Living On Common Ground
Does it feel like every part of your life is divided? Every scenario? Every environment? Your church, your school, your work, your friends. Left, right. Conservative, liberal. Religious, secular. From parenting styles to school choice, denominational choice to governing preference, it seems you're always being asked to take a side.
This is a conversation between a progressive Christian and a conservative atheist who happen to be great friends. Welcome to Living on Common Ground.
Living On Common Ground
Common Ground On College Football
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College football is starting to feel less like a tradition and more like a marketplace, and we’re not sure what to do with that. We’re two friends from different worldviews a progressive Christian and a conservative atheist trying to stay close in a culture that keeps begging us to pick sides. So we grab something familiar (sports) and follow the thread all the way into the hard stuff: money, incentives, identity, and what fairness even means now.
We begin with the lighter side of fandom: fantasy football drafts, league trophies, last-place punishments, and the wild reality of running a fantasy league back when you had to tally stats from the newspaper. Then the conversation turns toward the modern earthquake in college football: NIL (name, image, likeness), the transfer portal, eligibility loopholes, and the growing sense that boosters and billionaire donors can “build” a roster the way pro teams do.
From there, we connect the dots to sports media contracts and streaming. Live sports are the last thing most of us still watch in real time, which changes advertising value, fuels conference realignment, and makes blackouts and subscription fatigue feel unavoidable. We also debate a key distinction: athletes getting endorsements versus universities paying players directly, and how today’s incentive structures could ripple down into high school recruiting and even family decisions years before a kid ever takes a snap.
If you’ve been excited for football season and also quietly irritated by what the sport is becoming, you’ll feel seen here. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves sports arguments, and leave a review with where you think the money line should be drawn.
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Life Feels Split Into Sides
SPEAKER_00Does it feel like every part of your life is divided? Every scenario, every environment, your church, your school, your work, your friends, left, right, conservative, liberal, religious, secular. It seems you always have to take a side. This is a conversation between a progressive Christian and a conservative atheist who happen to be great friends. Welcome to Living on Common Ground. Do you think if we met today, we would still be friends? I don't know.
SPEAKER_04But we're friends now.
SPEAKER_01A mom is known as a mom because they are living in the dog. Man, so what we want a few games. And y'all fools think that's something? Man, that ain't nothing, y'all. And you know what else? We ain't nothing either. Yeah, we came together in camp. Cool. But then we're right back here and the world tells us that they don't want us to be together. We fall apart like we ain't a damn bit of nothing, man.
Friends Across Worldviews
SPEAKER_03Alright, we're recording. Wonderful. I said that for Krista because we haven't actually announced that we're recording in a long time. I know. She really likes it when we do that. She misses that. I know. Yep. So anyway. How are you? I'm good. Yeah?
SPEAKER_02I know you I'm good. I'm I'm looking forward to tomorrow.
Fantasy Leagues Then And Now
SPEAKER_02That's right. Fantasy football drafts.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, what time do you fly out?
SPEAKER_02Seven.
SPEAKER_03Seven?
SPEAKER_02In the morning.
SPEAKER_03That's commitment.
SPEAKER_02Very important. Commitment. It's very important that I guess how long have you guys been doing this fantasy football? I don't know if it's been a full 20 years, but it's close. It's close to 20 years. I think that's right. We um as soon as it was it was like toward the beginning of when um you could do it online, when Yahoo started doing it online. We never did it. Like people have done fantasy football and all and the other sports and stuff, like long before the internet existed.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I'm not That's insane. I'm not good. I don't know how they were doing that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I know a lot of people do fantasy football, and I would be interested in doing like something like that. I I bet you would like fantasy baseball. I would love fantasy baseball. Um, I did fantasy hockey and it we did it before that it was available online, like you're talking about. Oh, you did. Mm-hmm. Who kept that like the how you do the stats? I was the commissioner.
SPEAKER_02And you like recorded the stats and everything?
SPEAKER_03Oh, every day I would get up and I'd pull out the newspaper. That's how long ago, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's how you'd have to do it.
