Gang, another great week.
And friends, we have the fattest mailbag that I can recall, so I am going to try to be as brief as possible (even if I am more of a boxer guy).
Let’s tend to business first, and that starts with: As tired as I am of Kamala v. Donald, I am more tired and sickened by the daily arrests in our county of students threatening violence against schools.
Wow, it’s like every day this month, you know?
Here’s Paschall on UT’s kicker. Yep, the staple of the game vs. the weak sisters of the poor, the kicker feature.
Here’s some prep football from some fat-faced fella.
As for the Rushmores, I will post them in the comments around lunch.
To be fair to my editor and to get all of your questions in, well, this got lengthy.
To the bag:
From JMac
NASCAR and the 15 charter teams have been negotiating for two years on the new charters that go in effect in 2025. Last week, NASCAR said there was not going to be any more movement on their part, and the teams had to sign the charters by Friday or risk losing their charter. Of the 15 Teams with charters, 13 signed. Front Row and 23XI did not. As much as NASCAR needs Michael Jordon, do you think they would revoke his charter? When Talladega first opened, Richard Petty, then head of the driver’s association, said it was unsafe, and they wouldn’t race. Big Bill France recruited a bunch of other drivers, and Petty missed out on the first Talladega. I can see them doing something like that again, just to show who is the boss.
J-Mac,
MJ is the biggest name — maybe in all sports — but how many new viewers is he bringing to NASCAR?
So yeah, I think they will look seriously at pulling charters to make sure they get the changes they want.
Plus, NASCAR is in the real spot of being the prime example of P.T. Barnum’s classic, “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.”
I mean, if the France clan was going to tell Lee Petty’s boy to kick rocks, I don’t think they care how many billions His Airness has.
From Joseph
Jay — love the 5@10. Read where you mentioned Riley Gaines coming to town. Will you go hear her speak?
Thanks and keep up the good work.
Joseph,
Probably not.
But I agree with most of what she says about trans-athletes competing against female athletes. But I do wish we could be more understanding of transgender folks, you know?
I am sure Gaines’ speech will be aces if you’re interested. She has developed a huge following.
That said, I saw this story about a Massachusetts girls’ field hockey team that forfeited because their opponent had a boy on the field.
But not a transgender competitor, according to this story. If a male sport is not offered, Massachusetts’ high school rules allow boys to play against the girls.
I bet that will change, don’t you think?
From GolfGuru
Mailbag for Jay — I was sort of sleeping through the debate the other night when Trump mentioned the pets were being eaten in Springfield, as I was dozing back off I’m pretty sure I heard him say that he was accepting the endorsement of Caitlin Clark even though it was rumored she may have an illegitimate father somewhere in Tennessee. Care to comment? Go Braves!
GG,
We have real problems in this country. I would hope a platform like Tuesday night’s debate would have been a chance for serious people to present serious solutions, but look, it seems as if the most famous debate topics of the last decade or so are pets on the menu in Springfield, Ohio, and Joe the Plumber.
Our candidates stink because our system — nominating, conventions, money in politics, etc. — is broken.
As for Caitlin Clark, first, I think she and Patty Mahomes were wise to sidestep “endorsements,” even if each is as popular in their field as Taylor Swift is in hers.
They followed the MJ political answer to “Republicans buy sneakers too.”
As for any rumors about children, know this: Despite my admiration for young Miss Clark, she was born on Jan. 22, 2002. I did not move to ChattaVegas until May of that year.
So if your reports are to be believed, I am in the clear.
From JTC
JG — I was at the UTC v UT game, and Nico is him. How much NIL money does it take to keep 2-or 3-year QBs in an FBS school? How much will that NIL money count towards the salary cap (I kid)? Should there be a hard salary cap in FBS football? How much $ are the player agents making? When will it stop?
Thank you. Go Gators … Napier is not HIM.
JTC,
Nico’s NIL — the reports from The Athletic are factual — will be the standard going forward. His $8 million to come to Tennessee was contingent on staying at least three years, and if portaled or left for another reason, he would be leaving money on the table.
The agents angle is sorely underreported and almost assuredly under-administered for fairness and qualifications.
There will be revenue-sharing in college sports soon, even though college administrators are likely shaking in their loafers since the sitting judge threw out their bargaining offer in the House vs. NCAA case, which sat in the $3 billion range to pay former athletes in the pre-NIL days. That, and with news coming that there are other suits for eight-to-10 figures looming, too.
But there will never be a complete hard-cap, because even for NFL players, who have a CBA that has the hardest cap in all sports, the outside revenue of advertising is not covered.
Heck, former McCallie star and current UT freshman Carson Gentle was all over my TV this weekend for a local fence company. That had to be a deal in the tens of thousands, right?
And no, it will never stop, which leads us to:
From Chas
For Friday’s bag: Tom Fornelli’s Power Rankings maintain these are the nation’s top QBs. Would you make any adjustments to that list?
1) Quinn Ewers
2) Carson Beck
3) Cam Ward
4) Jalen Milroe
5) Nico I.
6) Jaxson Dart
That’s 5 of the top 6 playing in the League Where It Just Means More!
Chas,
May need to rebrand to the previously referenced, “It just costs more.”
Costs for four of the above six names — Ewers, Ward and Dart were high-profile transfers, and we discussed Nico — assuredly were well into seven figures.
And heck, Georgia and Alabama QB1s have been getting that kind of coin long before we knew what NIL was.
Also add to it the NIL budgets for the SEC — and the talent around those cats — is always going to be higher.
From Tom
Mailbag question for Jay since you referred to it today: Will the “law of unintended consequences” result in additional increases in the cost of future college education as a result of NIL lawsuits such as the Denard Robinson vs. Big 10?
Tom,
I don’t see that happening. College academics have always fought against that and will continue too, even though most of the power programs kick back way more than they take from the school’s main accounts.
That said, who knows what’s on the horizon, and what about this scenario:
State school X, say in a place that sounds like Parkville, Sississippi, wants to stay in power sports, but they need more coin.
They get some from the university to raise tuition and fees for students to make the ends meet.
Then the student loan forgiveness bill passes, and now we’re on the hook for at least part of Johnny QB1’s NIL contract in addition to everything else.
From Steelers Fan
I went down to watch the Steelers/Falcons Sunday. Somebody said “Slash” was playing and thought they meant Cordell Stewart. Turns out it was some rock’n’roll guy in a Homburg hat playing guitar riffs during timeouts. So disappointing.
Good game though. The falcons looked typically Falcon-ish (inept) and the Steelers looked like themselves, kings of the ugly win. TJ Watt is pretty good, though.
Steelers Fan,
This made me laugh out loud, and yes, TJ Watt is a stud. Watts > Kelces in terms of NFL brothers awesomeness. Either > than the Mannings.
And if we are making a shortlist of NFL players who came along a generation (or two) too soon, Kordell Stewart is there.
So is Joe Hamilton, who was better in college than Russell Wilson and every bit as good as Bryce Young, just with not as much talent around him.
How many QB1s do we truly know are franchise guys?
Sure, there are dozens who have inked nine-figure contracts because gutless GMs like the guy in Atlanta would rather overpay for Kirk Cousins or any other number of retreads (looking at you, Derek Carr, and you, Baker Mayfield, and several others) than face the uncertainty of drafting a guy.
Spending the owners’ money on extensions or free agents is understandable to fans and stupid sports writers (hi everybody — as Ralphie Wiggum says, “Me fail English, impossible”) in real time and forgettable on the ledge.
Missing on a first-round QB pick is a fireable offense, and like politicians, most pro sports GMs are way more concerned about keeping their job than doing their job well.
Have a great weekend, friends.