Make Sports Seasonal Again

Sports Outrage Roundup

 

 

We live in the Age of Outrage. I maintain some degree of equilibrium by ignoring as much of the noise as I can. I used to devour the news in various newspapers, magazines, TV broadcasts, and radio. One by one they melted away. We dumped cable because we were too busy to watch it. Magazines began to fold, but not in a good way, and newspapers melted away like creamsicles in 90-degree heat. Hearing loss led me to turn off NPR.

I’m not a total ignoramus. I read the Boston Globe thoroughly on Sundays and skim the Globe and New York Times on weekdays. I ignore Trump as nothing short of resignation or arrest would impress rather than depress me. Even sports have disappointed me. They have become a veritable Snide World of Sports. (Only those over a certain age will understand that pun!)

Texas Tech and quarterback Brendan Sorsby win the Dirtbag of the Year Award; Sorsby for trying to get an easy paycheck and Tech for not telling Sorsby to take a barefoot hike through rattlesnake country. Sorsby has already played at the University of Indiana and the University of Cincinnati. He sought to transfer again and engineered a $4-6 million Name, Image, Likeness (NIL) package from Texas Tech. This, though, he was facing charges of betting $90,000 on college football games, including some involving his own team.

Betting violates NCAA rules, though to be fair, the NCAA is as crooked as Sorsby. Cincinnati has countersued Sorsby for $1 million when he entered the portal to go to Tech. Surprisingly, Tech faces boycotts from schools scheduled to play them. It probably won’t surprise you to learn that several NFL teams have expressed interest in Sorsby if he is not be allowed to play for Texas Tech, though NFL bigwigs nixed a supplemental draft for his rights. A remaining complication is that a judge declared that he remains eligible to play for Tech. (If this doesn’t tell you that “college football” is an oxymoron and that some judges have dollar signs dancing in their heads, I can’t help you.)

What should happen is that Tech practices a few times and cuts Sorsby. If he’s not on the squad, NIL value disintegrates. Tech would probably need to negotiate a buyout (get-out-my-sight money and fire the AD responsible for this hot mess. In all likelihood, what will happen is the NCAA will tell other schools they must play Texas Tech. After all, in Texas, gridiron ball is BIG MONEY and actual education begs for pennies. 

 

 

The World Cup brings me joy, even though host cities are milking visitors as if they were cows about to explode. No matter what NFL image-makers claim, the World Cup is real football and gridiron a mere curiosity item. Not that FIFA, its governing body, is much of an improvement over the NCAA or NFL, but sometimes one must settle for small gains.

I may not be around to see it, but the gridiron obit is already being written. As the USA becomes more brown and yellow, soccer is the sport of the future. I’d love to see the NFL relegated to ESPN’s Night Owl programing after darts and duckpins for dollars. Use your own eyes and see how many kids are playing soccer and how few are willing to risk CET. In the immediate future, I foresee numerous colleges dumping gridiron programs because only handful of schools make money or can realistically compete against super conferences. High school gridiron makes even less economic sense when so many districts are under pressure to add teachers and programs. Imagine that. Spending money on education!  

 

 

I’m Sooo Bored. The Stanley Cup was lifted on June 14 and the NBA crowned the New York Knicks champions one night earlier. Major League Baseball is on the cusp of completing the first half of its season and probably won’t have a World Series winner until mid-November. Games have been added to the NFL season, the NBA, and the NHL. I find it impossible to maintain interest in all the noise happening at the same time. Why does it? Money, not athleticism is what’s on view. Oh please, please show that Liberty Mutual ad again.

What should happen but won’t: Sports should become seasonal again. MLB should go back to 154 games by eliminating Interleague play. The season should open April 15 and end the first week of September.

As for gridiron football, the NFL should return to a 12-game schedule with the regular season beginning September 15, and the Superbowl one week after the conference championships. As for college ball, absolutely no team with (or potentially with) a losing record can play a bowl game. I’m sure we can live without 6-6 Futile State in the Catheter Bowl against 5-7 Lameseville A & Ouch. The NBA and NHL must crown a champion before May 10.

Rob Weir