Mike Blewitt and George Kurtz are joined by college football expert and industry veteran, Rich Cirminiello. The guys discuss the recent spread of the virus and how it is affecting college sports. Mike, George, and Rich talk about Jim Harbaugh's future with the University of Michigan. The Ivy League has canceled all of their fall sports, but will other conferences follow suit? At different universities across the nation, college sports are getting cut left and right due to financial reasons. What does the future of college sports look like?
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sports grid dot Com Betting insights and entertainment at your
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sports grid dot Com. Everybody, Welcome to this hour of
(00:20):
football full Circle. Joined by Rich Sarmanello. He is the
co host of College Football Today, joins us here every week.
And Rich, how you doing? But I hope Paul as well.
Things are good. How about you guys doing okay? Hanging
in there? It has It's nice to talk to you guys. Yeah,
it hasn't been a banner week for college athletics, I'll
tell you that much. So, um, we'd be remiss if
(00:44):
we didn't get your take on everything that's gone on here.
I'll give you the floor first, and then I'll try
to weave in some quotes and some really the the
despair that is starting to set in over the college
football season. Yeah, you know what, We've spent the past
few months, guys, waiting for some kind of indication of
what's going to happen. End of August, early September, Week zero,
(01:08):
Week one and it has been so quiet since. Uh,
this pandemic hit our shore's end of February early March.
In terms of college sports. Now basketball side, we know
what happened in March, but as far as college football,
the thought was, we have such a long runway, we
have five or six months to prepare for this. We'll
(01:28):
be ready to go. Uh. We were on the air
together probably just before Memorial Day. Looked very positive cases
across the country. We're declining, certainly in our tri state area.
We were coming out of this in New York and
New Jersey. So I was bullish. I think you guys
were optimistic as well. And and then June happened, and
(01:50):
the entire tenor and tone of college sports has changed.
We've seen each of these dominoes fall. A couple of
days ago, Big news out of the Big Ten saying
that conference only at best and and if you listen
to some of the folks in the Big Ten in
their offices, Jean Smith, the athletic director of Ohio State, Uh,
(02:12):
finally we're starting to get some kind of an indication.
And it's not what I wanted, because people are very
pessimistic as to what this season in college football is
gonna look like Yeah, and as we have a quote
up on the screen via Ari Wasserman who writes, uh,
you know, I was a beat writer for college for
the Athletic he says, quote, I'm really concerned, said Jean
(02:33):
Smith when asked about his optimism concerning about his optimism
that football will happen in the fall. Quote, when you
look at the behavior of our country and in May,
we run a downward trajectory. Now, if we're not the
worst in the world, one of the worst in the world.
So he's feeling that impending doom. I would throw it
back to you and then we'll get George's thoughts on
(02:55):
this as well. I just with all with the number
of athletic directors that came out in the spring and
through the ensuing months saying that if there's no students
on campus, we can't play football. Do you think that
that ice is melting a little bit on that stance.
(03:18):
Do you think they'd be willing to play if the
students are at home but the players can get out there? Yeah,
I was. I think, as disgusting as it sounds, if
there's an opportunity to pull it off, I'm not saying
that I agree with this, but I do think, particularly
when you get down to a C C country SEC country,
(03:39):
if there's an opportunity to play football with or without
students on campus, I believe, primarily because of dollars and cents,
they would give it a shot. It is that big
of a deal. Um, I know what the pulse of
SEC country is, guys. I I know what fans think,
I know what administrators think. I know how much money
(04:01):
this will mean to those universities. Again, I'll stress the
fact that I don't agree with this stance, whether without
students on campus, I do think there are a handful
of schools that will absolutely try to pull this off. George,
I tend to agree with him, but it rips them.
It rips the veil off once and for all of saying, hey,
(04:22):
this is about student athletes, it's about students, about academics.
You can never say it again. I don't. I haven't
really wanted to hear it to this point. In many instances,
I've met a lot of great athletic directors athletic administrators
that are at D two and D three schools and
low D one, and they're not really making big money
(04:42):
But when the power five guys that are the football
schools tell you a few months ago there's no students,
were not playing, and then fast forward to August there's
no students and the players are out there warming up
for the season. It's all bs. It just is, Yeah,
it is. I completely agree Rich said it. It's dollars
(05:05):
and cents alright. Money rules everything, So if they think
they can make some money out there, they're going to
try and play. It's why I keep beating the drum
of who is protecting the players. Yeah, this is different
from the NFL. They're getting paid and they'll be advised
by everybody, you know, from everywhere from family on down
to express but whether or not they should play, how
much risk they're at. These college players, we don't know
(05:27):
what they are. We just don't know. It's why, you know,
what have we heard of the past two weeks or so.
We've heard of COVID parties where college students are trying
to get it because they think this is like back
in the day with chickenpox parties, when you get that
because your parents wanted you to get it or get it,
get rid of it and move on, right, And they
want to no one realizes that, hey, there's no guarantee
(05:47):
you can't get this again. Well, that it's much worse
than what just the common flu. You might have really
serious sent as that could last for a long time.
It's just silly to me. And this is where college
This is how college kids think. They're not quite adult yet,
but they think logically. They think silly stuff like this.
I'll get it now, I'll be fined by and the
July earliergres and we go on, we move on. I'll
(06:08):
be good for the rest of my life. You know,
it's no one. They have to be protected against each other. Now.
I wonder this, and it's the thing. We don't know
if this is going to happen, but I think it's
going to come into play. How can college sports justify
playing if Major League Baseball has to shut down and
let's say earlyer Locust, middle Acust before the college football
seating starts, how can they justify playing when a major
(06:31):
league professional people getting paid say this is too dangerous.
I think that rich. I think that would actually halt it.
I think that would be a good question. That is,
as much as you're right, and we are in sympathical
on this, and I think they're gonna barrel through all
(06:51):
of this stuff to try to get out there. If
the NBA or MLB has to shut it down, they can't.
They can't do it, Mike. You know, the professional sports
leagues have always been in this scenario, the canary in
the coal mine. And and I think college sports athletic directors, administrators,
n c A, they have always been looking at what
(07:14):
happens with the NBA, what happens with the NHL, what
happens with Major League Baseball, If for pandemic reasons, not
anything contractual or negotiations breakdown. If it's in terms of
the pandemic, if it's health related that a professional sports
league cannot get off the tarmac, shut it down. Now
(07:35):
you have zero chance of moving forward with with college athletics.
And let's not forget you know, we're in an era
right now, at least in two thousand and twenty where
student athletes, college athletes now realize they have leverage, they
have a voice. We've seen that, We've talked about it
in past shows. The Marvin Wilson's kJ sales down in
(07:55):
South Florida, a lot of kids, yeah, exactly using their
place they understand now that they have an opportunity to
speak out, UH and initiate some level of change. Don't
discount the fact that if this starts to look a
little bit shaky and and they are trying to sort
of jam it through, don't be shocked at all if
some of the star athletes in college football don't step
(08:18):
up and possibly step away from their final season of eligibility. Yeah,
you know the spring football thing, George, You and I
talked about that in a previous show, The spring football thing.
I just think that would be really messy Logistically. It
would potentially compete with basketball and the n c A tournament.
It would leave draftable players, particularly high profile draftable players,
(08:41):
George to say I'm out, I'm not I'm not playing,
and it would really ruin a season. Plus, we also
talked about, UH, that would effectively be building putting two
football seasons inside of the same calendar year. So you
aren't health health risks abound if that happened, and it's
not just COVID related. Oh, there's no way. There's no
(09:02):
way they're gonna play twenty games and nine months, right,
that's what we're looking at. If they do that, you're
gonna play start in March. You're gonna play one season
and get a couple of months off and play the
next season. That's not gonna happen. Now. They can't do that.
I think about the pro play is how they're going
to bands. They're playing one extra game a season, and
you're gonna have to the the college kids play ten more
(09:24):
in the county. No, that's that's not gonna attend twelve more.
It's not gonna happen. They can't happen. And the other
reason you mentioned as well, TV is not gonna want that.
They have all the things lined up that they're paying
for it, they're not. We have the fifth college football
into their schedule, at least not every game that they
want to fit into their schedule. Won't be able to
do it. And as I keep saying, I don't know
why any top athlete, Trevor Lawrence, justin Fields, I don't
know why they're playing this season. You know you would
(09:46):
drap the top five, top ten anyway. White, I agree
with you. Why the hell would you play next spring?
That would be nuts. Rich you've talked about Trevor Lawrence
is like a different kid in that regard but he
he has even got to be receiving some sort of
guidance and justin fields, Trey Lance, insert whatever quarterback or
(10:07):
premium player you want to have to receive, be receiving
some guidance to be like, you know, you don't have
to do this. You're probably a first round pick if
you don't step out there. And if you don't want
to do it, or you're scared to do it, or
you think this whole season is a big joke because
how are we going to crown a champion and all
this stuff, then just don't do it. Just do what
(10:29):
Nick Bosa did, except do it a couple of months early. Yeah.
And I think George Board of a great point too,
and something that I've been watching closely and I'll continue
to monitor, which is, you know, we're not sure um
if there are going to be some long term effects.
So so what happens if the star wide receiver Jaalen
Waddle at Alabama, Davante Smith at Alabama? What happens if
(10:51):
there is some kind I'm not predicting anything, but I
think if I'm a one year old superstar athlete with
first round or second round money, I'm horizon. I would
be worrying about my long term health if there's some
impact on my lungs, on my respiratory system. There has
been talking about that. You know, we know that younger
people are now getting it. Thank god, they're they're not
(11:13):
succumbing to this. But that's not a guarantee that there
aren't any long term health impacts that that could hit them. So, uh,
this to me looks like a complete mess um that's
awaiting us. And now we're in just about mid July,
the dominoes have started to fall. IVY League, Big Ten,
No Conference Play Pack twelve a c C. I expect
(11:34):
to see do the same exact thing. So I don't
know where we go with this. I do think we'll start.
I would be shocked if we finished with a season
in college football. All right, you gotta do it. Here
it is you're I know you're already laughing. Percentage George
that they get the seat, Well we'll do too. We'll
do it rapid fires and only got like nineties seconds.
(11:56):
Percentage of the season starts on time, and percentage that
we're able to finish the conference only season. I'll give
that it starts on time, and I'm gonna keep going lower. Uh,
And I said thirty three last night, and I think
that was too high for me. I think it really
should be lower that. But I said thirty three one
in three, saw stick with it all right, Rich, percentage
that they start on time, percentage that they complete their
(12:18):
conference only. Yeah, I was so so funny. I was
going six that it starts on time. I still wouldn't
be above finish it. I'd actually be lower, guys, I'd
put it at ten. I'm gonna go higher on the
start on time because I think they're that that's how
they're focused or just desperately trying to get games on TV.
(12:39):
And I'll say that none of the major sports gets
shut down so that they start on time. And ten, Man,
you've challenged me. You've you've gone down, You've prices right
of me my previous iteration. I said one in five,
you're going one in ten. Um, go split it. So
(13:02):
there we go. That's good job. That's very pragmatic of you.
