Chuckle and a Rant

I had to chuckle at the discussion this morning on ESPN's "Mike and Mike." Marcellus Wiley and Mike Golic were attempting to dampen the tweeted fan unrest over the salaries earned by NFL football players. Despite their obvious bias (both played in the NFL for a decade or so), they made their case reasonably well. They were right: NFL players have a short earning period in the league. They are an injury away from being unemployable. Or, as Wiley hinted, it's all the players know how to do, so they have to earn big now for their slimmer fiscal years and opportunities ahead.

And I get that.

But the overlooked and omitted part of their defense of NFL pay is that spectator sports, college and pro alike, are more than ever a part of the world of show business. Athletes in many sports and at many levels are much like pop singers. They must be developed in their craft, then discovered, then promoted for public acceptance. They will work profitably in the entertainment industry if, and only if, there is a mass media market for their talents.

TV money propels the NFL and everything attached to it. The same revenue stream also drives the coverage of college sports. Just as a record company is driven by sales, the TV-propelled world of modern sport is driven by the ratings that translate into sponsorship revenue. Is it reasonable for someone to say that Madonna or Gaga "aren't worth" their millions? The marketplace says that they are - and that's the only jury that matters. It's hard to convince TV executives that we are truly sick of having Notre Dame or Ohio State football constantly shoved at us in the fall when that same programming consistently gets high ratings numbers. We may say "diversify your coverage," but they say "Are you nuts? Why should I fix that which, by my standards isn't broken?"

Funny too that neither Golic nor Wiley acknowledged the obvious, that - as they spoke on ESPN - they were also acting as small gears of the show business machine.

The NFL player will demand and get the cash he does - in the words of Bill Clinton - "because I could."

The BCS Beatdown

While it's not yet quite the time to begin the lunacy over which teams get into the NCAA Basketball Money Machine, it's a good time from a prediction from your local blogger at MLAOR. I predict that the BCS schools and their talking-head shills on prime-time TV will tell you every reason imaginable (and much of it is pure imagination) as to why those awful "mid-major" schools should once again be left out. That's OK, up to a point. Let's face it, Missouri State doesn't have the same TV rating cache as their co-resident Mizzou. There are more TV's in Detroit yearning for the usual up-and-down Michigan Wolverines than there are in Southwest Louisiana for the Ragin' Cajuns - no matter what their record.

But I do have a suggestion, and it is just a plea for a little fairness in an otherwise unfair business.

Before ESPN or anybody else starts flogging the "mid majors" for "not playing anybody," let's also smack down the BCS boys who refuse to play the middies out of pure fear. If Creighton, Valpo, Dayton, and Northern Iowa are SO BAD they don't even deserve a chance in the NCAA tournament ruse, then what are we to say about Illinois, UCLA, Purdue, Texas, and so on who REFUSE to engage in home-and-home dates with the middies because of the yellow streak that runs so visibly through them? Let's deduct RPI points for refusal to play "mid majors" and deduct even more for dodging the really good mid majors. Why should Murray State have to beg for games against BCS blowhards who aren't as good as the Racers are?

Super Bowl Press Day

It is yet another testimony that we have lost our minds: People who might otherwise be classified as reasonably intelligent have paid real American money to go sit in the stands in Indy to watch the projected images of players being interviewed by the press down on the field. What's next? Somebody pays $1000 for Lady Gaga's used chewing gum on E-Bay? Oh, wait. We've already been there, seen that.

"Stupid is as stupid does."