Opt out? Cop out?

Posted on January 3, 2022January 3, 2022 by thependulumswings staff

Is opt out the new cop out?

Ben McDonald, former Baltimore Orioles pitcher turned SEC Network analyst, feels strongly that when it comes to a football bowl game that it is.

His Friday tweet read, “Hot topic again! Players that opt out of bowl games!! Can we please call it what it is? Nobody opts out…they Quit! They quit on their teammates, coaches, and university! That’s the bottom line. Here’s the dirty little secret…they will do it at the net level too! GM’s beware!”

Before the 2020 season started in year one of the coronavirus, the NCAA allowed a player to not play, not lose their scholarship, and not lose any eligibility if they felt like sitting beat possibly catching the dreaded illness. Sounded reasonable then.

But, opting out now has spread like the Delta variant did in early 2021. Running second team? Opt out. Coaches running you too hard? Opt out. Running from a girlfriend? Opt out. Running to a new coach at a new school? Opt out. NIL money better across the way? Opt out.

Opting out and heading to the transfer portal is as easy as Alabama beating Rice. Just say the word. Heck, if you don’t like how your season is going, opt out. If your coach gets fired, opt back in.

The counter to the complaint is that coaches leave for greener(read that as money) pastures all of the time. Players aren’t getting paid to play, so why shouldn’t they as well?

The counter to the counter is that now players are getting paid to play in addition to a paid-for scholarship. Note, scholarships are paid for, not free.

So what is their obligation? Where does the NCAA(if it exists in three years) draw the line?

The genie is out of the bottle. And, it has granted too many wishes.

The landscape of college sports is changed forever. That is until the next change moves it in another direction.

But back to McDonald’s rant, we go. If you’ve toiled for a team, why leave before a bowl game?

Well, if the star QB is likely to get drafted you say “why should he risk injury, curtailing, or hurting his chances of getting the big bucks?” When then does playing make more sense than not? Maybe quit three games into the season? Six? Nine? Before the bowl? Why play in all-star bowls? Why play ever?

Matt Corral played. He barely avoided serious injury. It meant something to him.

Ah, but if you’re in the playoffs (Alabama, Michigan, Georgia, Cincinnatti) those are meaningful games says the current sentiment. Opting out of those would be moronic and you’d be labeled a quitter. Hmm. Where to draw that pesky line?

Skip the meaningless Continental Tire Bowl last Tuesday in depressing downtown Detroit and who cares? Maybe your teammates care that you don’t? If they don’t maybe they shouldn’t be on the team either?

Since there are plenty of “I’s” now in “team,” where oh where do you draw the line?

The NCAA took Bob Barker’s advice years ago and got neutered. But it could grow a pair and put stipulations into the scholarship offers and NIL restrictions/ opportunities going forward if it chose to.

You’d have to play to get paid.

You certainly do at the next level.

Old Ben McDonald once threw 159 pitches in an NCAA regional final in early June to get his baseball team to the College World Series. He was drafted two weeks later in round one.

He knows a thing or 159 about loyalty. And, he didn’t get paid a dime to do so.

Opt Out or Cop Out?

Posted on November 30, 2020November 30, 2020 by thependulumswings staff

Two Mondays ago the following was the lede paragraph from an ESPN article. “South Carolina’s top two cornerbacks, Jaycee Horn and Israel Mukuamu, have opted out less than 48 hours after coach Will Muschamp was fired this past weekend.” South Carolina fell to 2-5 after a loss to Ole Miss two days prior.

Yesterday it became official that Terrace Marshall, by far LSU’s best receiver this year and a significant part of last year’s National Championship team, opted out right after LSU played a sloppy offensive game on a sloppy Kyle Field. The loss to A&M brought the LSU season record to a sloppy 3-4, a far cry from last year’s excellence.

The three players cited above are far from the only college players who have opted out in the year 2020 of our COVID-19 pandemic. Some hung up the cleats of their choice prior to the first kickoff of their season. Some after minor injuries. Some conferences, ahem, the PAC-12, wanted to hang up their season before it started as well. But, we digress.

Merriam-Webster defines opt-out as a transitive verb meaning “to choose not to participate in something.”

The NCAA took numerous steps this fall to attempt to play fall sports. One step was that “all student-athletes must be allowed to opt-out of participation due to concerns about contracting COVID-19. If a college athlete chooses to opt-out, that individual’s athletic scholarship commitment must be honored by the college or university.”

Further, that student-athlete would not lose any eligibility if they chose to opt-out. In other words a sophomore on the field in 2020 who became a junior in 2021 in the classroom would still be considered a sophomore in 2021on the field.

The original idea’s intent was to give each individual a path to choosing what they deemed appropriate and safe for themselves without any loss of opportunity as a result. And, that sounds fine in, ready for it, unprecedented times.

What doesn’t sound fine to many is how the one-year “loophole” is being used by the players relative to their responsibility to their team, coaches, and peers. None of the three mentioned above are concerned about COVID-19 suddenly. They are concerned about their individual future.