We'll come right back and we'll talk about Jim Harball
and why is contract extension hasn't happened. I wonder why
the sports grid dot Com Betting Insights and Entertainment at
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(13:24):
and more. Want the edge than get on the grid
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at Richard Minello, at George Kurtz at Mike Bluett all
on Twitter. So, um story I was reading here on
(13:47):
NBC on College Football Talk on NBC Sports dot Com.
It's about Jim Harbaugh and that fact that they were
working on an extension prior to the pandemic hitting. So
he says here rightfully. So there's bigger fish to fry
for our athletic director or our administration me as a coach,
he said via an interview, It hasn't been on the
(14:10):
top of the priorities priority list. I would expect something
that there would be an announcement at some time. So
it seems like they're working on this extension for him.
I've always wondered rich how long he really wanted to
be there. We've talked at nauseum about his inability to
beat Ohio State. But is Jim Harbaugh just going to
settle in here for the long haul and like this
(14:32):
is his last gig? What do you think? You know?
I have long believed well, two things. One, I thought
it was a good hire and he has underwhelmed back
at his alma mater and ann Arbor UH. And number two,
I always thought the long term play for Jim Harbaugh
was to go back to the NFL. I think what
he craves. He's super competitive, as we know. I think
(14:54):
he craves the super Bowl title more than anything else.
But now that he's at Michigan and has not gotten
over the hump, has definitely had success, elevated the program
from the rich Rodriguez Brady Hope days. It's a it's
a better program. There's better talent, especially on the defensive
side of the ball UH than his predecessors had. So
kudos for that, But obviously, you know they didn't pull
(15:18):
Jim Harbaugh out of the NFL just to get to
nine win seasons. UH needs big ten titles, needs to
beat Ohio State, as you mentioned, needs more quality victories,
and quite frankly, needs to do a better job with
his quarterbacks. You know, I think Shaye Patterson was a
major Jim to pull him out of Old Miss talented quarterback,
(15:39):
four or five star Blue Chipper when he came out
of high school, begins his career in the SEC, goes
to Michigan and then flat lines and and quite frankly regresses.
So I think right now, in terms of a contract extension,
I don't think there's any hot seat talk. I think
Jim Harbaugh is going to be there for the time being,
as long as he wants to. But I think the
(16:00):
optics would be horrendous. I mean, as athletic budgets take
big hits, as coaches take pay reductions, as programs outside
of football and basketball get eliminated, I think to even
you know, to have an announcement where he would get
a contract extension, especially in light of the mediocrity that
has followed him, I think would just look horrible. George
(16:22):
Michigan athletic director Ward Manuel has said more than once
that he wants to lead the Wolverines. Uh, he wants
hard to lead the Wolverines until he chooses to retire
from coaching. Like Rich said, I was, he thinks that
Harbor and I think this as well. Harbors always sort
of had an eye on the NFL. Now there's an
interesting family dynamic, right, his brother is the head coach
(16:43):
of the Ravens. He's won a Super Bowl. Jim has
never won that Super Bowl. But on the flip side,
his dad, Jack Harbaugh, was a long time college football
head coach, and yet he settled in that was his life, right,
Western Kentucky, longtime head coach. So is Jim choosing to
follow his dad's footsteps. You're gonna go back and try
(17:04):
to beat his brother like he failed to do in
the two thousand twelve season. Yeah, I think most us
assumed that hard work. I don't want to say this
was a stepping stone back to the NFL with that
eventually he would lead back there. But you do wonder
is he comfortable now where he is? The factively, had
he said, hey, he can, I want you to stay
here until I'm gone, sort of do lead you to
believe that he, uh, he's happy there. It is strange
(17:26):
when you cannot beat your main rival, right, you gotta
beat Ohio State. And I was actually gonna ask Rich
at one point, is isn't it's great that recruiting is
better for us now because you've got hard work. People
want to play here because of you, They know you
from you, they know the name hard War. But at
one point, do you have to beat Ohio State? Means
it's sort of comical after a while, you can't beat this.
(17:47):
If the Yankees couldn't beat the Red Sox, the Yankee
manages going away. You know, you gotta beat the Red Sox.
You see that in every sport. You gotta beat your
rival or us it's gone. So I would ask, at
one point is the money he's bringing in not worth
the fact that, as Rich said, the only many nine games.
At what point is it just too much? I think
another great point is do you really want to give
them that big name, that big money contract right now?
(18:08):
And what in this what's going on in this country? Yeah?
I mean, just to address the rival issue. I think,
as much as any sport, college football, if you can't
beat your rival, eventually there's an expiration date on your
career at that university. We've we've seen it. You know,
John Cooper at Ohio State successful head coach, this was
(18:29):
you know, a flip couldn't beat Michigan at some point
you go. I think I don't know what the timetable is.
I won't even predict. Is it two years, three years,
I don't know. But if it continues, and I'll throw
one more thing out guys too. It's it's bad enough
when you can't beat urban Meyer, but if it gets
to a point where you can't beat Urban Meyer's successor
(18:50):
a young coach and Ryan Day, I think at that
point you've got to be like, we might need some
kind of a change. Again, I don't know when that is.
I'm not convinced that Michigan automatically can do better. Like
who's the guy out there that you say, Okay, that
guy is automatically going to get them to the mountain
top eleven twelve win seasons, big ten titles, and threatening
(19:12):
for college Football Playoff. But at some point he's gotten
to get over. You know, if if you're the Auburn
head coach, if you're Gus malls On and you can
never beat Alabama, at some point the administration is going
to pull the plug. Yeah, a Ward manual that the
a D as a former Michigan football player, I think
they might have overlapped Ward might be a little bit younger, uh,
(19:34):
he said, he's been happy enough excuse me, uh to
engage in these talks and have them be one and
beyond deal. He's currently has two to years left on
a deal and pays some seven million a year. He's
forty seven and eighteen as the head coach and five
against Ohio State. However, Rich the Ohio State thinking is bad.
I think you're right, like, at what point does it
(19:55):
become untenable to keep them there? But what's their record?
Forget hardball, what's their record? They're like, they lost sixteen
in the last seventeen right, Yeah, you mean it's not
a right valry. Yeah. Yeah. And it's interesting too because
I don't think there's any singular, inherent advantage that Ohio
State has over Michigan. Both have great facilities, both have,
(20:18):
you know, basically essentially the same recruiting basses. Jim Harbor
has done a great job of moving outside of the Midwest,
plucking players out of New Jersey, for instance, the Jabrill
Peppers type players going down to Florida, getting those Sunshine
State players. So he's getting the quality players. It's interesting
to me too because Don Brown's defense has been exceptional.
(20:40):
Well that that's been a championship caliber defense for the Wolverines.
The shortcoming really has been the offense more than anything else.
And you would think, you know, Jim Harbaugh, former quarterback,
former NFL quarterback, that wouldn't be so much of an issue.
That's the real indictment for me and Jim Harbor. And
then one more quick thing about Harbaugh. He has much
a lightning rod. And we saw it again just a
(21:01):
couple of days ago him talking about COVID and I
don't think, you know, athletics are going to necessarily make
this situation worse. Maybe he's right, maybe he's not. I
tend to think that coaches should generally coach. I think
coaches making predictions about pandemics usually is is fraught with
all kinds of potential problems. But Jim has been such
(21:22):
a lightning rod for criticism with the wackiness that he does,
the climbing of the trees, the sleepovers with recruits, the
goofiness that is associated with Jim Harbaugh during his tenure.
That's great if you're winning championships. If you're not, you
just kind of look like a goofball. And I think
that's what he's in danger of fans get sick of it,
(21:43):
you know, I think anymore Mike that's the problem, and
Ward Manu will keep him around forever because it's an
easy thing to do. You know. Having to fire Jim
Harbaugh would be brutal, and I don't think Ward manual
Wi will ever really do that until it gets so
bad that would have to do it. I just think
that to your point, there is really not that much
(22:05):
of a difference between the schools themselves. Michigan is the
winning is college football program in history on the basis
of wins. Believe their first I think they've I think
they still have the number one spot. But the higher
state players are consistently better. They are just there are
a lot better quality players, especially the skill positions on
(22:26):
both sides of the ball, that give them an advantage.
And I don't know that it's necessarily Harbor versus Ryan Day. Georgia.
I'll spin it over to you for a second, because
what rich is saying about the offense is accurate. But
it's odd to me because there wasn't a problem with
the offenses when he was at Stanford, when he was
at the University of San Diego, and Josh Johnson was
(22:47):
his quarterback when he was in the NFL. He made
a switch mid season from Alex Smith, who was playing well,
to Colin Kaepernick, and they went to the super Bowl
and almost one as a result of that decision and
his guidance. Now, Kaepernick had a lot of things George
on the field, particularly when he was a young, unknown player,
that we're seeing, you know, nearly a decade later, are
(23:11):
ever popular in the NFL. But it's odd, right, Hardball
was not a problematic offensive head coach. Well, that's sort
of leading to two things, you know, doesn't it? Have
the league caught up to him? They know as obas
is not quite there is he's not inventive anymore? Is
he's not putting in the work to be different? And
they know his schemes now, I mean that's the first
(23:33):
thing I would think of there with you always had
success everyplace else you were, but now it's not working.
Why Why isn't it working? You have teams quote onto
what you're trying to do. Do you not have the
players you know let to carry out what you want
to do? You're not making the correct adjustments here. I
Harvard was a weird guy, yes, because he's entertaining. But
(23:55):
but he is. But he does get dismissive if you
start to challenge him, George, he gets dismissive. He choose
the media members like they're jerks. He's it makes fun
of Jim Schwartz when he slaps him on the back
during that one game. It's like this whole thing, like
it's a whole act. And I don't know if you're
ever really getting the true guy. Yeah, and that's sort
(24:16):
of where I was. I don't think you are. I
think he's doing what he's doing for a reason and
maybe have to get the recruits, but be a little quirky,
a little bit, a little out there. I do wonder
if he's a square, whole, round peg guy. It's gonna
be my way or that's it. I'm not changing what
I do. You have to you know, I don't like
that in football. I think that they're just your players,
which some longs gonna a little bit more different than
the difficult at a college level because you don't have
(24:38):
as much film on some of your new recruits here.
But I do think maybe he's just recruiting the wrong
types of people to run his system. I don't know
how he can mess this suffrage guy who played quarterback forever.
He went to MC championship games. He was on good teams.
He had good quarterbacks at his other stops. What's happening here? Yeah,
(25:00):
it's really curious to me. I I would be the
first one to admit I thought it was a home
run higher when it happened. Um, hasn't been a home run,
probably a probably a blue double, I would say, so
far through the first five years, I just quickly going
bad stuff. I thought George brought a great point. I
think it's the lack of inventiveness that that's where I
would lean on at this point. Because at Stanford his
(25:21):
offense was very vanilla. It was use a fullback, ground
and pound offensive line was exceptional during his years on
the farm, two tight ends. It was an old school
pro style kind of an offense. I think trying to
use that in today's Big ten. This isn't you know,
your dad's Big ten any longer. Using it in today's
(25:41):
Big ten just hasn't been working. In Ohio State and
their staff, you know, going back to the Tom Herman
Day's Ryan day now, Uh, they've just been more inventive.