SPEAKER_03You would have to score it. Yeah. And so I got, I don't remember. It was like you got so many points for uh um so like a goalie would get it so many points for saves. Right. Um, obviously you can't get a point for every save because that's ridiculous. Yeah, you can run it however you want. And um, but like you get so many points for an assist, so many points for a goal. And um, yeah, and I would have to sit there and tally, and um, you know, but you had so you have ten people in the league, that was it. So you're really just doing five games, right? Sure. But hockey is daily, so every day.
SPEAKER_02Um I'm sure my boss of five games, it's five games, but then it's like each player. Oh, yeah. All the players, you've got to record all the players' stats.
SPEAKER_03But what we would do too is you were only allowed to start one center, two wings, two defensemen, and your goalie. Right. So you had only six players. So it's not like the NFL where you got 11 people out there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Um, that's true.
SPEAKER_03Plus you don't have offense and defense because you just run it that way. That's true. Right. And so um, yeah, that's that's what you did. I don't know, man. Yeah, and so like even your defensemen, they didn't get points for like how well the you know, if the other like it they didn't get points if it was a shutout or anything like that. Sure. The goalie did, but they had to score. So you were looking for a bunch of high scoring defensemen, even.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. No, that makes sense. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So it was easier, but and uh um, it's been so long now, I don't mind admitting this out loud. So I would get to my office.
SPEAKER_02Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_03This was when I was still in um advertising.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um, and I was working for a sporting good company. So, but I would get to the office, I'd uh get myself a cup of coffee, and I would sit at my desk and I would get the newspaper out. Uh-huh. And the first thing I would do every day was score our fantasy league. It's awesome.
SPEAKER_02That is that's uh that's the right kind of time theft as far as I'm concerned.
SPEAKER_03And you know, my I don't I'm sure that my boss probably knew. Um she didn't play with us, uh-huh. But, you know, you've got people coming in throughout the day, giving me their rosters and things like that. You know, and so you've got to set the rosters because everybody that was in it worked. We all worked in the same corporate office together. Yeah. So like some people were in purchasing, I was over in advertising.
SPEAKER_02But again, having it all be analog is just that's just crazy to me.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I can't even imagine. Um, well, it's so funny because I remember like you would buy those magazines. Remember those magazines? Which magazines? Like if for your fantasy football drafts and stuff like that. Well, we never did.
SPEAKER_02I mean, like we you guys never used them? No, we never had them.
SPEAKER_03Oh, they're out there. But like I just saw a whole thing today about how people were talking about if you buy a magazine, like it'll tell give you like the insider tips before draft type stuff.
SPEAKER_02Everyone's got their favorite every everyone on in the league has their favorite apps.
SPEAKER_03They've got their favorite like just the fact that there's apps on it, right? Like back in the day, you bought that magazine and you read. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And you had to know, like, you know, this was stats from last year and this is projected.
SPEAKER_02Everyone's got their favorite um uh you know, top 100 or whatever.
SPEAKER_03Do you have yours all plotted out? I don't.
SPEAKER_02I have it um I have it like I'll go in pretty blind. I'm like Have you ever won this thing in 20 years? Never. I helped co-commission for a while.
SPEAKER_03Okay, so you just do it because you enjoy the uh camaraderie. And maybe one day. Yeah. What do you get commissioned if you win?
SPEAKER_02Uh we've got a trophy. Um, what else now? You get a ring. We've got a ring. Yeah. Every year we buy a ring. Okay. Um, if you lose, we've got a license plate cover that's like pink and glittery that you gotta put on your that says like I lost my I came in last place. Yeah. And I think there's I think there's something else. I had it, I had it for like the I I've come in last place several years. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I I I was watching a baseball game and they a guy came walking in and he was dressed like this ridiculous whatever. And the announcers are like, Looks like he lost his fantasy.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah. And coming up with uh last place punishments is always really fun. Nice. That's always fun. Nice. No, I just I mean, I told somebody this, I was at a um middle school football game last week. And um, because one of my sons, uh a couple of my son's friends play in it. And um, I was telling one of the parents, like, I would watch, I would watch an elementary school flag football game where I knew none of the kids right now. Like, I love watching football. All right. I'll just watch any football.
