Nick Saban calls out today’s greedy athletes
More power to the stars who can cash-in on their NIL deals, but trends affecting the long-term popularity of college football are not good. The Law of Opposite Effects scores again.
Several readers have told me I should vary my content and not write about Covid (or Substack!) so much. I agree. Variety is the spice of life; it’s probably good if a newsletter author can occasionally write about other topics he thinks are noteworthy.
Here’s a subject from the Sports World I think’s worth a quick column. Former Alabama Coach Nick Saban recently said one of the reasons he retired is because the lack of “class” displayed by some of his former players rubbed him the wrong way.
As usual, Coach Saban makes great points. Here’s a short story from MSM.com that gives us the details. After you read this story, you can read my two cents on the same topic. As it turns out, I can easily identify trends in the sports world that mirror the disconcerting trends I see in the Real World.
NIL deals matter more than staying with one team
Nick Saban announced his retirement following the 2023 college football season in which the Alabama Crimson Tide fell just short of another College Football Playoff national title game.
While there are many reasons for his decision to retire, a new column from ESPN's Chris Low revealed a few more details. Saban was "disappointed" by the lack of "class" from Alabama players following the team's loss to Michigan in the playoff.
Saban made it clear that wasn't the reason for his departure, but it certainly factored into his decision.
"I want to be clear that wasn't the reason, but some of those events certainly contributed," Saban said. "I was really disappointed in the way that the players acted after the game. You gotta win with class. You gotta lose with class. We had our opportunities to win the game and we didn't do it, and then showing your [expletive] and being frustrated and throwing helmets and doing that stuff ... that's not who we are and what we've promoted in our program."
Saban said he heard two questions from players after the season came to a close that also helped lead to his retirement.
"I thought we could have a [expletive] of a team next year, and then maybe 70 or 80 percent of the players you talk to, all they want to know is two things: What assurances do I have that I'm going to play because they're thinking about transferring, and how much are you going to pay me?" he said. "Our program here was always built on how much value can we create for your future and your personal development, academic success in graduating and developing an NFL career on the field.
"So I'm saying to myself, 'Maybe this doesn't work anymore, that the goals and aspirations are just different and that it's all about how much money can I make as a college player?' I'm not saying that's bad. I'm not saying it's wrong, I'm just saying that's never been what we were all about, and it's not why we had success through the years."
It's a new day in college football.
My two cents …
Coach Saban’s absolutely right about what motivates many of today's players.
As I wrote in this article, all the “reforms” touted as benefitting the allegedly exploited student athletes will end up hurting more athletes than are helped.
But more importantly, trends in college football like NIL, unlimited transfers, conference expansion and re-alignment and the ever-expanding playoff pool are going to end up causing increasingly large numbers of life-long college football fans to become disillusioned about the sport.
The avid passion that explains the popularity of college football is going to be dissipated, which, long term, will also harm many athletic programs and student athletes (more specifically, the 99.5 percent of college student-athletes who can’t negotiate 6-figure NIL deals).
This, I believe, is another example of my Law of Opposite Effects exerting itself again. Reforms touted as helping people or a sport will produce the opposite result.
College football has only recently started to see the impact of the unlimited transfer rules and the big money-grab that now motivates each team’s best players.
But college basketball is even worse …
College basketball might be an example of what’s in store for college football. For many years, rosters of college basketball teams have experienced major turnover. This is due to unlimited transfers and the fact the very best players can go to the NBA after one year in college.
I used to also be an avid fan of Alabama basketball. However, my interest in this team, and college basketball in general, has almost vanished in the last five to 10 years. One reason is I simply can’t keep up with who Alabama’s current players are. This year, only three of Alabama’s 12 players were on the team last year.
I think several recent Alabama players are now playing in the NBA, but I don’t follow these athletes and can’t even remember their names because they were only “students” at the University for 1 and 3/4 semesters.
The same thing happens with my other favorite team, Troy University. I think only two players on this year’s roster were on last year’s team. I don’t know any of their names. Today, many college athletes have played for three different college teams.
ESPN calls all the big plays …
Yet another “reform” the fans clamored for was an expanded playoff field in college football, which we now have.
This reform, like most reforms, is really orchestrated by ESPN, which gets to televise the games and wants the highest-rated match-ups to boost its advertising and subscriber revenue (and, in the years to come, its pay-for-view revenue).