Their offenses are explosive, their players are faster. They're doing
a better job of developing next level players really on
both sides of the ball than Michigan is. And and
Jim just got a lot of work before he catches
(26:03):
up to the buck Eyes. Good stuff there. I will
come right back talk a little bit more on the
college football landscape with Richard George. I'll come right back
here on FFC. Get on the grid. We'll be right back.
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(26:25):
fingertips as our team covers the most important topics in
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(26:56):
on football full circle. Talking about really fun stuff this
week in college athletics and college sports. Rich Ivy League
really was. They had announced about July one that they
were going to take the next week two evaluate the situation,
(27:16):
the ongoing situation related to the COVID nineteen pandemic, and
make an announcement on July. They did make that announcement
on July eight, and has said consistent with campus health
and safety policies across the league. The IVY League presidents
outline phased in approached intro a collegiate athletics, including no
competition prior to the end of the fall semester due
(27:37):
to the COVID nineteen pandemic. So I said this to
Joe yesterday when we were talking in that as much
as the IVY League is not on the same road
map as the Power five schools, we're talking football here, right,
it doesn't really rate. They have a bunch of players
in the league and they can put out NFL quality talent.
(27:59):
They've done that several times over the years, in fact,
more so recently than when we were a little bit younger.
But um, they still are seen and looked at as
a guiding force within college athletics overall due to the history.
They've won millions of championships back when the n c
(28:20):
A was, before it was, even on the early days
of the n c A, and over the years they
have still been seen as some seen as institutions that
they can take guidance from other institutions can take guidance
from them. So I thought that was a really important
domino to fall. Once the IVY League said it. The
other league sort of looked at one another and said, well,
(28:41):
we can't. Can't just go out there like nothing's happened.
And then these conference only schedules started to get announced.
I think there's other sports that would probably just be
eliminated from competition at some point this fall. As you
and I both know, it's really about football. Everything else
be damned. That's really what they're just trying to do here.
They don't care if volleyball happens. They need the football money. Yeah,
(29:04):
dollars and cents. Like George said in a previous segment,
there's no question about it, um and and maybe we'll
talk about it in a few minutes, but the dollars
and cents are not just for uh not not just
for the football program, not just for the football staff,
which is well paid. But it's for a lot of
other athletic programs uh that are gonna and already are
(29:26):
being impacted. I'll touch on that more uh in a
couple of minutes and in some of the takes that
I have on that. But in terms of the IVY League,
I think it was also a case of you know,
nobody wanted to blink at this point, you know, no
conference was saying anything, no commissioner was saying anything. Big conference,
small conference, D two fcs, And so the IVY League
finally was the first one to blink and say, this
(29:50):
doesn't feel normal. We're concerned about the safety of our
student athletes. Of course, Andy, Clemson and Princeton are two
completely different planes when it comes to talent or the
financial impact. But the fact that there was one conference
one is respected as the IVY League that said we
we see an environment in which it's not healthy to
(30:12):
send our student athletes out to play football is something
that has to be paid attention to, because you know,
this virus does not discriminate. It doesn't matter if you're
a five star athlete or if you're a walk on
at Dartmouth. It doesn't make a damn bit of difference.
So if it's going to in theory impact those student
athletes at the IVY League, it can certainly happen in
(30:35):
the Big twelve. So I think once the IVY League
made that move, I think then decisions the wheels were
emotion and decisions had to be made. And so far,
for those of us who love the sport, UH and
who really rely on the sport. It's it's been mostly
bad information. Georgia. We've talked about this a bunch, but
it really, as Rich said, I think you said it well.
(30:58):
The IVY League was the first one to blink and
it started to think put in perspective decisions having to
be made. We can't just sit here and act like
it's okay. By the way, you and I've talked about
this a ton throughout all of this, It's okay to
act as if but with a perception of reality. You
(31:18):
can't just be saying, like the Texas governor said a
couple of weeks ago, we're gonna have stadium's half full,
and then a month later, uh, they're shutting everything down.
You have to be realistic about it and at least
tell people, look, we have plans in place, because we
could have games with fans, we could have games with
no fans, we could have games at some fans, whatever
(31:39):
the discussion is. I think it's okay to tell people
you have a plan in place, but be realistic about
what's happening around you. And I think to some extent,
College Athletics was holding their breath until somebody finally said something,
and the IVY League was the one to do it. Yeah,
they were the one to do it. And I do
wonder if it's the first dominot to fall, right the
iv League falls now we saw it with a big ten.
They're gonna play conference only. Is that the second domino?
(32:01):
You know? And then eventually we we just we can't
play at all. It's just it's not gonna work. It's
not healthy for our students, for our employees, that sort
of thing. So, uh, I think, like to me, is
the first domino once that first comments said, So now
other kids like, all right, we're not the first anymore.
They did it. Now it's okay for us to do it.
So I think it's a lot of big it's a
big pr game a lot. It's okay to plan to
(32:24):
have a full season. It's hopeful and you have to
plan that way because you don't want to be quote
of guard in case you oh, we can't. It's your
job to figure it out, right, it's your job. It's
like a whole aspects, you know, all aspects. You planned
that that everything's gonna be runners normal. It's what we're doing.
You know. You be rich with with talk as if
the football season when we write things, is gonna be
played in full. But we also know that our that's
(32:45):
not gonna happen. You know, it's not gonna be quite
that way. It might be close, it might be different
in different conferences. We don't know how it's going to be.
Certain some conferences and are playing conference only. Other conference
of the SEC are gonna be like the NFL, and
they think the virus is gonna bend to them. You
know that I won't affect football. I think a rich
joked earlier that, uh, what the you know, football will
have an immunity to COVID. You know it's not gonna happen,
(33:07):
but they want to believe that, and they'll maybe I'm
not making Plan b's Plan CS because I think you
have to Yeah, I truly think you have to listen.
You know my belief. I think a lot of these
sports are going to try, They're going to start, but
very few of them, if any, are going to be
able to finish. Yeah. Rich On the other part of
this conversation was at Stanford University announced that they were
(33:31):
cutting eleven sports. Now they had a an extremely large
Division one athletic program, thirty six sports cutting it all
the way down to five at the end of this
academic year. Uh So it's sad. Obviously, the players that
were on scholarship whose sports are being cut, their scholarships
(33:53):
will be honored, So they're doing the right thing there.
I think some people look at the seven billion dollar
endowment and say, how could you not afford this? Uh
In my experience, these schools do not tip into their
endowments at all for future projects. What would cost seven
billion dollars? I have no idea, but they typically don't
dip into the endowment to save athletics or save a sport.
(34:15):
Can the sports be fully endowed by somebody, by a
rich donor, Yeah, potentially, but that's a band aid into
what is really the real is what is the reality
of college athletics, and that's that most of these programs
a very high percentage run in the red. They need
the football money to keep the other things afloat, but
(34:35):
they're still sort of running in the red, and people
are like, how could they be possible? Sec C schools
are getting fifty million dollars a year from ESPN just
for football or just for their television rights, and on
and on and on. But big staffs, lots of coaches,
big money being paid, Athletics facilities which they try to
raise money for still needs to supplement. There's an arms
(34:58):
race out there and they have been running in the
red most of the time. Yeah, maybe this is UM.
This will not make me popular, which is is fine. UM,
but you know I feel bad. I do. I know
there are jobs that will be lost, there will be
athletes that don't get to play, But I'm not sure why.
(35:20):
You know, Stanford squash which is one of the programs
that will be eliminated, or Stanford synchronized swimming. Uh should
be immune to the realities that all of us live in.
I've lost jobs because of economic reasons. I've had companies
that have shut down. I've had divisions that could no
longer function any longer and it sucks. But college athletics,
(35:45):
which in many cases have been running in the red, UH,
maybe need to do a better job in the future
that if you want to be a functioning athletic program
at a particular university, find a damn way to run
in the black, or maybe it doesn't belong. Uh. You
know that to me is the cold reality, and I
(36:06):
know it makes me sound like the grinch at this point.
But if not having football revenue for one season means
that you no longer can function, it's possible you shouldn't
be functioning. That's number one. Uh, just you know what
just bypassed me. Send that hate mail to George Urchi
(36:27):
all hate mail, just send it right over to georgan
If you hate rich to George Forward. It s what
are gonna do? He'll he'll send it, He'll send it
over to me. But one other quick thing to which
maybe has been missed is not just those uh those
ancillary programs at universities, but just by going conference schedule only,
(36:49):
as you guys probably know, Big ten now eliminates, for instance,
those MAC games. Those are money games for those programs.
Central Bowling Green, for instance, was scheduled to make two
point two million dollars from their two games versus Big
ten opponents. So without those games, two point two million
dollars to Bowling Green, that's a lot of money for
the Falcons. So you know, this ripple effect that's taking
(37:12):
place is not just Olympic sports and sports that you
don't watch on TV, but some of those MAC programs
that maybe you love are really taking a big hit
on the chin by conference only football, George. One ripple
effect that I thought about this week during all of
this stuff, particularly Stanford, is that, and I have issues
(37:34):
with some of the youth the way youth sports are
run these days. I don't want to see it result
in this, but it does have a ripple effect. Hear
me out. If many of these sports, these non revenue
generating sports start to get cut at these schools and
there are no available scholarships for some of these types
(37:54):
of sports, all of those youth sports. First of all,
the coaches that will not have jobs, are not going
to club because there's no money in it. And all
of those youth sports coaches that help train your squash player,
your synchronized swimmer, your field hockey player at camps and
all of this other kind of pay for play stuff
(38:15):
that has a ripple effect to affect them because your
parents aren't gonna pay a lot of money for you
to try to get a field hockey scholarship. If there's
no field hockey scholarship, you know what I mean, absolutely
know what you mean it. But like Rich said, no
one wants to be the grinch here. But the reality
is the reality Okay, if I'm running Stanford, cut the
eleven sports, I would have done the same exact thing, right.
(38:38):
I mean, it's the first thing you do in any
in any business, what do you do when times are tough?
You cut the fat, You cut the stuff that's not
helping you make make money, whatever it is. You have
extra staff, they gotta go, and it's just it's just
the realities of what the way business is. I'm a
nice guy. I want I don't want to see anybody
lose their job ever, but I would have done the
same thing. I'm looking on Listen, this sports not making
(38:58):
any money. I gotta I gotta up the sports so
I could save something else that is doing well. Right, eventually,
even the stuff that's making money but not making it
enough money that might have to go do We don't
know where this is going to lead to. But not
just the way the reality of business. I said, I
don't want to see anybody lose their business. I don't
want to see scholarships go away. I feel bad for
the kids, of course, but the reality is we're living
(39:18):
in tough times right now. Unknown time. You don't know
where this's going to lead to. Tough decisions have to
be made, and I think I would have done the
same damn thing. Sports grid dot Com Betting Insights and
Entertainment at your fingertips as our team covers the most
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(39:39):
the grid. Sports grid dot Com Back on the Grid, FFC,
talking about George, You've had an interesting story that you
brought up before the show that I wanted to discuss
regarding a lawsuit, and we talked about many depressing things
in this hour related to college football, moving it over
(40:02):
to the NFL and what he got here for me? Yeah,
I mean, I don't think this is a surprise. Whenever
he has a new CBA, it sees that the retired
players are the ones that always get uh, the shaft,
the short end of the stick, whatever you wanna call it.