SPEAKER_03Then I have a I have a question for you. Yeah. So um, okay, we have queued up uh one of the I've never had a team though.
SPEAKER_02Like I've never had a team that's like my team, like I care about this team.
SPEAKER_03What about the why not? Like, what about the 49ers?
SPEAKER_02It was never anything in my family. Oakland? Yes. Okay. So the closest we ever got was my mom would always say that we are a Raiders family. Sure. Okay. And then for a while, being a Raiders fan. I mean, being a Raiders fan also meant before they moved to Vegas. I don't know how it is now, but before they moved to Vegas, being a Raiders fan meant like The Outlaw. You also were an outlaw. So then that was like part of my when I was like a dirtbag, you know, for a long time. Then it was like I but it it wasn't I never followed him. I never like knew any of the players.
SPEAKER_03I just I just like football, but you don't really follow a team. All right. So let me ask you a question then.
NIL And The Transfer Portal
SPEAKER_03And we don't ever have to get to the uh um to the reflection today, because this is this I find it very interesting. What do you think about what's happening right now to I'm not gonna say in, because it's happening to college football. With uh paying of money and stuff and the and now they're bringing like if you if you entered in the NFL, you were drafted, and you played and you got cut and you still have eligibility, there there some schools are now starting to take them back. Lane Kiffin, I think, is the one who started this. I don't I don't know that for sure. Um, but he had a lot to say about it. Okay. And um he said, you know, he's doing everything he can to help LSU win where he's at now. Okay.
SPEAKER_02And uh but it and like and some of the conference year eligibility still, even the NFL.
SPEAKER_03Lane Kiffin was a is a coach. He's a coach at LSU. Oh, that's okay, that's okay. Yeah, I don't know any of that. That's because you don't follow the SEC and Lane Kiffin is a villain.
SPEAKER_02The only the only one that like I now have kind of followed a little bit is um Aguilar, because my my oldest is looking at UT as an option. And so then we went to a game last year, and then we're going to a game this year. And so then I was like, now I'm gonna be a fan, I'm complete fair weather. Okay. I am a 100% fair weather fan. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_03And um well, I wouldn't say you're fair weather in in, but I would well, I don't know. You can say whatever you want. But what I would say is only but now you have you might have a vested interest. I just have yeah, it's just like because to me, fair weather would be like who's gonna win?
SPEAKER_02That's true. It's not about that.
SPEAKER_03Otherwise, you'd be an Ohio State fan.
SPEAKER_02Right. I don't, it's that you're right. It's not fair weather. It's just like I'm just doing it now because of because of Reed. But um so then I have followed a little bit of Aguilar's whole like, you know, I should have one more year eligibility. Yeah. And then they denied him, and so now he went to Jacksonville.
SPEAKER_03Is that right?
SPEAKER_02I don't even know. I think that's right. He didn't get drafted. Isn't that crazy? He didn't get drafted. I don't think that's crazy. No? No. Okay.
SPEAKER_03No. I uh um yeah. But don't trust me because I don't have a fantasy team. I think if I had a fantasy team, I would probably know better. Sure. Now, if you want to ask me about baseball players.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And um wait, but go back to you, you had a question, you were asking me like what I think is.
