will result in fewer kids taking an interest in the sport and playing it. Plus, the high schools are facing the same inflation-caused economic challenges.
Unlimited transfers - Another trend that is transforming college sports is the rule that allows athletes to transfer whenever they want and however many times they want - without having to sit out for a year.
At the surface level, this “reform” seems “fair.” After all, a non-athlete can transfer whenever he wants. If an athlete can increase his playing time or isn’t happy at his first (or second or third) school, let him transfer. My libertarian instincts say this is a good and fair thing.
However, in practice, this trend will also benefit the rich while harming the poor. It’s already happening. Coaches are now recruiting proven college players instead of reserving scholarships for high school athletes.
This trend will only increase as coaches know they better win in a hurry or they are going to be fired. The quickest way to improve your roster is to pilfer good players from the smaller schools. Plus, the best of these athletes know they can generate some NIL spending money if they transfer from, say, Louisiana-Lafetyette to, say, Florida.
This trend is now conspicuous in college football but it’s been common in college basketball for many years. Once upon a time, fans of college basketball had three or four years to get to know the rosters of their favorite teams. Now, at many schools, 70 percent of the roster turns over after one year.
Also, in basketball, the best players are going to only stay for one year (before they can go to the NBA). For me at least, the net result is I don’t know who half these guys on “my” team are and my interest in the program has waned as a result. I don’t get the feeling these guys really care one way or another about playing for “my school” … and the, shocking result for this life-long college sports fan is my interest in “my” team is beginning to wane. And if you are losing interest in “your” team, you are probably not keeping up as closely with all the other teams either.
Some of the changes transforming college football include ....
Name Image and Likeness (NIL) - This movement allows (a very few) college athletes to make money while in college. So, per conventional wisdom, these athletes are no longer being “exploited” by the big colleges that make tens of millions of dollars off the sweat of these athletes.
One problem with this narrative is the vast majority of colleges actually lose a ton of money by offering college sports. If you count Division III, II, I-AA and “mid-major” Division I athletic programs, 99 percent of colleges are spending far more money offering these sports than they make.
If you might have noticed, real inflation is now staggering so every week it is becoming more expensive to fund these sports. This is not going to change. It will become much harder for colleges to offer these sports not just to football players but to the female athletes and the males who play “minor” sports. This will require even greater tax-payer funded subsidies, which is the real money source that allows these colleges to offer these programs.
The rising costs of offering sports programs affects the big colleges just like it does the little colleges. Fortunately for them, the prestigious “blue blood” programs benefit from huge TV contracts.
If one wants to know the truth, ESPN (owned by Disney) is calling all the important shots in college sports. As long as certain games draw desirable TV ratings, the money will pour in … at least for the SEC, Big 10 and ACC schools. This is why we have ….
This list of unpleasantries..."topics like Name Image and Likeness (NIL), the wave of athletes transferring, conference re-alignment, TV networks increasingly ruling (and probably harming) the sport, etc."...is maiming the college game of football.
Hate to see it. All about money.
Because of the specter of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), I sometimes have an unhappy vision that the misguided people who shape things will turn contact football into a virtual version in years hence. I hope this is just some farcical negativity of mine which floats up based on all of the other inversions going on.
And I always thought it was "dag-blasted" and not dad-blasted. I'm sticking with dag-blasted in reference to the burgeoning dag-blastedness of things.
I have enjoyed your strolls down the lanes of football. Thanks for all the great writings, Bill.