Better Look Now At Hawk Central on NIL

Go watch women's basketball...that's amateurism. Nobody's getting rich doing it. Apparently it's exciting too. I tried, didn't work for me. I'll take Iowa's pro sport instead--Hawkeye football.

The sports that are virtually untainted by money seem to have way more emotion than the ones with cash flowing. The pros particularly don't seem to give much of a shit anymore. I mean if you get a $100 million contract, the day that you inked that is going to be a much more momentous event in your life than winning some trophy. Same shit happened in NASCAR when the money skyrocketed. No one is trying to lose, but when you make half a million bucks for driving for 4 hours it's hard to be too despondent if you finish in second place.
 
Nope. SCOTUS said athletes can make money. They didn't regulate how.

What can the NCAA do? Take away eligibility? Not gonna happen; there'd be way too much backlash. Kick member schools out? Go ahead. The NCAA isn't needed anymore, and I guarantee you there are plenty of schools that would love to break away and start a sanctioning body and league of their own.


Yep.

The fools here and elsewhere thinking this is still the era of 1949 college amateurism are just that--fools.

College football and basketball are nothing more than professional sports trying their best to make themselves backwardly fit in an abstract description of amateurism. The quicker the fuddy duddies realize that amateurism, and the "Ra, ra, college," "win one for the Gipper stuff" is long dead, the better.

Go watch women's basketball...that's amateurism. Nobody's getting rich doing it. Apparently it's exciting too. I tried, didn't work for me. I'll take Iowa's pro sport instead--Hawkeye football.

So does college football try to level the playing field, ala pro sports? Salary cap and other parity-inducing regulations?

I am not exactly sure how pro leagues get around anti-trust laws to do that, and I am not interested enough to spend a lot of time to find out (it seems like the answer probably lies in here: https://thesportjournal.org/article...sports-industry-from-a-financial-perspective/). Would a 2 super-league football entity be able to enforce parity-inducing regulations?
 
Nope. SCOTUS said athletes can make money. They didn't regulate how.

What can the NCAA do? Take away eligibility? Not gonna happen; there'd be way too much backlash. Kick member schools out? Go ahead. The NCAA isn't needed anymore, and I guarantee you there are plenty of schools that would love to break away and start a sanctioning body and league of their own.


Yep.

The fools here and elsewhere thinking this is still the era of 1949 college amateurism are just that--fools.

College football and basketball are nothing more than professional sports trying their best to make themselves backwardly fit in an abstract description of amateurism. The quicker the fuddy duddies realize that amateurism, and the "Ra, ra, college," "win one for the Gipper stuff" is long dead, the better.

Go watch women's basketball...that's amateurism. Nobody's getting rich doing it. Apparently it's exciting too. I tried, didn't work for me. I'll take Iowa's pro sport instead--Hawkeye football.

And as an aside, I understand you live a long way from Iowa City, but if you are local, Women's Basketball is a great event. Way cheaper than a men's ticket, less hassle for parking, and a more consistently entertaining product. Just top-notch for a young family. Their sold-out games at the end of the year were bonkers. If possible, you should catch Caitlyn Clark in person before she graduates.
 
I guess you forgot about the windmill comment I made. Your comment about chivalry and idealism is based on your view of the world, but people who disagree with you are neither foolish nor out of touch with reality. Your conclusion, however, is a product of your narrow mind as you continue to dismiss other’s views. Foolish? Out of touch with reality? Look in the mirror, Fry.
You used a Quixote reference and I know it well. It’s an allusion to imaginary enemies..

And I replied that Quixote, whatever your opinion of the character or theme of the novel, would've seen the NCAA as the evil power in this situation. Which is ironic as hell because you're defending the NCAA as a righteous organization to be respected and followed. That's as ironic as it gets.
 
And as an aside, I understand you live a long way from Iowa City, but if you are local, Women's Basketball is a great event. Way cheaper than a men's ticket, less hassle for parking, and a more consistently entertaining product. Just top-notch for a young family. Their sold-out games at the end of the year were bonkers. If possible, you should catch Caitlyn Clark in person before she graduates.
I've been to two womens games. Last one was like 3 years ago, I don't remember. Gustafson was still playing.

Here's my issue (this is going to get me roasted, but whatever. It's the truth)

The thing with women's basketball is that it's not even in the same galaxy as the men's or even boys version. Go to most high schools around the state, take their varsity boys team, and put them in the WNBA championship. They'd drop 150 on the best womens pro team on the planet and it wouldn't even be close. Hell, the women's national soccer team got beat handily by a 14u boys team in an exhibition. That style of sport isn’t what gets my interest. There’s nothing wrong with it at all and it’s awesome that a lot of people find it interesting. But it’s an inferior product.

It is what it is. Elite females are genetically less athletic than elite males when it comes to size, strength, and speed. Size, strength, and speed are a major part of what makes sports exciting, imo. Nothing anyone can do about it unfortunately.
 
I've been to two womens games. Last one was like 3 years ago, I don't remember. Gustafson was still playing.