SPEAKER_03So what do you think about like, okay, so now you have the NIL, right? You get so they get money, they get uh you can change and you know, you don't even have to have a waiting, like you don't have to have a year that like it used to be if you transferred, you have to wait a year before you before you're eligible to play again. Like you couldn't just transfer and then play the next year. You had to wait. Oh, really? Mm-hmm. Yeah, you would lose some eligibility. Um then well, you wouldn't lose eligibility because the idea was that you would lose a year because you should still you're a student first. That used to be the thing, right? And then now we're gonna pay them. And well, we should pay them because we're making a lot of money and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then um, you know, and I didn't even like that because I'm like, well, they are getting paid. I'm spending sixty thousand dollars to send my daughter to the University of Cincinnati. Yeah, that's a that's a you're getting paid. You're getting sixty thousand dollars. That's an argument, right? Um, but now if you tried to get into the NFL and you didn't make it for some reason and you still have some eligibility left, people are re-enrolling in colleges to play football.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And of course you have to get a lot of people. And you're gonna get paid, right? And that, and so and so that would be the reason to do it. It's ridiculous. So I so what I I got a problem with it. Yeah, I can hear. Um I was just talking to my, I was in physical therapy yesterday and I was talking to him about it. And um what was he saying? He was talking about oh, he was talking about some boarding school that's in Chattanooga. I don't know if he that apparently they like uh it's a high school and I mean they produce they produce like high value football play, uh sports players. Sure. And um he's talking about some, I don't know if it was a running back or a quarterback or whatever that um is going to UT. I think I've seen this kid online. And is getting five million to go to UT. That's right, because he was he was looking at Ohio State also that he so so um but and it just clicked to me that like so how I what I think about it is that it seems like where we are now is the inevitable situation. It's inevitable that they would have to get paid at some point. I think that it is unreasonable to expect that you could continue the system where they're not getting paid.
SPEAKER_03I think I I disagree. I'm not saying that you should.
SPEAKER_02That's not my point. Yeah. I think that it's inevitable.
SPEAKER_03What makes it inevitable?
SPEAKER_02Because they're generating so much money and they're adults and at some point they they were going to collectively bargain, which is what they did, and they were going to get paid. At some point, I don't think that there was gonna be there wasn't gonna be a strong enough uh legal reasoning to keep them from getting paid. I just think it ruins the sport. And but what means what that means now is I was taught this is the this is what I was telling um my therapist, physical therapist, is um I know well, I don't know personally, I have been told of families who start their kid in kindergarten a year later purely so that they will be a year older than everyone as they get through school because they are going to be in some sort of sport. Sure. They're gonna be in some sort of sport, right? I also uh have been told of families who have held their kids back in like fifth grade, sixth grade for the same reason, right? And you think about that and you go, okay, uh there's an incentive to do that even before this system, even before this system. There's an absolute incentive to do that. You can see that incentive because if you can get that edge and your kid can get to Ohio State or UTK or someplace, and then they land that, you know, 30 million over five years deal or whatever, man, was it worth starting them in kindergarten as a six-year-old instead of a five-year-old or a seven-year-old instead of a six-year-old? Absolutely, you can see that incentive, right? And now though, if they can land a five million dollar deal out of high school and then go, I mean, like that I it just so it what's fascinating to me is that the incentive structures will have all these downstream effects on humans all across the United States that aren't even born yet, you know, like some two-year-old is gonna be and this is always the case, of course, but like that's I just think uh some two-year-old is gonna be is gonna start in school you know, at seven years old instead of at six because of this because of because of things that were potential to get millions of dollars out of high school. Things that were put into motion 15 years ago in collective bargaining across the US. I just think it's fascinating.
SPEAKER_03I hate it.
SPEAKER_02I I I don't really have it's not you know, we're not a sports family. Our family isn't. Yeah. Um neither one of my kids have have been involved in sports.
SPEAKER_03Well, you know, this was the first year in a while that I was looking forward to um the football season again.
SPEAKER_02Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_03Um like last year, I grew up a huge Ohio State fan. Yeah. Everybody knows that. Anybody that knows me knows that. Um and so every every year growing up, and really all through my 40s and even my early 50s, um I just I loved college football. Yeah. But the last few years, well, let's just say the last three years, right? Because I'm I'm only 55. Um, I just haven't cared. And it's because it's like Is that because of the whole trade thing? The um that there's just what is that called change the portal.
SPEAKER_02The portal.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's just changed so much. And Ohio State, I mean, they're it's a wealthy school and they benefit from it, right? I just don't like it.