And now we have what retired NFL players, Avion Cason
and Don mccowski, the magic man if you're Packristan, have
filed the federal lawsuit against the NFL and the nfl
(40:24):
p A over new cb A slashing of total and
permanent disability benefits to previously vested players. We talked about this.
We talked about this before the CBA was signed, and
it was a big sticking point for some people as
to why not to sign. And there's not there. They
(40:48):
reconfigured some of these benefits for the retired players, and
I'm not even a little surprised that this happened. I'm
sure they took their time to put this lawsuit together.
Obviously the pandemic hit might have slow down the wheels
of commerce to some extent, including on the legal side,
but I'm not that surprised. It does remove some benefits
(41:11):
to some of the most disabled players, and they didn't.
It's always an odd thing, right where you have the
the current players looking out for themselves, but trying to
keep an eye on the retired players, whom they will
be someday pretty soon frankly for most of them. But um,
(41:32):
I don't know what the possibilities of winning a lawsuit
like this are, George, but I understand where those guys
are coming from. How can a previously negotiated c b
A get resigned and impact the disabilities I was already receiving.
It's said, I mean, it's just said. How the NFL
treats there for their former players, their retired players. Is
(41:54):
just said. We say it over and over again. Football
is a brutal sport. And these guys were making millions
upon millions of dollars. You know, some problem maybe, but
a lot of a lot of players the NFL aren't.
They're making good money, better than you and I of course,
but that they have such such a short shelf, like
it's not money that it's gonna list with the rest
of their lives and gets a good head start. And
(42:14):
you know they had physical, you know, disabling injuries. It's
just sad that the NFL a pretty much what you're retired,
we forget about you. It's not the CBA. We're not
doing it. We don't care, you know. It's it is
like that. It's said sad as just the it's almost
criminal in my mind how they do this. And you're right,
the players who are playing now, well, they're worried about
themselves more than the players who are gone. I know
(42:37):
you you should do that to the players who are gone.
We're the ones who set the game up for you
to make the millions of my millions you're making now.
So it's it's tough really both ways. I think it's
more on the NFL owners, which you know, you're a
gazillion billion dollars and worth worth billions. These frantists there
with billions upon billions, you can't do more for your
former players, you know. I think it's sad. Yeah, And
(42:58):
I remember I listen to Jeff Saturday talk about the negotiations.
Excuse me, it's my voice cracks. Jeff Saturday talk about
the two thousand and eleven CBA negotiations because he was
a big part of it then. So this is the
previous one that was existing before this new one got signed.
In March, and many people critics of the NFL p
(43:25):
A talked about how the players gave up more revenue
seemingly for less practice time. That was a big sort
of talking point. These guys don't want to practice, and
they gave up a whole bunch of league revenue. Not
quite that, Jeff Saturday said, a big sticking point for
them was pension and health benefits for the long term,
(43:49):
looking out for former players whom he knew he was
going to be someday, so he perceived that part of
it as a win. Didn't matter that other people saw
it as a law us because they gave up revenue
right and they were under fifty of the league revenues.
He saw it as a win because they got a
lot of guys healthcare coverage and pensions a long term.
(44:11):
I have a friend that I went to high school
with and playing in the NFL for eight or nine
years and his pensions looking pretty good. He can take
it when he's fifty five, he can take it when
he's sixty five, all different kinds of payments, and it's
a really believe me, it's a nice pension. You're looking
up online what what NFL players would get when they're
fifty five, when they're sixty five, it's hundreds of thousands
(44:32):
of dollars annually. It's great. Plus they have health benefits
for I think he's got health benefits through the NFL
if he needs them, uh, for him and his family
for long term. I looked it up pretty sure that's
the case. In any event, George, to then now reverse
some of the work that they made in the previous
SEB it's gotta be frustrating for all the guys that
worked on that, all the guys that were receiving the benefits.
(44:54):
I just don't. I just don't get it, Like, is
that where we need to cut costs? It shouldn't be
what was it? Guys who did? The guys will have
no voice, right, they're not on the current the union
council and not yet they have no voice. Of course
it shouldn't be that way. You know, it's you say
the word frustrating. Boy, I would probably stronger language than that.
(45:15):
If I'm a former player and I see stuff that
I had, I had it one day, now the next
day I don't have it, that would probably dry. I mean,
I would be livid. It would be word I would use. You,
I would be very angry. I just think, once again
how they treat their former players, because I think NF
aloneers looked at what have you done for me lately?
Like how old is Don mckowski? Like Tom Mckowsky's gonna
be pushing sixty, right, the magic man, I think he's
(45:38):
that old. I'm gonna save pushing sixty. Yeah, Oh, I
think I've way overestimated. Yeah, I was thinking my age
sixty six years old. So I don't want people to
tell me I'm pushing sixty when I'm fifty six so
I'm not gonna say that about him. I was off
by a couple of years. But um, and I don't
(46:00):
know what his health status is. I mean maybe it's
maybe it's just okay, maybe he's dealing with some stuff,
but I don't know. But clearly he needed these benefits.
And there's some guys that are disabled in some way
to keep them from working a standard job. George, it's
not that they've been screwing around for twenty five years
after they retired. Some guys and they get into their
(46:23):
fifties might be hard to get back and forth to
an office every day. Maybe they were working in a
more physical job post retirement and they can't do it anymore.
That's why they need to rely on this stuff. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely,
I said. I always say, uh, you know, as far
as all sports concerned, you, when we get mass on
the money these players are making, which is always silly
to be by the way, we don't want them as
(46:44):
much money if we could play, right, But you can't
begrudge a football players money because of stories like this, Right,
these guys are gonna have health problems throughout the rest
of the life. They might not live. I I don't
know what the study is as far as uh does
a football player live as long as a normal parts
and I imagine not something that the quality of life.
You're gonna have foot, foot problems, back problems. You know,
(47:06):
we've got some guys who can't get out of Historically,
historically they definitely had a shorter lifespan. I don't know
what it looks like in recent years, but historically definitely
a a shorter lifespan. You have to it's you're getting,
especially alignment running backs. You're getting to so many car
crashes in a game. You know, you're hitting bodies upon
(47:27):
bodies all the time. You're gonna have, you know, creeks
and aches. And I said, I don't begred to the
football player. I don't regrod to any of the football players,
not because of the pandemic, but who are opting I'm done.
Andrew luck right and said, you know what, I've taken
enough hits, I've got enough money. I've done. I want
to live a healthy life because we hear all the
sand stories. You and I grew up with Earl Campbell,
right were the greatest running backs. I mean, this guy
(47:49):
was a freight train and he paid for it at
the guitar and he can barely walk now. He's in
a wheelchair, he's on crutches. Al two would never go
really recovered for those concussions he got right. The brain
injury always there. You always hear about this. It's a
violent game, you know. We love it, yes, and we
love the big hits and they have big cells. And
I still love the big hits, saying somebody get creamed
(48:10):
over the middle. Yeah, but these guys pay for it
later on in life and they should be taken care
of better by the NFL. Alright, let's try and uh,
let's just do something on the fly here, trying to
have some fun because we've talked about a bunch of
depressing topics this hour, but we'll try to come up
with something fun on the fly here. So you talk
about you've talked in the past about some of your
(48:31):
favorite games. Let's try to do something in that vein.
So I'll think of my biggest memory of having gone
to Well, we'll start it. Let's go general. Pull it
back from football for a minute. The most memorable sporting
event that you attended? What was it? The most marrible
sporting event that I attended? Boy, Um, I did go
(48:52):
to some Yankee playoff games in the in the seventies.
My grandmother worked for the Plaza Hotel and that's where
George Steinbrenner stayed, so they were free tickets, Mike, Alright,
my family got free tickets about ten rows behind the
Yankee dugout. Wow, and my father would have a go. Father,
who's who was a Yankee fan, would did not back then,
(49:12):
did not want to know the Bronx. Bronx is a
different story back then, back in the seventies, said well,
you know, it was a little bit more danger. He
wouldn't go gritty. It was gritty back then, and that
when I got the tickets, Mike, when I was old enough,
the Yankees weren't good anymore. I was during the DN
Matulee days. But I was there for a bunch of
Manning Lee's uh that home run record he set and
the Grand Slams start as memorable A bomb, a bomb,
(49:33):
the sixth Grand Slam that he hit a bomb. I
was there for a bunch of those. Uh. As far
as most memorable, it would have to do the Islanders.
I was there for Stanley Cup game or two uh,
and the the eighties that we got tickets to. My
mom got tickets to so be the more the the
Islanders because it was higher up. I didn't because I
didn't get see any World Series games for the Yankees,
(49:53):
just a playoff games, and so I'm gonna go. Uh,
I don't know what the Islands. That was Stanley Cup.
That's pretty good. Those are good ones. I got a
couple of myself. I mean the one that I think
I'll never forget. H's because I was a student and
I road tripped out BC played Notre Dame. We road
tripped across halfway across the country to south in Indiana,
(50:16):
and Notre Dame's last potentially undefeated team in three was
a powerhouse team. They were ten and oh BC had gone.
They had just beaten Florida State Charlie Awards Florida State
team Ward was about to win the Heisman Trophy. It
(50:38):
was deemed the game of the century, although there was
like a game every year that they're called game of
the century. Um. Notre Dame won that BC for the
next week and team winning seven game winning streak and
actually beat Notre Dame to end the season on the
last on the final play of Notre Dame's regular season
to go eleven and oh, be undefeated, go to a
(50:59):
bowl game, potentially win the National Championship BC kick to
game winning walk off field goal. Uh, and that was cool.
That one will will not be beat because I was young,
I was impressionable, I was BC football was my favorite
thing at the time, and um, that was a fun
a fun one as far as other So that's a
(51:20):
football moment um. But I was at Derek Jeter's walk
off home run in the two thousand one World Series.
That's a pretty darn good one. And uh, yeah, that
was a good one. That game was on, or maybe
it was a YouTube clip or something the other day's
surfaced and I watched Tino's home run and I was like, oh, no,
(51:41):
I gotta watch the Jeter one. But Tino's home run,
it's it was It's almost debatable which was louder because
Shinning had Shilling had spun such a gem that I
was sitting there in the eighth inning, Pao Hung Kim
strikes everybody out. I was like, we're gonna lose World
(52:02):
Series over, gonna be down three one, and then Tino
launches a rocket. The police goes crazy and an inning later,
Jeter hits the walk off, So those are cool moments.
I also was at an NC tournament game or two
that we're pretty incredible, but we'll get to that one
next time. Thank you everybody for watching this edition of
Football Full Circle on behalf of Rich Chairman Ello who's
(52:23):
the co host of College Football Today, and our excellent
producer Brian Ratkowski, George Kurtz, receiver of Hate Mail, and
myself Mike flew It. Thanks for watching Kid on the Grid.