The two from South Carolina “quit” on their team and teammates 48 hours after the administration “quit” on the coach that recruited them. It’s time to get ready for the draft they said.

The one from LSU gave an impassioned speech to the entire team sans coaches present two weeks ago about finishing strong as a team. So much for that. Is he suddenly afraid of the disease? No. Was he suddenly afraid of injury? No. He played on a rain-drenched, slippery College Station field Saturday night all the while knowing that Sunday was time to tweet that he was opting out.

“It’s time to get ready for the draft,” they say. “Weren’t you doing that in so many ways while playing, lifting, etc. within the framework of the team?” Fans ask.

“It’s an individual decision,” some say. “It’s putting the individual before the team,” the retort bellows.

“It’s a sign of the times,” some say. They go on, “this generation is so soft.”

“Doesn’t college prepare you to go out into the real world, get a job, and make money?” “If they feel ready for the draft, so be it.” This sounds selfish (bad) and capitalistic (good till Bernie takes over) all at the same time.

Only a few months back, NCAA players across the fruited plain were organizing. They demanded to get paid for playing at the college level. Not yet it seems.

Is this a one-time pandemic opt-out, some call it a cop-out, only one time? Or is it a natural progression beyond the players choosing to skip bowl games that they deemed “meaningless?”

Is this yet another step towards a watered-down college football game going forward?

Soon might college football remind you of college basketball?

If you support the team you won’t like it. If you support the player you will.

There is no “I” in the word “team,” especially if “I” opts out.

Truer words…………..

Ten Piece Nuggets-NCAA Football?

Posted on August 10, 2020August 10, 2020 by thependulumswings staff

It’s Ten Piece Nuggets time. Usually the nuggets are provided to satisfy. Today they likely will leave you hungry for more, for more college football that is. Yesterday a story broke that, if it plays out, will likely mean NCAA football will not play out this fall. Our nuggets are questions and we want answers.

What has changed in the months, weeks, and days leading up to now that has the power brokers of the Power 5 conferences thinking that they may not want to play this fall after all? The answers are 1) a pesky spike in the virus, and 2) the PAC 12 “United” group of players demands we suppose. Neither should be any surprise to anyone. As for the virus, it ‘s been on the rise for eight weeks now and seems to be leveling again. As for the demands, it’s 2020. Everyone has demands these days.
If the Big 10 folds its cards for the season, why do the other Power 5 Conference Commissioners feel the need to follow suit? Peer pressure we presume. If your conference played and a hot spot team or three broke out heaven forbid the scorn that they would receive that could have been avoided. Really? Would a “breakout” this fall inside of a team or three surprise anyone as they planned for fall? Does it now?
If you move it to spring as is being suggested do you play January to April? If the answer is yes, did anyone look the old Farmer’s Almanac? The average daily high temperature in Madison, WI, home of the Badgers, is roughly -12. That “-” sign means minus! Ditto for February and two thrids of March.
If you move it to spring as is being suggested do you play in April till July? If the answer is yes, did anyone look at the average temperature in June in Miami? It’s around 95 degrees with 95% humidity. In July it’s wetter and worse. Lastly, do you think that the virus magically disappears in spring 2021?
If you move it to spring, do you lose essentially all of the players who would prefer to train exclusively for the NFL Combine and/or on-campus Pro Day workouts? The opt out number this fall was only 21 total players announced at this point. It will be 15 times that this spring. The NFL Draft is in late April. Do you think the NFL will change that to accommodate the NCAA? If you do, BBR has some beautiful land for sale for you just south of Miami. It’s taken on a bit of water, but nothing like the rise that the ocean will have in the next eight years when climate change really kicks in.
Is the reason for the likely cancellation due to player safety? Is there a safer place than being on campus when fellow students aren’t? Is there a better place than having a full-time nutritionist and testing 2x a week right at your fingertips? Or, should we say right up, then down, your nose?
If regular kids can’t go to school, why should they be “forced” to play football? They aren’t being forced, Karen. Opt-outs are receiving full scholarship benefits in today’s kinder gentler world anyway.
What if some of them contracted the virus during a game and took it home to older loved ones in their families? Sure, that’s a concern. But that is a concern no matter where you are and what you are doing. If you cut them loose from the “bubble” that they are basically in right now, isn’t that a bigger concern? Have you been to a bar lately? Do you think any/many of them might venture out, then venture home?
Do you think any of these school presidents, conference commissioners, and NCAA who hahs have asked the players what they want to do? Doubtful. They’ll let you opt-out if you want to on your own for now. But, when it comes to the big decision to play or not, they’ll tell you what you are going to do and you will like it!
Or, is this all about the fan experience? By that we mean the “money collection” experience? No fans mean no parking, no food and beverage, no private seat license revenue, no ticket sales, no suite sales, etc. We tend to doubt that since they can clearly see what the NHL, MLB, and NBA have done. There is plenty of NCAA TV revenue to go around.
(Lagniappe) Will any conference go rouge? We hope so. Our bet is on the SEC and maybe, just maybe, the BIG 12.

Are you ready for some football? It sounds like you might need to tune into the NFL where money talks and players kneel.