SPEAKER_02All the divisions and stuff have changed too, right? The SEC is different.
SPEAKER_03It used to be the Big Ten because there was 10 and it was located in the Midwest. Yeah. Now the Big Ten runs all the way from Southern California to the East Coast, right? To Rutgers, yeah. Over in New Jersey. You have USC and Rutgers and Oregon. Like, come on. Yeah. This is rid this is ridiculous.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And that's Big Ten. Um, some are gone. Like I I feel so bad. The Pac-10. I used to love the Pac-10, even though I, you know, it was my it was my Saturday evening games that we would watch. Um, and I used to love, like I would be so excited about the Rose Bowl every year. Like I didn't care. I can remember even like I was into my 20s and I still didn't know like there was a national champion.
SPEAKER_02Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_03All we cared about was what did you win the Big Ten?
SPEAKER_02Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_03And did you get to go to the Rose Bowl? And then in the Rose Bowl, you were probably, when I was young, gonna play USC.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Right. Now Oregon's a power became a powerhouse, and UCLA would show up every now and then. They always got their, you know, they always had their moment when it was basketball. Yeah. But, you know, um, but they would have a, you know, Troy Aikman, when he was at UCLA, they were good. Yeah. And, you know, so you had these phases. Um, but now it's like the the national championship this past year, it was really which which billionaire fielded a better team.
SPEAKER_02Sure, right? Be so this is this is fascinating to me because this is something that uh Krista was talking about when we decided we were UT fans, and then she started looking into the Man, I I hope that doesn't stick. Um well, we have a flag. We got a flag. Our I have I have an entire section of my closet that's all orange and white.
SPEAKER_03You could I I can get you a bowling green. That's orange also.
SPEAKER_02Sure. That's fine, I guess. For Robbie. Um, but so we were talking about this, and it all comes down to advertising contracts, obviously.
Streaming Money Reshapes Sports
SPEAKER_02But that's really what has happened. Boosters. It's all the it's it's the the where and I I know this is always said it's always said with such derision. It's all because of money. But that's it yes, it is. That just is. That's just a thing. That's just it's neutral. It just is. But here's what I think is fascinating. It might be these advertising these these contracts might be uh uh more lucrative and it might have caused these consolidations and rearrangements and all of this because of streaming, right? Because because of the streaming services, this is something that's been talked about. I'm I'm not I'm not inventing this, it's been talked about a ton of times. But the only thing that makes sense to watch live is sports, which makes all the sports ad contracts so much more valuable um uh proportionally, right? Like in relationship to other You're gonna get a lot more bang for your buck.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03Whereas people are actually sitting and watching the live, you're gonna want your advantage.
SPEAKER_02So Yeah, that's true. That's about it. It's a proportion about myself. Yeah, it's the only thing anybody cares about watching live.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. I prefer to actually wait and let multiple episodes come out. Yeah. So that I can sit down and binge them.
SPEAKER_02But even if you're watching it the day it comes out, like on HBO or whatever, um, you're not watching it at that time. No you don't care about that time. Nobody cares about it, right?
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03Not sitting down at eight o'clock at night to watch all the family come on.