We'll see again next time on FMC. Sports grid dot
(52:44):
Com Betting insides and entertainment at your fingertips as our
team covers the most important topics in sports wagering, real
time odds, predictive betting models, expert picks, and more. Want
the edge than get on the grid sports grid dot
Com e
Sports grid dot Com Betting insights and entertainment at your
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and more. Want the edge than get on the grid
sports grid dot Com. Everybody, Welcome to this hour of
(00:20):
football full Circle. Joined by Rich Sarmanello. He is the
co host of College Football Today, joins us here every week.
And Rich, how you doing? But I hope Paul as well.
Things are good. How about you guys doing okay? Hanging
in there? It has It's nice to talk to you guys. Yeah,
it hasn't been a banner week for college athletics, I'll
tell you that much. So, um, we'd be remiss if
(00:44):
we didn't get your take on everything that's gone on here.
I'll give you the floor first, and then I'll try
to weave in some quotes and some really the the
despair that is starting to set in over the college
football season. Yeah, you know what, We've spent the past
few months, guys, waiting for some kind of indication of
what's going to happen. End of August, early September, Week zero,
(01:08):
Week one and it has been so quiet since. Uh,
this pandemic hit our shore's end of February early March.
In terms of college sports. Now basketball side, we know
what happened in March, but as far as college football,
the thought was, we have such a long runway, we
have five or six months to prepare for this. We'll
(01:28):
be ready to go. Uh. We were on the air
together probably just before Memorial Day. Looked very positive cases
across the country. We're declining, certainly in our tri state area.
We were coming out of this in New York and
New Jersey. So I was bullish. I think you guys
were optimistic as well. And and then June happened, and
(01:50):
the entire tenor and tone of college sports has changed.
We've seen each of these dominoes fall. A couple of
days ago, Big news out of the Big Ten saying
that conference only at best and and if you listen
to some of the folks in the Big Ten in
their offices, Jean Smith, the athletic director of Ohio State, Uh,
(02:12):
finally we're starting to get some kind of an indication.
And it's not what I wanted, because people are very
pessimistic as to what this season in college football is
gonna look like Yeah, and as we have a quote
up on the screen via Ari Wasserman who writes, uh,
you know, I was a beat writer for college for
the Athletic he says, quote, I'm really concerned, said Jean
(02:33):
Smith when asked about his optimism concerning about his optimism
that football will happen in the fall. Quote, when you
look at the behavior of our country and in May,
we run a downward trajectory. Now, if we're not the
worst in the world, one of the worst in the world.
So he's feeling that impending doom. I would throw it
back to you and then we'll get George's thoughts on
(02:55):
this as well. I just with all with the number
of athletic directors that came out in the spring and
through the ensuing months saying that if there's no students
on campus, we can't play football. Do you think that
that ice is melting a little bit on that stance.
(03:18):
Do you think they'd be willing to play if the
students are at home but the players can get out there? Yeah,
I was. I think, as disgusting as it sounds, if
there's an opportunity to pull it off, I'm not saying
that I agree with this, but I do think, particularly
when you get down to a C C country SEC country,
(03:39):
if there's an opportunity to play football with or without
students on campus, I believe, primarily because of dollars and cents,
they would give it a shot. It is that big
of a deal. Um, I know what the pulse of
SEC country is, guys. I I know what fans think,
I know what administrators think. I know how much money
(04:01):
this will mean to those universities. Again, I'll stress the
fact that I don't agree with this stance, whether without
students on campus, I do think there are a handful
of schools that will absolutely try to pull this off. George,
I tend to agree with him, but it rips them.
It rips the veil off once and for all of saying, hey,
(04:22):
this is about student athletes, it's about students, about academics.
You can never say it again. I don't. I haven't
really wanted to hear it to this point. In many instances,
I've met a lot of great athletic directors athletic administrators
that are at D two and D three schools and
low D one, and they're not really making big money
(04:42):
But when the power five guys that are the football
schools tell you a few months ago there's no students,
were not playing, and then fast forward to August there's
no students and the players are out there warming up
for the season. It's all bs. It just is, Yeah,
it is. I completely agree Rich said it. It's dollars
(05:05):
and cents alright. Money rules everything, So if they think
they can make some money out there, they're going to
try and play. It's why I keep beating the drum
of who is protecting the players. Yeah, this is different
from the NFL. They're getting paid and they'll be advised
by everybody, you know, from everywhere from family on down
to express but whether or not they should play, how
much risk they're at. These college players, we don't know
(05:27):
what they are. We just don't know. It's why, you know,
what have we heard of the past two weeks or so.
We've heard of COVID parties where college students are trying
to get it because they think this is like back
in the day with chickenpox parties, when you get that
because your parents wanted you to get it or get it,
get rid of it and move on, right, And they
want to no one realizes that, hey, there's no guarantee
(05:47):
you can't get this again. Well, that it's much worse
than what just the common flu. You might have really
serious sent as that could last for a long time.
It's just silly to me. And this is where college
This is how college kids think. They're not quite adult yet,
but they think logically. They think silly stuff like this.
I'll get it now, I'll be fined by and the
July earliergres and we go on, we move on. I'll
(06:08):
be good for the rest of my life. You know,
it's no one. They have to be protected against each other. Now.
I wonder this, and it's the thing. We don't know
if this is going to happen, but I think it's
going to come into play. How can college sports justify
playing if Major League Baseball has to shut down and
let's say earlyer Locust, middle Acust before the college football
seating starts, how can they justify playing when a major
(06:31):
league professional people getting paid say this is too dangerous.
I think that rich. I think that would actually halt it.
I think that would be a good question. That is,
as much as you're right, and we are in sympathical
on this, and I think they're gonna barrel through all
(06:51):
of this stuff to try to get out there. If
the NBA or MLB has to shut it down, they can't.
They can't do it, Mike. You know, the professional sports
leagues have always been in this scenario, the canary in
the coal mine. And and I think college sports athletic directors, administrators,
n c A, they have always been looking at what
(07:14):
happens with the NBA, what happens with the NHL, what
happens with Major League Baseball, If for pandemic reasons, not
anything contractual or negotiations breakdown. If it's in terms of
the pandemic, if it's health related that a professional sports
league cannot get off the tarmac, shut it down. Now
(07:35):
you have zero chance of moving forward with with college athletics.
And let's not forget you know, we're in an era
right now, at least in two thousand and twenty where
student athletes, college athletes now realize they have leverage, they
have a voice. We've seen that, We've talked about it
in past shows. The Marvin Wilson's kJ sales down in
(07:55):
South Florida, a lot of kids, yeah, exactly using their
place they understand now that they have an opportunity to
speak out, UH and initiate some level of change. Don't
discount the fact that if this starts to look a
little bit shaky and and they are trying to sort
of jam it through, don't be shocked at all if
some of the star athletes in college football don't step
(08:18):
up and possibly step away from their final season of eligibility. Yeah,
you know the spring football thing, George, You and I
talked about that in a previous show, The spring football thing.
I just think that would be really messy Logistically. It
would potentially compete with basketball and the n c A tournament.
It would leave draftable players, particularly high profile draftable players,
(08:41):
George to say I'm out, I'm not I'm not playing,
and it would really ruin a season. Plus, we also
talked about, UH, that would effectively be building putting two
football seasons inside of the same calendar year. So you
aren't health health risks abound if that happened, and it's
not just COVID related. Oh, there's no way. There's no
(09:02):
way they're gonna play twenty games and nine months, right,
that's what we're looking at. If they do that, you're
gonna play start in March. You're gonna play one season
and get a couple of months off and play the
next season. That's not gonna happen. Now. They can't do that.
I think about the pro play is how they're going
to bands. They're playing one extra game a season, and
you're gonna have to the the college kids play ten more
(09:24):
in the county. No, that's that's not gonna attend twelve more.
It's not gonna happen. They can't happen. And the other
reason you mentioned as well, TV is not gonna want that.
They have all the things lined up that they're paying
for it, they're not. We have the fifth college football
into their schedule, at least not every game that they
want to fit into their schedule. Won't be able to
do it. And as I keep saying, I don't know
why any top athlete, Trevor Lawrence, justin Fields, I don't
know why they're playing this season. You know you would
(09:46):
drap the top five, top ten anyway. White, I agree
with you. Why the hell would you play next spring?
That would be nuts. Rich you've talked about Trevor Lawrence
is like a different kid in that regard but he
he has even got to be receiving some sort of
guidance and justin fields, Trey Lance, insert whatever quarterback or
(10:07):
premium player you want to have to receive, be receiving
some guidance to be like, you know, you don't have
to do this. You're probably a first round pick if
you don't step out there. And if you don't want
to do it, or you're scared to do it, or
you think this whole season is a big joke because
how are we going to crown a champion and all
this stuff, then just don't do it. Just do what
(10:29):
Nick Bosa did, except do it a couple of months early. Yeah.
And I think George Board of a great point too,
and something that I've been watching closely and I'll continue
to monitor, which is, you know, we're not sure um
if there are going to be some long term effects.
So so what happens if the star wide receiver Jaalen
Waddle at Alabama, Davante Smith at Alabama? What happens if
(10:51):
there is some kind I'm not predicting anything, but I
think if I'm a one year old superstar athlete with
first round or second round money, I'm horizon. I would
be worrying about my long term health if there's some
impact on my lungs, on my respiratory system. There has
been talking about that. You know, we know that younger
people are now getting it. Thank god, they're they're not
(11:13):
succumbing to this. But that's not a guarantee that there
aren't any long term health impacts that that could hit them. So, uh,
this to me looks like a complete mess um that's
awaiting us. And now we're in just about mid July,
the dominoes have started to fall. IVY League, Big Ten,
No Conference Play Pack twelve a c C. I expect
(11:34):
to see do the same exact thing. So I don't
know where we go with this. I do think we'll start.
I would be shocked if we finished with a season
in college football. All right, you gotta do it. Here
it is you're I know you're already laughing. Percentage George
that they get the seat, Well we'll do too. We'll
do it rapid fires and only got like nineties seconds.
(11:56):
Percentage of the season starts on time, and percentage that
we're able to finish the conference only season. I'll give
that it starts on time, and I'm gonna keep going lower. Uh,
And I said thirty three last night, and I think
that was too high for me. I think it really
should be lower that. But I said thirty three one
in three, saw stick with it all right, Rich, percentage
that they start on time, percentage that they complete their
(12:18):
conference only. Yeah, I was so so funny. I was
going six that it starts on time. I still wouldn't
be above finish it. I'd actually be lower, guys, I'd
put it at ten. I'm gonna go higher on the
start on time because I think they're that that's how
they're focused or just desperately trying to get games on TV.
(12:39):
And I'll say that none of the major sports gets
shut down so that they start on time. And ten, Man,
you've challenged me. You've you've gone down, You've prices right
of me my previous iteration. I said one in five,
you're going one in ten. Um, go split it. So
(13:02):
there we go. That's good job. That's very pragmatic of you.
We'll come right back and we'll talk about Jim Harball
and why is contract extension hasn't happened. I wonder why
the sports grid dot Com Betting Insights and Entertainment at
your fingertips as our team covers the most important topics
in sports wagering, real time odds, predictive betting models, expert picks,
(13:24):
and more. Want the edge than get on the grid
sports grid dot Com and George Kurtz. Please follow us
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grid TV. Find each of us at our respective names
at Richard Minello, at George Kurtz at Mike Bluett all
on Twitter. So, um story I was reading here on
(13:47):
NBC on College Football Talk on NBC Sports dot Com.
