Nunnie on the Sideline
By Sylvester “Nunnie” Robinson
Last week I commented briefly on college football and the impact that the portal or ability for student/athletes to transfer from one school to another with minimal restrictions. For example, Ohio State’s Kyle McCord, one of the myriad college players taking advantage of this Wild West approach, , is transferring unimpeded to Syracuse, even though he started for OSU this season. The original complaint was that the university presidents and NCAA hierarchy were making millions off the backs of the athletes, a form of modern day slavery. Those in power argued that compensating student/athletes financially other than the basic scholarship/grant-in-aid (room/board, books, meal money, tuition) would ruin their amateur status. And in the past athletes weren’t being treated fairly, void of spending money for a movie or to buy a pizza. Then they summarily punished anyone, if caught, violating strict NCAA rules. Conceptually, to compensate the scholarship athletes with a stipend of perhaps $500 a month would have been sufficient.
The transfer portal has drastically changed the college athletics landscape. It has become a free for all where top athletes are selling their talents to the highest bidder to the extent that pride and loyalty to a particular school have gone the way of the Model-T, going from one extreme to another, while virtually ending amateur athletics as we’ve known it. For example, why go to a 12 team format for the College Football Playoffs when 8 would suffice. There is always a middle ground just like in politics, but the will must be there. The entire system seems broken with chaos ruling the day. I will research the reasons for the transition, eliminating my personal views. Stay with me!
I predicted a massacre of the Howard University Bisons by your FAMU Rattlers in the Celebration Bowl. Boy was I wrong. I failed to examine Howard’s strength of schedule, grueling since it contained some FBS and FCS opponents which led to the mediocre 6-5 regular season record. Howard has a really good football team! My apologies Bison nation and congrats to the Rattler nation on winning the Black College National Championship.
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