SPEAKER_02But 20 years ago, that's what it was. And so it's not like anybody did anything nefarious. It's just that that technology wiped away like the sports contracts were still lucrative.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Super lucrative. Sure. However, they become way more lucrative in relationship to anything else because there's nothing else on there, there's no
SPEAKER_03game in town now besides besides sports viewing in terms of live viewership which is also causing problems on another in another way because now they can make money by uh signing contracts with various streaming services sure right so you might not be able to get the game because you don't have Apple TV yeah sure that's that's ridiculous well but you should be there's no should here is a should why is there a should because I am going to be the conservative today okay and the the way it used to be is the best way it was. Okay and the way that used to be was you would turn on your television and you were broadcast they would be they would be broadcast on the public and as long as you had television uh you could watch it uh now you have to pay for a service yeah in order to be able to watch a game yeah I think that so yeah and then and then if you want to so I you you really want to start getting me like this whole streaming thing and the service things is ridiculous too. I pay yeah no I'm I'm I know where you're going you're totally right I pay for MLB app uh okay I have a subscription to MLB because I will watch just about any game unless it's the Yankees I don't really like to watch the Yankees and there's a few I won't watch right like Minnesota Twins Kansas Kansas City Royals right Kansas Chicago White Sox human garbage if if oh hi if if the White Sox is losing I'll watch that one. But okay anyway but I do every morning I get up I make myself a cup of coffee and the first thing I do is I sit down and I watch condensed games. And there's four teams that I make sure I watch religiously every morning. And so I can watch those condensed games in 12 minutes each and I get the game. Yeah. If I if I didn't get to watch them the night before. Okay. So I pay for it. Yeah. Pay I think it's a lot of money for me for the season to have full access. I bet it is and the way they promote it is full access MLB blah blah blah blah blah unless we block it or unless we've actually sold the rights to that game to a different streaming service. Sure. So oh you wanted to watch that game well do you have a subscription to uh to YouTube TV well that one's blocked out.
SPEAKER_02Oh wait and then and even like oh you that used to be the same on NFL games with NFL games if they didn't sell it out then they would black out and I and I get that.
SPEAKER_03Except for the affiliate but now if you're charging me to pay for uh I should be able to see it. You shouldn't be able to then say I here it'd be like me saying here you want to buy this phone? Uh-huh yeah but you can't really have it because well no you can't I'm sorry you can't I know you paid for it however we're gonna actually also sell this to this person over here. Yeah and so they paid more I agree so right now you don't get it. I understand your that's full that is our entire world our entire world is a rent so like renting world so like if the Mets are playing the Reds or they're playing the um uh the Braves yeah we don't get the game because it's on a different streaming service no because they'll just because of where we live here in Nashville they block out Cincinnati games and they block out Atlanta games because what they they want to try to drive people to go to the games is that what it is I guess I we're considered the local market.
SPEAKER_02Yeah it's got to be some sort of local affiliate thing.
SPEAKER_03Right? Or maybe it's because TBS and so they but we don't get TBS anyway you've you've you've hit a hot button here right yeah so that bothers me back to college football though yeah because that bothers me too yeah um I just I just want it to be the way it was yeah I get it I know I man I want the big 10 to have 10 yeah you know I I want I want the pac I still want there to be a Pac 10. I still want there to be a big 12 I still you know um SEC fine you can have your SEC whatever um you know I I still want them to be student athletes um and I think part of it too is the university's making money but they're also using that money to provide scholarships for people like your volleyball team that's true right and so I it's just I don't know I sound like an old man. No I get it. Well and you've got a just bothers me.
SPEAKER_02Yeah you've got a vested interest it's easy for me to say that this just is what it is and because I don't have uh you know I don't have I'm not emotionally wrapped up in it and and all of that um I what was I gonna say there was something I was thinking about I do think that if if there is a way to make more money on anything that will be done on anything. Yep um you know we have a whatever you want to call it a financial aristocracy or uh economic aristocracy that is our our society it's not a blood aristocracy although they overlap a lot sure um ours is a financial one and so I do think that it's it will it will happen if if it can if it if there's a way to rearrange things to make more money that will just it will just happen. And um but I do I I also understand your how much you don't like that. I think some of the j you know obviously I'm not gonna litigate this some of the justification of the the paying them thing is like that they were already being paid but it was fraudulent payments.
Paying Players Versus Endorsements
SPEAKER_02And so they was like bring it out into the open kind of thing.
SPEAKER_03Maybe this is a bit hypocrisy I think it's still happening. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02The fraudulent stuff is still happening.