It's about Jim Harbaugh and that fact that they were
working on an extension prior to the pandemic hitting. So
he says here rightfully. So there's bigger fish to fry
for our athletic director or our administration me as a coach,
he said via an interview, It hasn't been on the
(14:10):
top of the priorities priority list. I would expect something
that there would be an announcement at some time. So
it seems like they're working on this extension for him.
I've always wondered rich how long he really wanted to
be there. We've talked at nauseum about his inability to
beat Ohio State. But is Jim Harbaugh just going to
settle in here for the long haul and like this
(14:32):
is his last gig? What do you think? You know?
I have long believed well, two things. One, I thought
it was a good hire and he has underwhelmed back
at his alma mater and ann Arbor UH. And number two,
I always thought the long term play for Jim Harbaugh
was to go back to the NFL. I think what
he craves. He's super competitive, as we know. I think
(14:54):
he craves the super Bowl title more than anything else.
But now that he's at Michigan and has not gotten
over the hump, has definitely had success, elevated the program
from the rich Rodriguez Brady Hope days. It's a it's
a better program. There's better talent, especially on the defensive
side of the ball UH than his predecessors had. So
kudos for that, But obviously, you know they didn't pull
(15:18):
Jim Harbaugh out of the NFL just to get to
nine win seasons. UH needs big ten titles, needs to
beat Ohio State, as you mentioned, needs more quality victories,
and quite frankly, needs to do a better job with
his quarterbacks. You know, I think Shaye Patterson was a
major Jim to pull him out of Old Miss talented quarterback,
(15:39):
four or five star Blue Chipper when he came out
of high school, begins his career in the SEC, goes
to Michigan and then flat lines and and quite frankly regresses.
So I think right now, in terms of a contract extension,
I don't think there's any hot seat talk. I think
Jim Harbaugh is going to be there for the time being,
as long as he wants to. But I think the
(16:00):
optics would be horrendous. I mean, as athletic budgets take
big hits, as coaches take pay reductions, as programs outside
of football and basketball get eliminated, I think to even
you know, to have an announcement where he would get
a contract extension, especially in light of the mediocrity that
has followed him, I think would just look horrible. George
(16:22):
Michigan athletic director Ward Manuel has said more than once
that he wants to lead the Wolverines. Uh, he wants
hard to lead the Wolverines until he chooses to retire
from coaching. Like Rich said, I was, he thinks that
Harbor and I think this as well. Harbors always sort
of had an eye on the NFL. Now there's an
interesting family dynamic, right, his brother is the head coach
(16:43):
of the Ravens. He's won a Super Bowl. Jim has
never won that Super Bowl. But on the flip side,
his dad, Jack Harbaugh, was a long time college football
head coach, and yet he settled in that was his life, right,
Western Kentucky, longtime head coach. So is Jim choosing to
follow his dad's footsteps. You're gonna go back and try
(17:04):
to beat his brother like he failed to do in
the two thousand twelve season. Yeah, I think most us
assumed that hard work. I don't want to say this
was a stepping stone back to the NFL with that
eventually he would lead back there. But you do wonder
is he comfortable now where he is? The factively, had
he said, hey, he can, I want you to stay
here until I'm gone, sort of do lead you to
believe that he, uh, he's happy there. It is strange
(17:26):
when you cannot beat your main rival, right, you gotta
beat Ohio State. And I was actually gonna ask Rich
at one point, is isn't it's great that recruiting is
better for us now because you've got hard work. People
want to play here because of you, They know you
from you, they know the name hard War. But at
one point, do you have to beat Ohio State? Means
it's sort of comical after a while, you can't beat this.
(17:47):
If the Yankees couldn't beat the Red Sox, the Yankee
manages going away. You know, you gotta beat the Red Sox.
You see that in every sport. You gotta beat your
rival or us it's gone. So I would ask, at
one point is the money he's bringing in not worth
the fact that, as Rich said, the only many nine games.
At what point is it just too much? I think
another great point is do you really want to give
them that big name, that big money contract right now?
(18:08):
And what in this what's going on in this country? Yeah?
I mean, just to address the rival issue. I think,
as much as any sport, college football, if you can't
beat your rival, eventually there's an expiration date on your
career at that university. We've we've seen it. You know,
John Cooper at Ohio State successful head coach, this was
(18:29):
you know, a flip couldn't beat Michigan at some point
you go. I think I don't know what the timetable is.
I won't even predict. Is it two years, three years,
I don't know. But if it continues, and I'll throw
one more thing out guys too. It's it's bad enough
when you can't beat urban Meyer, but if it gets
to a point where you can't beat Urban Meyer's successor
(18:50):
a young coach and Ryan Day, I think at that
point you've got to be like, we might need some
kind of a change. Again, I don't know when that is.
I'm not convinced that Michigan automatically can do better. Like
who's the guy out there that you say, Okay, that
guy is automatically going to get them to the mountain
top eleven twelve win seasons, big ten titles, and threatening
(19:12):
for college Football Playoff. But at some point he's gotten
to get over. You know, if if you're the Auburn
head coach, if you're Gus malls On and you can
never beat Alabama, at some point the administration is going
to pull the plug. Yeah, a Ward manual that the
a D as a former Michigan football player, I think
they might have overlapped Ward might be a little bit younger, uh,
(19:34):
he said, he's been happy enough excuse me, uh to
engage in these talks and have them be one and
beyond deal. He's currently has two to years left on
a deal and pays some seven million a year. He's
forty seven and eighteen as the head coach and five
against Ohio State. However, Rich the Ohio State thinking is bad.
I think you're right, like, at what point does it
(19:55):
become untenable to keep them there? But what's their record?
Forget hardball, what's their record? They're like, they lost sixteen
in the last seventeen right, Yeah, you mean it's not
a right valry. Yeah. Yeah. And it's interesting too because
I don't think there's any singular, inherent advantage that Ohio
State has over Michigan. Both have great facilities, both have,
(20:18):
you know, basically essentially the same recruiting basses. Jim Harbor
has done a great job of moving outside of the Midwest,
plucking players out of New Jersey, for instance, the Jabrill
Peppers type players going down to Florida, getting those Sunshine
State players. So he's getting the quality players. It's interesting
to me too because Don Brown's defense has been exceptional.
(20:40):
Well that that's been a championship caliber defense for the Wolverines.
The shortcoming really has been the offense more than anything else.
And you would think, you know, Jim Harbaugh, former quarterback,
former NFL quarterback, that wouldn't be so much of an issue.
That's the real indictment for me and Jim Harbor. And
then one more quick thing about Harbaugh. He has much
a lightning rod. And we saw it again just a
(21:01):
couple of days ago him talking about COVID and I
don't think, you know, athletics are going to necessarily make
this situation worse. Maybe he's right, maybe he's not. I
tend to think that coaches should generally coach. I think
coaches making predictions about pandemics usually is is fraught with
all kinds of potential problems. But Jim has been such
(21:22):
a lightning rod for criticism with the wackiness that he does,
the climbing of the trees, the sleepovers with recruits, the
goofiness that is associated with Jim Harbaugh during his tenure.
That's great if you're winning championships. If you're not, you
just kind of look like a goofball. And I think
that's what he's in danger of fans get sick of it,
(21:43):
you know, I think anymore Mike that's the problem, and
Ward Manu will keep him around forever because it's an
easy thing to do. You know. Having to fire Jim
Harbaugh would be brutal, and I don't think Ward manual
Wi will ever really do that until it gets so
bad that would have to do it. I just think
that to your point, there is really not that much
(22:05):
of a difference between the schools themselves. Michigan is the
winning is college football program in history on the basis
of wins. Believe their first I think they've I think
they still have the number one spot. But the higher
state players are consistently better. They are just there are
a lot better quality players, especially the skill positions on
(22:26):
both sides of the ball, that give them an advantage.
And I don't know that it's necessarily Harbor versus Ryan Day. Georgia.
I'll spin it over to you for a second, because
what rich is saying about the offense is accurate. But
it's odd to me because there wasn't a problem with
the offenses when he was at Stanford, when he was
at the University of San Diego, and Josh Johnson was
(22:47):
his quarterback when he was in the NFL. He made
a switch mid season from Alex Smith, who was playing well,
to Colin Kaepernick, and they went to the super Bowl
and almost one as a result of that decision and
his guidance. Now, Kaepernick had a lot of things George
on the field, particularly when he was a young, unknown player,
that we're seeing, you know, nearly a decade later, are
(23:11):
ever popular in the NFL. But it's odd, right, Hardball
was not a problematic offensive head coach. Well, that's sort
of leading to two things, you know, doesn't it? Have
the league caught up to him? They know as obas
is not quite there is he's not inventive anymore? Is
he's not putting in the work to be different? And
they know his schemes now, I mean that's the first
(23:33):
thing I would think of there with you always had
success everyplace else you were, but now it's not working.
Why Why isn't it working? You have teams quote onto
what you're trying to do. Do you not have the
players you know let to carry out what you want
to do? You're not making the correct adjustments here. I
Harvard was a weird guy, yes, because he's entertaining. But
(23:55):
but he is. But he does get dismissive if you
start to challenge him, George, he gets dismissive. He choose
the media members like they're jerks. He's it makes fun
of Jim Schwartz when he slaps him on the back
during that one game. It's like this whole thing, like
it's a whole act. And I don't know if you're
ever really getting the true guy. Yeah, and that's sort
(24:16):
of where I was. I don't think you are. I
think he's doing what he's doing for a reason and
maybe have to get the recruits, but be a little quirky,
a little bit, a little out there. I do wonder
if he's a square, whole, round peg guy. It's gonna
be my way or that's it. I'm not changing what
I do. You have to you know, I don't like
that in football. I think that they're just your players,
which some longs gonna a little bit more different than
the difficult at a college level because you don't have
(24:38):
as much film on some of your new recruits here.
But I do think maybe he's just recruiting the wrong
types of people to run his system. I don't know
how he can mess this suffrage guy who played quarterback forever.
He went to MC championship games. He was on good teams.
He had good quarterbacks at his other stops. What's happening here? Yeah,
(25:00):
it's really curious to me. I I would be the
first one to admit I thought it was a home
run higher when it happened. Um, hasn't been a home run,
probably a probably a blue double, I would say, so
far through the first five years, I just quickly going
bad stuff. I thought George brought a great point. I
think it's the lack of inventiveness that that's where I
would lean on at this point. Because at Stanford his
(25:21):
offense was very vanilla. It was use a fullback, ground
and pound offensive line was exceptional during his years on
the farm, two tight ends. It was an old school
pro style kind of an offense. I think trying to
use that in today's Big ten. This isn't you know,
your dad's Big ten any longer. Using it in today's
(25:41):
Big ten just hasn't been working. In Ohio State and
their staff, you know, going back to the Tom Herman
Day's Ryan day now, Uh, they've just been more inventive.