Here's my issue (this is going to get me roasted, but whatever. It's the truth)

The thing with women's basketball is that it's not even in the same galaxy as the men's or even boys version. Go to most high schools around the state, take their varsity boys team, and put them in the WNBA championship. They'd drop 150 on the best womens pro team on the planet and it wouldn't even be close. Hell, the women's national soccer team got beat handily by a 14u boys team in an exhibition. That style of sport isn’t what gets my interest. There’s nothing wrong with it at all and it’s awesome that a lot of people find it interesting. But it’s an inferior product.

It is what it is. Elite females are genetically less athletic than elite males when it comes to size, strength, and speed. Size, strength, and speed are a major part of what makes sports exciting, imo. Nothing anyone can do about it unfortunately.

I get it, and I don't want to force you to watch something you don't enjoy. Follow your passions. But I like competitiveness. Lots of us watch HS sports even though they are way worse than college. We watch college even though they are way worse than pros. Heck, we might even get a kick out of youth sports. We enjoy watching people compete within their level.

I am not sure if you were trying to be hyperbolic with the statement about most HS programs smoking the WNBA champions...but there is just no way that would happen. A select team of Iowa boys would probably beat a WNBA team, but I doubt if any Iowa HS team would do so. I have no way to prove that, of course, but I feel pretty strongly that I am right on that one.

I only have one more argument to try to convince you to try an Iowa game while Clark is there:

 
I've been to two womens games. Last one was like 3 years ago, I don't remember. Gustafson was still playing.

Here's my issue (this is going to get me roasted, but whatever. It's the truth)

The thing with women's basketball is that it's not even in the same galaxy as the men's or even boys version. Go to most high schools around the state, take their varsity boys team, and put them in the WNBA championship. They'd drop 150 on the best womens pro team on the planet and it wouldn't even be close. Hell, the women's national soccer team got beat handily by a 14u boys team in an exhibition. That style of sport isn’t what gets my interest. There’s nothing wrong with it at all and it’s awesome that a lot of people find it interesting. But it’s an inferior product.

It is what it is. Elite females are genetically less athletic than elite males when it comes to size, strength, and speed. Size, strength, and speed are a major part of what makes sports exciting, imo. Nothing anyone can do about it unfortunately.
Dude, no HS boys basketball team is going to beat a top college women's basketball team. I'm talking a top 10 team with a good coach. I mean I get your point, but c'mon.
 
Dude, no HS boys basketball team is going to beat a top college women's basketball team. I'm talking a top 10 team with a good coach. I mean I get your point, but c'mon.
False. Take a solid varsity boys basketball team and they’ll hammer the WNBA champs. Not even a contest.

Pat Summit told the story many times about how when she was coaching, she would have her womens teams scrimmage against random guys intramural squads from Tennessee to give them tougher opponents that would beat them. These are guys playing pick up games.
 
Apples to oranges, here, but this will always make me laugh.


I had never heard of that either, great story-telling.

Women's players (any sport) completely understand the gap that exists between them and their elite, male counterparts. Likewise, men's players typically have great respect for their elite, female counterparts because they know the work and dedication that goes into becoming elite. Some of the biggest women's basketball supporters are NBA players.

But while no one who understands sports would argue that women are the athletic equals of the men, you have to appreciate how much better the elite women are than their competitors, and also how much better they are than 99.9% of all men.

Take something very tangible, track and field.

The top women's 100m time is 10.49 (set in the 80s by FloJo with some suspicion, and finally being approached again by today's competitors).

There were probably 50-100 high school boys who bettered that time in the US last year. But that leaves hundreds of thousands who couldn't come close to it. I don't think there is a single Iowa Football player who bettered that time as a HS athlete. And knowing the physiological differences between men and women, that is extremely impressive, and I find that worthy of my sports-entertainment attention.

By the way, T&F worlds start today in Eugene, OR (first time ever on US soil). US has one of the best crops of young sprinters it has had in awhile; if you don't know the names Erriyon Knighton (has broken most of Usain Bolt's junior records), Trey Lyles, Fred Kerly, Sydney McLaughlin, or Athing Mu, try to catch some of the action, I think you will enjoy it.
 
This is a pretty eye-opening video:
 
Maybe they should have done a Google search before settling on the name:
 
Some more good info from yesterday's press conference:

https://www.hawkcentral.com/story/s...rentz-lisa-bluder-fran-mccaffery/10068261002/

Interesting that ALL PLAYERS from the 3 sports represented by this collective (FB, men's BB, women's BB) will receive the exact same amount of money. They are aiming for about $1,000 per month, but need to do more fundraising to get to that point.

They do have a separate arm of this collective that will help negotiate endorsement deals for the highly marketable athletes. This will help streamline the process of obtaining endorsement deals, and protect student-athletes from bad deals.

It is great that the collective is in partnership with United Way, so the work the athletes are doing to earn the money is directly helping the community. So many of them are already involved in volunteering and charity, this will serve to further that work.

It is also encouraging that the CEO, COO, and the VP of Events and Engagement are uber-legit. Should bode well for long-term success of this venture.

It will be interesting if sport-specific collectives emerge (e.g. one just for football), and if they focus more on the recruiting side of things (e.g. offering big-money to the big-name recruits). I understand why a coach might be uneasy with that, but it might be necessary to survive. Pro coaches have to deal with egos and different guys in the locker room making different amounts of money; college coaches might not want that headache, but they better be prepared for it.
 

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