SPEAKER_03I remember in Ohio State Jim Trestle who was a great coach lost his job because student athletes football team were selling off their own gear that they're given for free. Sure. Right? So you like they're you get workout clothes and all that kind of stuff and they were selling it and using the money to get tattoos and somebody sent an email to to Jim Trestle about hey this is going on and he ignored it and then the like the NCAA cracked down on that. That okay that to me that was ridiculous. So I have no problem here's the thing I have no problem with if you have a stud kid coming out in college and um EA Sports wants to pay him to have an NCAA football game and they want his likeness I have no problem with that.
SPEAKER_02So you have no problem with them getting endorsements. I have no problem with them getting private endorsements but just not being paid by don't think the university should be paying them to play.
SPEAKER_03Were they not are they allowed to get private endorsements?
SPEAKER_02Now they are so that all got wrapped up together.
SPEAKER_03Aaron Ross Powell That's all part of the NIL name image likeness is what that stands for.
SPEAKER_02But but at the same time that they changed it so that the schools could pay them they also changed it so that they're allowed to get the schools could pay yeah and I do I don't think that the school should make money like I don't think that the school should be able to put you know uh Dancy Kabile on the back of a jersey and then sell the jersey and the university make money.
SPEAKER_03I don't think that I think that's complicated I think that the student should get I think the student has every right they could go ahead and try put dancing cabille on the back of a see how much they make on that. But I think that I think that your name, your image and your likeness is yours. And that if people want to pay you for that, that's fine. I just don't think universities should be paying players to come. Yeah. And so it's uh I mean no it's it's not that conf it's it's not that grey this is black and white Lucas this is uh this is just the way it should be I do I do love being on the other side of uh conservative because let's be honest um Mark Cuban won the college football championship last year as the University of Indiana so okay so how is how is he involved with the University of Indiana then he's an alumni.
SPEAKER_02So but what I'm saying is like um he donates to University of Indiana and then they use those funds to pay to bring on players my understanding and I could be completely wrong is that he donated directly to the football program.
SPEAKER_03I see okay and then the football program used the money to buy players in Oregon they all do it I get it right and I know that this sounds like sour grapes because you know Indiana finally did something other than basketball but I I really don't think that's what it is.
SPEAKER_02Speaking of Indiana basketball I uh I was up in their Coliseum this last weekend watching um Darth Brooks uh kick off his new tour. Oh yeah it was awesome I'm I'm glad you enjoyed that it was fantastic it was spur of the moment yeah well kind of but that was awesome sorry I derailed I derailed it no if you I mean if you want to bring up other things I don't like country music is is one of them we just keep listing things I don't like Carth Brooks is barely country music man he is the he is the Britney Spears of country music oh my goodness yeah I tried could I tried to like country music in 1997 it didn't stick um 97 I'm just trying to I'm trying to think of uh man 97 yeah that was that's the this still good years 97's good 95 96 for country music or yeah Bruts and Dunn Tim McGraw that's like Tim McGraw height yeah I don't know all right did we solve it did we solve solve anything yeah you know it just I like I like the I really like the idea of student athletes playing student games and not getting paid. I don't like that idea I don't think it's reasonable to expect it long term.
Ripple Effects From High School Up
SPEAKER_02Now here's the deal because of this my prediction is this absolutely is going to well could very easily um trickle down to high schools elite high schools I don't see why oh high school they've already been doing stuff you wouldn't start paying high school players I don't think they've yeah they're not paying them yet but there's free tuition available there's all these things that are going on which is all what was available yep on college.
SPEAKER_03Yeah which is why so many of those prep schools have such great football programs.
SPEAKER_02And you've already got the infrastructure there with the whole stars what is it like the star system like the five star whatever like you've got that infrastructure to rate yeah players nationwide and um I would not be surprised at all if in 10 years we're talking about how high school football has been corrupted by uh by paying the players 10 years from now I'm gonna be just walking on the beach somewhere and I'm not gonna worry about anything that's going on in this world anymore.