Their offenses are explosive, their players are faster. They're doing
a better job of developing next level players really on
both sides of the ball than Michigan is. And and
Jim just got a lot of work before he catches
(26:03):
up to the buck Eyes. Good stuff there. I will
come right back talk a little bit more on the
college football landscape with Richard George. I'll come right back
here on FFC. Get on the grid. We'll be right back.
Sports grid dot Com Betting insights and entertainment at your
(26:25):
fingertips as our team covers the most important topics in
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and more. Want the edge than get on the grid
sports grid dot com, you're watching sports gred Get back
(26:56):
on football full circle. Talking about really fun stuff this
week in college athletics and college sports. Rich Ivy League
really was. They had announced about July one that they
were going to take the next week two evaluate the situation,
(27:16):
the ongoing situation related to the COVID nineteen pandemic, and
make an announcement on July. They did make that announcement
on July eight, and has said consistent with campus health
and safety policies across the league. The IVY League presidents
outline phased in approached intro a collegiate athletics, including no
competition prior to the end of the fall semester due
(27:37):
to the COVID nineteen pandemic. So I said this to
Joe yesterday when we were talking in that as much
as the IVY League is not on the same road
map as the Power five schools, we're talking football here, right,
it doesn't really rate. They have a bunch of players
in the league and they can put out NFL quality talent.
(27:59):
They've done that several times over the years, in fact,
more so recently than when we were a little bit younger.
But um, they still are seen and looked at as
a guiding force within college athletics overall due to the history.
They've won millions of championships back when the n c
(28:20):
A was, before it was, even on the early days
of the n c A, and over the years they
have still been seen as some seen as institutions that
they can take guidance from other institutions can take guidance
from them. So I thought that was a really important
domino to fall. Once the IVY League said it. The
other league sort of looked at one another and said, well,
(28:41):
we can't. Can't just go out there like nothing's happened.
And then these conference only schedules started to get announced.
I think there's other sports that would probably just be
eliminated from competition at some point this fall. As you
and I both know, it's really about football. Everything else
be damned. That's really what they're just trying to do here.
They don't care if volleyball happens. They need the football money. Yeah,
(29:04):
dollars and cents. Like George said in a previous segment,
there's no question about it, um and and maybe we'll
talk about it in a few minutes, but the dollars
and cents are not just for uh not not just
for the football program, not just for the football staff,
which is well paid. But it's for a lot of
other athletic programs uh that are gonna and already are
(29:26):
being impacted. I'll touch on that more uh in a
couple of minutes and in some of the takes that
I have on that. But in terms of the IVY League,
I think it was also a case of you know,
nobody wanted to blink at this point, you know, no
conference was saying anything, no commissioner was saying anything. Big conference,
small conference, D two fcs, And so the IVY League
finally was the first one to blink and say, this
(29:50):
doesn't feel normal. We're concerned about the safety of our
student athletes. Of course, Andy, Clemson and Princeton are two
completely different planes when it comes to talent or the
financial impact. But the fact that there was one conference
one is respected as the IVY League that said we
we see an environment in which it's not healthy to
(30:12):
send our student athletes out to play football is something
that has to be paid attention to, because you know,
this virus does not discriminate. It doesn't matter if you're
a five star athlete or if you're a walk on
at Dartmouth. It doesn't make a damn bit of difference.
So if it's going to in theory impact those student
athletes at the IVY League, it can certainly happen in
(30:35):
the Big twelve. So I think once the IVY League
made that move, I think then decisions the wheels were
emotion and decisions had to be made. And so far,
for those of us who love the sport, UH and
who really rely on the sport. It's it's been mostly
bad information. Georgia. We've talked about this a bunch, but
it really, as Rich said, I think you said it well.
(30:58):
The IVY League was the first one to blink and
it started to think put in perspective decisions having to
be made. We can't just sit here and act like
it's okay. By the way, you and I've talked about
this a ton throughout all of this, It's okay to
act as if but with a perception of reality. You
(31:18):
can't just be saying, like the Texas governor said a
couple of weeks ago, we're gonna have stadium's half full,
and then a month later, uh, they're shutting everything down.
You have to be realistic about it and at least
tell people, look, we have plans in place, because we
could have games with fans, we could have games with
no fans, we could have games at some fans, whatever
(31:39):
the discussion is. I think it's okay to tell people
you have a plan in place, but be realistic about
what's happening around you. And I think to some extent,
College Athletics was holding their breath until somebody finally said something,
and the IVY League was the one to do it. Yeah,
they were the one to do it. And I do
wonder if it's the first dominot to fall, right the
iv League falls now we saw it with a big ten.
They're gonna play conference only. Is that the second domino?
(32:01):
You know? And then eventually we we just we can't
play at all. It's just it's not gonna work. It's
not healthy for our students, for our employees, that sort
of thing. So, uh, I think, like to me, is
the first domino once that first comments said, So now
other kids like, all right, we're not the first anymore.
They did it. Now it's okay for us to do it.
So I think it's a lot of big it's a
big pr game a lot. It's okay to plan to
(32:24):
have a full season. It's hopeful and you have to
plan that way because you don't want to be quote
of guard in case you oh, we can't. It's your
job to figure it out, right, it's your job. It's
like a whole aspects, you know, all aspects. You planned
that that everything's gonna be runners normal. It's what we're doing.
You know. You be rich with with talk as if
the football season when we write things, is gonna be
played in full. But we also know that our that's
(32:45):
not gonna happen. You know, it's not gonna be quite
that way. It might be close, it might be different
in different conferences. We don't know how it's going to be.
Certain some conferences and are playing conference only. Other conference
of the SEC are gonna be like the NFL, and
they think the virus is gonna bend to them. You
know that I won't affect football. I think a rich
joked earlier that, uh, what the you know, football will
have an immunity to COVID. You know it's not gonna happen,
(33:07):
but they want to believe that, and they'll maybe I'm
not making Plan b's Plan CS because I think you
have to Yeah, I truly think you have to listen.
You know my belief. I think a lot of these
sports are going to try, They're going to start, but
very few of them, if any, are going to be
able to finish. Yeah. Rich On the other part of
this conversation was at Stanford University announced that they were
(33:31):
cutting eleven sports. Now they had a an extremely large
Division one athletic program, thirty six sports cutting it all
the way down to five at the end of this
academic year. Uh So it's sad. Obviously, the players that
were on scholarship whose sports are being cut, their scholarships
(33:53):
will be honored, So they're doing the right thing there.
I think some people look at the seven billion dollar
endowment and say, how could you not afford this? Uh
In my experience, these schools do not tip into their
endowments at all for future projects. What would cost seven
billion dollars? I have no idea, but they typically don't
dip into the endowment to save athletics or save a sport.
(34:15):
Can the sports be fully endowed by somebody, by a
rich donor, Yeah, potentially, but that's a band aid into
what is really the real is what is the reality
of college athletics, and that's that most of these programs
a very high percentage run in the red. They need
the football money to keep the other things afloat, but
(34:35):
they're still sort of running in the red, and people
are like, how could they be possible? Sec C schools
are getting fifty million dollars a year from ESPN just
for football or just for their television rights, and on
and on and on. But big staffs, lots of coaches,
big money being paid, Athletics facilities which they try to
raise money for still needs to supplement. There's an arms
(34:58):
race out there and they have been running in the
red most of the time. Yeah, maybe this is UM.
This will not make me popular, which is is fine. UM,
but you know I feel bad. I do. I know
there are jobs that will be lost, there will be
athletes that don't get to play, But I'm not sure why.
(35:20):
You know, Stanford squash which is one of the programs
that will be eliminated, or Stanford synchronized swimming. Uh should
be immune to the realities that all of us live in.
I've lost jobs because of economic reasons. I've had companies
that have shut down. I've had divisions that could no
longer function any longer and it sucks. But college athletics,
(35:45):
which in many cases have been running in the red, UH,
maybe need to do a better job in the future
that if you want to be a functioning athletic program
at a particular university, find a damn way to run
in the black, or maybe it doesn't belong. Uh. You
know that to me is the cold reality, and I
(36:06):
know it makes me sound like the grinch at this point.
But if not having football revenue for one season means
that you no longer can function, it's possible you shouldn't
be functioning. That's number one. Uh, just you know what
just bypassed me. Send that hate mail to George Urchi
(36:27):
all hate mail, just send it right over to georgan
If you hate rich to George Forward. It s what
are gonna do? He'll he'll send it, He'll send it
over to me. But one other quick thing to which
maybe has been missed is not just those uh those
ancillary programs at universities, but just by going conference schedule only,
(36:49):
as you guys probably know, Big ten now eliminates, for instance,
those MAC games. Those are money games for those programs.
Central Bowling Green, for instance, was scheduled to make two
point two million dollars from their two games versus Big
ten opponents. So without those games, two point two million
dollars to Bowling Green, that's a lot of money for
the Falcons. So you know, this ripple effect that's taking
(37:12):
place is not just Olympic sports and sports that you
don't watch on TV, but some of those MAC programs
that maybe you love are really taking a big hit
on the chin by conference only football, George. One ripple
effect that I thought about this week during all of
this stuff, particularly Stanford, is that, and I have issues
(37:34):
with some of the youth the way youth sports are
run these days. I don't want to see it result
in this, but it does have a ripple effect. Hear
me out. If many of these sports, these non revenue
generating sports start to get cut at these schools and
there are no available scholarships for some of these types
(37:54):
of sports, all of those youth sports. First of all,
the coaches that will not have jobs, are not going
to club because there's no money in it. And all
of those youth sports coaches that help train your squash player,
your synchronized swimmer, your field hockey player at camps and
all of this other kind of pay for play stuff
(38:15):
that has a ripple effect to affect them because your
parents aren't gonna pay a lot of money for you
to try to get a field hockey scholarship. If there's
no field hockey scholarship, you know what I mean, absolutely
know what you mean it. But like Rich said, no
one wants to be the grinch here. But the reality
is the reality Okay, if I'm running Stanford, cut the
eleven sports, I would have done the same exact thing, right.
(38:38):
I mean, it's the first thing you do in any
in any business, what do you do when times are tough?
You cut the fat, You cut the stuff that's not
helping you make make money, whatever it is. You have
extra staff, they gotta go, and it's just it's just
the realities of what the way business is. I'm a
nice guy. I want I don't want to see anybody
lose their job ever, but I would have done the
same thing. I'm looking on Listen, this sports not making
(38:58):
any money. I gotta I gotta up the sports so
I could save something else that is doing well. Right, eventually,
even the stuff that's making money but not making it
enough money that might have to go do We don't
know where this is going to lead to. But not
just the way the reality of business. I said, I
don't want to see anybody lose their business. I don't
want to see scholarships go away. I feel bad for
the kids, of course, but the reality is we're living
(39:18):
in tough times right now. Unknown time. You don't know
where this's going to lead to. Tough decisions have to
be made, and I think I would have done the
same damn thing. Sports grid dot Com Betting Insights and
Entertainment at your fingertips as our team covers the most
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(39:39):
the grid. Sports grid dot Com Back on the Grid, FFC,
talking about George, You've had an interesting story that you
brought up before the show that I wanted to discuss
regarding a lawsuit, and we talked about many depressing things
in this hour related to college football, moving it over
(40:02):
to the NFL and what he got here for me? Yeah,
I mean, I don't think this is a surprise. Whenever
he has a new CBA, it sees that the retired
players are the ones that always get uh, the shaft,
the short end of the stick, whatever you wanna call it.