I admit ESPN has done a great job promoting college football. Earlier than other TV networks, executives at ESPN realized it could parlay the avid passion of college football fans into customers guaranteed to buy cableTV packages with ESPN. If you need your college football fix, you need all five ESPN channels.
But, truth be told, I don’t trust ESPN to safeguard the sport I love as I know the company is owned by Disney, which is a perennial contender for the Woke National Championship.
‘The Big Dance’ hides the fact nobody cares
about the little dances …
In basketball, the NCAA “Big Dance” is said to be one of the most prized sports franchises and a huge money-maker for all involved. This may be true, but because 68 teams now make the NCAA tournament, nobody gives a hoot about a regular season game or even whether your team wins the regular season conference championship.
As a result, TV ratings for a regular season college basketball game are not much better than those of pro bowling.
In all sports, fan attendance at actual games is declining and has been for years. This is because more fans now prefer to watch the games from the comfort of their homes.
Also, one of the easiest inflation work-arounds is to cut out or cut back on tickets, transportation, parking and the $6 Cokes fans have to spend if they go to the games, which are a major hassle. (At least fans no longer have to wear their masks or show their vaccine passports).
My last several stories were on Substack trends that trouble or bother me.
Well, trends in college sports also bother me because I once was an avid fan and found great value in the distraction from the Real World these games and athletes offered me.
I once cared a great deal about these teams and student athletes. But that’s when I thought these kids also cared as much about “my team” as I do.
Some still do, but not nearly as many as in the past. Basically, I don’t know why I need to get worked up about teams and athletes who don’t have any strong allegiance to my team.
I also think the Powers that Be in sports - just like in all important organizations - aren’t as wise as most people think. They’ll screw up college sports just like they screw up everything else.
They’re already slaying the goose that laid the golden eggs that made generations of fans care about these sports and teams … and Nick Saban picked up on this, which is why he said, “No mas.”
Of course, Coach Saban now has a new gig - as a Talking Head …. for ESPN.
Maybe I’ll watch him next season on the “Game Day” set, but I probably won’t.
I'm also very concerned by the absence of class from many in Bama's fan base. Coach Bryant is rolling over in his grave as he preached "show your class" every day of his coaching life - to players and fans.
Alabama fans used to have more class. Today, our fanbase is exemplified by all the crazy, classless rubes who show their fanny and lack of class when they call Sports Talk Radio or make posts on Internet boards.
It used to be a point of pride for me that Bama's players and fans "showed their class." It's something that made the Crimson Tide different and special ... Alas, this trait now seems to be gone with the wind.
I know you're working on a formula that allows you to share your valuable insights and quality writing to provide for you and yours as you, we all must. I'm following your analysis of Substack and the opportunities for income it offers for my own household needs, as well, debating if I should monetize or not. I've taken a long break from writing on my own Substack, coming up with several topics, story ideas that are different from what's offered by many others.
I find myself avoiding the writings now of many Substack writers who I used to follow regularly. Specifically the ones who are all doom and gloom, black pill fatalistic types offering up a steady diet of how bad our world is. Without offering solutions, no hope. I've come to believe they are part of the PsyOps to demoralize us. While offering truthful insights about much of what is really going on around us, it becomes too much, I turn them off because of the monotony.
You have something unique to offer. You, I must get away from repackaging info others share, our own observations that merely tweak or highlight a portion of a similar overarching story. And we mustn't just write about what bothers us - I'm reminded of the Family Guy episode where Peter has a news segment "What Really Grinds My Gears." It's entertaining for awhile and then gets old and predictable. Let's not get old and predictable.
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And yes, I'm under no illusions about Substack's usefulness to the powers that be in containing "rebels" in a place we can be monitored and controlled, isolated from the majority of the body politic. But here we are and we remain hopeful that something we share is valuable to those with more "reach" than us and penetrates the larger discussions, perhaps even reaching the body politic, despite the best efforts of the powerful to quarantine our ideas and notions of freedom and humanity, faith.
For as long as Substack serves us we use it. As we work on other Plan B's and C's and D's for the eventuality that Substack will no longer serve us at some point and time in the future. We live, learn and grow. We adapt. That hallmark trait of the human species that gives us our privileged place in this world (Foxes are highly adaptive, too). Adaptability. And why freedom and humanity will prevail in the end.