SPEAKER_03Holy cow 10 years from now you're gonna be 65. I know you just realize how old I am yeah I'm an old man. I'll be if I could retire now Lucas I would yeah yeah so just a little personal thing my my nephew um he uh he committed to um play at Florida International okay FIU um he was re he was recruited by schools as big as I like Oregon flew him out uh um he plays tight end he's from North Carolina uh UNC Wake Forest he's he's six four six five two hundred and twenty five pounds dang yeah okay yeah with a plain massive wingspan um and uh what's his name his name's uh Drew Easter Drew Easter yeah all right and I was shocked because I knew the size of the schools that were recruiting him and he committed before he even began his senior year. And I was talking to somebody about that. I was like I mean of course I'm thrilled for him I'm thrilled for him. It's a full ride you know he's gonna go play in Miami but not at Miami but still you know um it's a competitive program but it's not like that top tier um but anyway uh I was like that's interesting to me and then someone said and I didn't think about this that he probably had coaches at those big universities tell him go play there or something like that for two years. Get your field time you get get the money you can get you know whatever from those smaller markets and stuff like that. And in two years if you're still rocking and rolling we're gonna call you and you can come to Oregon. Yeah. And that's when all of a sudden you start making the big money.
SPEAKER_02Well and it makes sense too because um I mean this this applies this this is a longer conversation that I think should be talked about a lot um for high school students um because it applies across the board. You really need to think about the trade-off between being a medium sized fish in an elite school versus being the same size fish but now you're a big fish in a medium sized school and so if he can be a star at this school for two years way better for him than right than being middling and not getting any kind of airtime in Oregon for two years, then he can come to Oregon as the star. That's fantastic.
SPEAKER_03I know and and I get it and it's great for Drew but I'm still in that place where I'm like that irks you that sucks for Florida International FIU right because like in a way you could make the argument though they wouldn't have got him gotten him for those first two years.
SPEAKER_02Maybe that gives them the ability to pull guys that are could be a star for them. You know what I mean? I don't know.
SPEAKER_03I'm just making that I know I mean I know a kid well I know a person who knows a kid yeah who he went to Ohio State to play basketball and was a fr as a freshman he got on the court a little bit but he left Ohio State and he went to a smaller school probably with the intention of a couple years come back go back.
SPEAKER_02Yeah no it's good it's good strategy. I think I think that um like I said I think that that is something that high schoolers should think about outside of sports. Yeah like okay you want to go Ivy League because you watch Gilmore girls or whatever and you have it in your head that like that is like the dream.
SPEAKER_03I don't even get the reference or whatever.
SPEAKER_02Yeah right and I get that I I think a lot more kids need to be need to be educated on like it is way better to be top of your class at you know some state school and you know and and be a star there than be lost in the crowd at Harvard, you know unless your plan is to go you know uh meet unless you have to because you're from a particular social strata and you really need to in order to stay in that or whatever. You know what I mean? There's kind of whatever right but if you're climbing I think a lot of times it's better to go to that middle school and be the star and climb that way, make your connections there, you know? Anyway.
Final Grievances And Farewell
SPEAKER_03All right. Well we didn't solve anything but I sure got to air my uh your grievances. Yeah so basically I wish I wish I'm sympathetic, Jeff.
SPEAKER_02The way it used to be I'm sympathetic.
SPEAKER_03I just don't think it you found one of the things where I am Uber conservative.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Not Uber. College football.
SPEAKER_03Baseball even I'm okay with certain things. I'm okay with I'm okay with the challenging the strike zone and stuff like that. I'm o I'm okay with the pitch count. I'm okay with all that but there are certain things within sports keep them the same. Yeah so yeah really just a couple weeks ago super excited and then I find out college football's doing this and then the Browns announced that um Deshaun Watson is going to be their starting quarterback this year. So even though he has like 27 he's been like 27 counts he's been accused of rape or something like that.
SPEAKER_02I mean that is always the case ridiculous we'll take you back if you can throw touchdowns.
SPEAKER_03Yeah but the fact of the matter is he's really not even that good. Okay. Well apparently he's better though than than Dion Sanders kid Oh really? That's that was the other one that was coming up yeah so all right thanks for getting under my skin today you're welcome thank you for listening to Living on Common Ground.
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