And now we have what retired NFL players, Avion Cason
and Don mccowski, the magic man if you're Packristan, have
filed the federal lawsuit against the NFL and the nfl
(40:24):
p A over new cb A slashing of total and
permanent disability benefits to previously vested players. We talked about this.
We talked about this before the CBA was signed, and
it was a big sticking point for some people as
to why not to sign. And there's not there. They
(40:48):
reconfigured some of these benefits for the retired players, and
I'm not even a little surprised that this happened. I'm
sure they took their time to put this lawsuit together.
Obviously the pandemic hit might have slow down the wheels
of commerce to some extent, including on the legal side,
but I'm not that surprised. It does remove some benefits
(41:11):
to some of the most disabled players, and they didn't.
It's always an odd thing, right where you have the
the current players looking out for themselves, but trying to
keep an eye on the retired players, whom they will
be someday pretty soon frankly for most of them. But um,
(41:32):
I don't know what the possibilities of winning a lawsuit
like this are, George, but I understand where those guys
are coming from. How can a previously negotiated c b
A get resigned and impact the disabilities I was already receiving.
It's said, I mean, it's just said. How the NFL
treats there for their former players, their retired players. Is
(41:54):
just said. We say it over and over again. Football
is a brutal sport. And these guys were making millions
upon millions of dollars. You know, some problem maybe, but
a lot of a lot of players the NFL aren't.
They're making good money, better than you and I of course,
but that they have such such a short shelf, like
it's not money that it's gonna list with the rest
of their lives and gets a good head start. And
(42:14):
you know they had physical, you know, disabling injuries. It's
just sad that the NFL a pretty much what you're retired,
we forget about you. It's not the CBA. We're not
doing it. We don't care, you know. It's it is
like that. It's said sad as just the it's almost
criminal in my mind how they do this. And you're right,
the players who are playing now, well, they're worried about
themselves more than the players who are gone. I know
(42:37):
you you should do that to the players who are gone.
We're the ones who set the game up for you
to make the millions of my millions you're making now.
So it's it's tough really both ways. I think it's
more on the NFL owners, which you know, you're a
gazillion billion dollars and worth worth billions. These frantists there
with billions upon billions, you can't do more for your
former players, you know. I think it's sad. Yeah, And
(42:58):
I remember I listen to Jeff Saturday talk about the negotiations.
Excuse me, it's my voice cracks. Jeff Saturday talk about
the two thousand and eleven CBA negotiations because he was
a big part of it then. So this is the
previous one that was existing before this new one got signed.
In March, and many people critics of the NFL p
(43:25):
A talked about how the players gave up more revenue
seemingly for less practice time. That was a big sort
of talking point. These guys don't want to practice, and
they gave up a whole bunch of league revenue. Not
quite that, Jeff Saturday said, a big sticking point for
them was pension and health benefits for the long term,
(43:49):
looking out for former players whom he knew he was
going to be someday, so he perceived that part of
it as a win. Didn't matter that other people saw
it as a law us because they gave up revenue
right and they were under fifty of the league revenues.
He saw it as a win because they got a
lot of guys healthcare coverage and pensions a long term.
(44:11):
I have a friend that I went to high school
with and playing in the NFL for eight or nine
years and his pensions looking pretty good. He can take
it when he's fifty five, he can take it when
he's sixty five, all different kinds of payments, and it's
a really believe me, it's a nice pension. You're looking
up online what what NFL players would get when they're
fifty five, when they're sixty five, it's hundreds of thousands
(44:32):
of dollars annually. It's great. Plus they have health benefits
for I think he's got health benefits through the NFL
if he needs them, uh, for him and his family
for long term. I looked it up pretty sure that's
the case. In any event, George, to then now reverse
some of the work that they made in the previous
SEB it's gotta be frustrating for all the guys that
worked on that, all the guys that were receiving the benefits.
(44:54):
I just don't. I just don't get it, Like, is
that where we need to cut costs? It shouldn't be
what was it? Guys who did? The guys will have
no voice, right, they're not on the current the union
council and not yet they have no voice. Of course
it shouldn't be that way. You know, it's you say
the word frustrating. Boy, I would probably stronger language than that.
(45:15):
If I'm a former player and I see stuff that
I had, I had it one day, now the next
day I don't have it, that would probably dry. I mean,
I would be livid. It would be word I would use. You,
I would be very angry. I just think, once again
how they treat their former players, because I think NF
aloneers looked at what have you done for me lately?
Like how old is Don mckowski? Like Tom Mckowsky's gonna
be pushing sixty, right, the magic man, I think he's
(45:38):
that old. I'm gonna save pushing sixty. Yeah, Oh, I
think I've way overestimated. Yeah, I was thinking my age
sixty six years old. So I don't want people to
tell me I'm pushing sixty when I'm fifty six so
I'm not gonna say that about him. I was off
by a couple of years. But um, and I don't
(46:00):
know what his health status is. I mean maybe it's
maybe it's just okay, maybe he's dealing with some stuff,
but I don't know. But clearly he needed these benefits.
And there's some guys that are disabled in some way
to keep them from working a standard job. George, it's
not that they've been screwing around for twenty five years
after they retired. Some guys and they get into their
(46:23):
fifties might be hard to get back and forth to
an office every day. Maybe they were working in a
more physical job post retirement and they can't do it anymore.
That's why they need to rely on this stuff. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely,
I said. I always say, uh, you know, as far
as all sports concerned, you, when we get mass on
the money these players are making, which is always silly
to be by the way, we don't want them as
(46:44):
much money if we could play, right, But you can't
begrudge a football players money because of stories like this, Right,
these guys are gonna have health problems throughout the rest
of the life. They might not live. I I don't
know what the study is as far as uh does
a football player live as long as a normal parts
and I imagine not something that the quality of life.
You're gonna have foot, foot problems, back problems. You know,
(47:06):
we've got some guys who can't get out of Historically,
historically they definitely had a shorter lifespan. I don't know
what it looks like in recent years, but historically definitely
a a shorter lifespan. You have to it's you're getting,
especially alignment running backs. You're getting to so many car
crashes in a game. You know, you're hitting bodies upon
(47:27):
bodies all the time. You're gonna have, you know, creeks
and aches. And I said, I don't begred to the
football player. I don't regrod to any of the football players,
not because of the pandemic, but who are opting I'm done.
Andrew luck right and said, you know what, I've taken
enough hits, I've got enough money. I've done. I want
to live a healthy life because we hear all the
sand stories. You and I grew up with Earl Campbell,
right were the greatest running backs. I mean, this guy
(47:49):
was a freight train and he paid for it at
the guitar and he can barely walk now. He's in
a wheelchair, he's on crutches. Al two would never go
really recovered for those concussions he got right. The brain
injury always there. You always hear about this. It's a
violent game, you know. We love it, yes, and we
love the big hits and they have big cells. And
I still love the big hits, saying somebody get creamed
(48:10):
over the middle. Yeah, but these guys pay for it
later on in life and they should be taken care
of better by the NFL. Alright, let's try and uh,
let's just do something on the fly here, trying to
have some fun because we've talked about a bunch of
depressing topics this hour, but we'll try to come up
with something fun on the fly here. So you talk
about you've talked in the past about some of your
(48:31):
favorite games. Let's try to do something in that vein.
So I'll think of my biggest memory of having gone
to Well, we'll start it. Let's go general. Pull it
back from football for a minute. The most memorable sporting
event that you attended? What was it? The most marrible
sporting event that I attended? Boy, Um, I did go
(48:52):
to some Yankee playoff games in the in the seventies.
My grandmother worked for the Plaza Hotel and that's where
George Steinbrenner stayed, so they were free tickets, Mike, Alright,
my family got free tickets about ten rows behind the
Yankee dugout. Wow, and my father would have a go. Father,
who's who was a Yankee fan, would did not back then,
(49:12):
did not want to know the Bronx. Bronx is a
different story back then, back in the seventies, said well,
you know, it was a little bit more danger. He
wouldn't go gritty. It was gritty back then, and that
when I got the tickets, Mike, when I was old enough,
the Yankees weren't good anymore. I was during the DN
Matulee days. But I was there for a bunch of
Manning Lee's uh that home run record he set and
the Grand Slams start as memorable A bomb, a bomb,
(49:33):
the sixth Grand Slam that he hit a bomb. I
was there for a bunch of those. Uh. As far
as most memorable, it would have to do the Islanders.
I was there for Stanley Cup game or two uh,
and the the eighties that we got tickets to. My
mom got tickets to so be the more the the
Islanders because it was higher up. I didn't because I
didn't get see any World Series games for the Yankees,
(49:53):
just a playoff games, and so I'm gonna go. Uh,
I don't know what the Islands. That was Stanley Cup.
That's pretty good. Those are good ones. I got a
couple of myself. I mean the one that I think
I'll never forget. H's because I was a student and
I road tripped out BC played Notre Dame. We road
tripped across halfway across the country to south in Indiana,
(50:16):
and Notre Dame's last potentially undefeated team in three was
a powerhouse team. They were ten and oh BC had gone.
They had just beaten Florida State Charlie Awards Florida State
team Ward was about to win the Heisman Trophy. It
(50:38):
was deemed the game of the century, although there was
like a game every year that they're called game of
the century. Um. Notre Dame won that BC for the
next week and team winning seven game winning streak and
actually beat Notre Dame to end the season on the
last on the final play of Notre Dame's regular season
to go eleven and oh, be undefeated, go to a
(50:59):
bowl game, potentially win the National Championship BC kick to
game winning walk off field goal. Uh, and that was cool.
That one will will not be beat because I was young,
I was impressionable, I was BC football was my favorite
thing at the time, and um, that was a fun
a fun one as far as other So that's a
(51:20):
football moment um. But I was at Derek Jeter's walk
off home run in the two thousand one World Series.
That's a pretty darn good one. And uh, yeah, that
was a good one. That game was on, or maybe
it was a YouTube clip or something the other day's
surfaced and I watched Tino's home run and I was like, oh, no,
(51:41):
I gotta watch the Jeter one. But Tino's home run,
it's it was It's almost debatable which was louder because
Shinning had Shilling had spun such a gem that I
was sitting there in the eighth inning, Pao Hung Kim
strikes everybody out. I was like, we're gonna lose World
(52:02):
Series over, gonna be down three one, and then Tino
launches a rocket. The police goes crazy and an inning later,
Jeter hits the walk off, So those are cool moments.
I also was at an NC tournament game or two
that we're pretty incredible, but we'll get to that one
next time. Thank you everybody for watching this edition of
Football Full Circle on behalf of Rich Chairman Ello who's
(52:23):
the co host of College Football Today, and our excellent
producer Brian Ratkowski, George Kurtz, receiver of Hate Mail, and
myself Mike flew It. Thanks for watching Kid on the Grid.
We'll see again next time on FMC. Sports grid dot
(52:44):
Com Betting insides and entertainment at your fingertips as our
team covers the most important topics in sports wagering, real
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