G'day Mates...
Today's Topic = TGIF
I know many of you were on the edge of your seats watching the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics yesterday and are looking forward to watching Olympic sports like badminton, rowing and break-dancing, etc...
But, I think most of us would rather watch our favorite football team put on their socks in camp than watch some horses jump over hurdles in France, but could be wrong about that...
Thankfully, our Sun Devils start their season preparations this coming Wednesday, that should wake us up during our annual the summer doldrums, when we want to hear about anything other than how hot and miserable it is in the desert this time of year...
That said, we down here in Geezerville have had about 4" of rain the past two nights and we've only had one Haboob, that happened a month or so ago...
Plus, the NCAA settlement is moving forward, as we all know, that has me thinking about how many football scholarships we should offer, as we go from a max of 85, as things now stand, to 105 that would be possible under the settlement conditions...
How many are the "big boys" going to allot themselves just to keep potential recruits from signing with other teams, especially when a program like Ohio St has reportedly given out $20M in NIL payments this past year to get elite football players...
I know players want to play but how many would take the "big boy" scholarship and additional NIL money to help their families out, especially if they come from a poverty background..??
And, in this day and age, is any player even thinking about getting an education anymore..??
Latest case in point, apparently a Stanford education couldn't keep a Cardinal softball pitcher on the Farm when Texas Tech dangled a million dollar NIL deal in front of her...
And, what's going to keep the Oregon Ducks from snatching up transfers and HS recruits now that Phil Knight has given them unlimited NIL money to play with..??
An aside, I think its funny when teams like Georgia and Alabama start complaining about that Oregon NIL treasure chest when they seem to be able to spend unlimited amounts to lure players to their football teams...
If ASU had a billionaire that would give unlimited NIL dollars to our collective, would it keep us more competitive against the "big boys" or not..??
I guess we might find out by watching what happens with Hurley's BB program this next season since he was able to entice some "big boy" BB players to his Sun Devil program...
But, would we be better off to drop down to a G-5 level since teams like Oregon can get whoever they want due to their NIL largesse..??
I mean aren't our chances as good as trying to get into the 12 team football playoff, as a G-5 member, as it might be trying to win the Big-12 championship..??
And, wouldn't our stadium still have as many people in attendance at G-5 level games as we had for PAC games and are going to have for Big-12 games..??
Well just some food for thought as we approach another Sun Devil football season...
I'm looking forward to it but maybe not as much as I used to look forward to Sun Devil football under Frank Kush in the old WAC...
Heck, I got a real charge out of our recent hockey championship at a lower level, than in what we play in now...
Now there is so much roster turnover that it's hard to keep up with things much less invest a lot of time and energy into caring all that much about it, IMHO...
But, that said, I'm invested in another season of Sun Devil football but if we go 3-9, once again, I'm really going to have to reassess things, that's for sure...
It's almost August and football is just around the corner, thank goodness, although I am looking forward to synchronized shoe lace tying at the Olympics...
Just having fun, as always, but, maybe not so much fun, if we cannot keep up with the big dogs in major college sports, I'm afraid...
Have a good week and Go Devils!!!
Today's Topic = TGIF
I know many of you were on the edge of your seats watching the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics yesterday and are looking forward to watching Olympic sports like badminton, rowing and break-dancing, etc...
But, I think most of us would rather watch our favorite football team put on their socks in camp than watch some horses jump over hurdles in France, but could be wrong about that...
Thankfully, our Sun Devils start their season preparations this coming Wednesday, that should wake us up during our annual the summer doldrums, when we want to hear about anything other than how hot and miserable it is in the desert this time of year...
That said, we down here in Geezerville have had about 4" of rain the past two nights and we've only had one Haboob, that happened a month or so ago...
Plus, the NCAA settlement is moving forward, as we all know, that has me thinking about how many football scholarships we should offer, as we go from a max of 85, as things now stand, to 105 that would be possible under the settlement conditions...
How many are the "big boys" going to allot themselves just to keep potential recruits from signing with other teams, especially when a program like Ohio St has reportedly given out $20M in NIL payments this past year to get elite football players...
I know players want to play but how many would take the "big boy" scholarship and additional NIL money to help their families out, especially if they come from a poverty background..??
And, in this day and age, is any player even thinking about getting an education anymore..??
Latest case in point, apparently a Stanford education couldn't keep a Cardinal softball pitcher on the Farm when Texas Tech dangled a million dollar NIL deal in front of her...
And, what's going to keep the Oregon Ducks from snatching up transfers and HS recruits now that Phil Knight has given them unlimited NIL money to play with..??
An aside, I think its funny when teams like Georgia and Alabama start complaining about that Oregon NIL treasure chest when they seem to be able to spend unlimited amounts to lure players to their football teams...
If ASU had a billionaire that would give unlimited NIL dollars to our collective, would it keep us more competitive against the "big boys" or not..??
I guess we might find out by watching what happens with Hurley's BB program this next season since he was able to entice some "big boy" BB players to his Sun Devil program...
But, would we be better off to drop down to a G-5 level since teams like Oregon can get whoever they want due to their NIL largesse..??
I mean aren't our chances as good as trying to get into the 12 team football playoff, as a G-5 member, as it might be trying to win the Big-12 championship..??
And, wouldn't our stadium still have as many people in attendance at G-5 level games as we had for PAC games and are going to have for Big-12 games..??
Well just some food for thought as we approach another Sun Devil football season...
I'm looking forward to it but maybe not as much as I used to look forward to Sun Devil football under Frank Kush in the old WAC...
Heck, I got a real charge out of our recent hockey championship at a lower level, than in what we play in now...
Now there is so much roster turnover that it's hard to keep up with things much less invest a lot of time and energy into caring all that much about it, IMHO...
But, that said, I'm invested in another season of Sun Devil football but if we go 3-9, once again, I'm really going to have to reassess things, that's for sure...
It's almost August and football is just around the corner, thank goodness, although I am looking forward to synchronized shoe lace tying at the Olympics...
Just having fun, as always, but, maybe not so much fun, if we cannot keep up with the big dogs in major college sports, I'm afraid...
Have a good week and Go Devils!!!
