Revolution

"There is going to be a revolution" or so says the old Beatles song, and this time I think they were right.  There is a revolution a foot in big time college athletics.  Anarchy is the rule among the titans of college sports.  The NCAA is being blasted from all corners, money has become the only ideal that seems to be adhered to by these powers that supposedly put the "student athlete" first, and foremost in their credo.  Look what just happened at Miami, Ohio State, and countless other universities across the NCAA landscape.  Lack of institutional control, or lack of governmental control?  The NCAA has legislated themselves to near extinction and all the while adopted an attitude of being above these dirty little affairs.  Most sports fans see through it!

Revolution is every where these days.  Schools are moving conferences to gain their bigger piece of the pie.  The new catch words are "Super Conferences" and "BCS".  The old way of geographic conferences are fast becoming a thing of the past and the NCAA has little power to stop it.  Talk of paying athletes is gaining legs, playoffs in football are moving toward fruition, and all the while the NCAA fiddles while their Rome burns. 

Other questions arise, such as what happens to mid-major conferences, and where will the revenues come from if all of the television monies are spent on the super conferences?  They will never be able to afford to pay their athletes, and I don't advocate that they should, but it will drive a greater wedge between the major and minors.  Times are changing and when this dam breaks lets hope that the current way of enjoying college athletics is not swept away with it.  Anarchy is brewing and revolution seems inevitable, but there is the old saying of "be careful what you wish for" it could be worse then what you have.

Football Crush

This morning was the annual media day for University of Kentucky football at Commonwealth Stadium.  I always enjoy the event because of the renewal of old acquaintances from print, electronic, television, and radio media.  It's still has the feeling of the first day of school.  The members are catching up on what has transpired since we last got together during basketball season.  Food is served in the Wildcat Den, one of the things that gets so many people to come from all over, and suddenly football is on every ones mind.

Optimism reigns supreme, a mean feat for Kentucky Football.  The coaches are spewing positive spins, the players get their team pictures taken in their uniforms, looking fit and ready to go.  Out on the field reporters flock to coaches and players usually in order of perceived importance.  The atmosphere is just down right jovial.  Can the team go 9-3, is the schedule as tough as last season, and for sure there must be another bowl game at season's end.  Hope is the theme of the day, injury and heart aches, the bane of any football team, is still in the future.  Media day is a time for a new beginning, a renewal of one of the fun things that makes us all enjoy being a Wildcat fan.

Now the football "crush" begins,  two a days, studying the playbook, training regiments, getting use to your teammates and coaches.  The members of the media start the onslaught of gathering information and speculating on every aspect of this brand new edition of Kentucky Football.  Gone will be the giddy atmosphere of this mornings meeting of coaches, players, and the people who bring news of the team to the fans.  Who knows what this season will bring, probably not as good as the most optimistic predictions, and probably not as bad as the most negative observers, just somewhere in between.  One prediction is sure to come true, there will be moments of heart stopping excitement, moments of anger, mixed in with downright despair, but that's football and the real reason that anybody cares at all.  As long as I am at it, can we go 12-0,. win the SEC and challenge for a National Championship?  Maybe, it's early yet.