The Saturday Column With No Name
- Texas Tech’s NiJaree Canady was worth every penny of N.I.L. money and more for Red Raider Softball At around a million dollars for next year, same thing. You could have spent 15 million dollars on facilities and coaches and recruiting and not have the impact Canady has had and will have on the program. If you look around college sports, I don’t think you can find another N.I.L. deal that’s paid off as much for a program and school as the Canady/Texas Tech deal. Again, if you’re a Texas Tech fan and hate N.I.L.; I can’t relate to you. Tech has benefited in so any ways the last half-decade from the transfer portal and N.I.L. And that’s why schools like Alabama, Ohio State and Texas want it to go away, change and get back to “regular order” for college sports. They don’t want schools like Texas Tech to crash their private party. Too late. Tech’s here, eating chips and queso, dancing with your dates and having fun. . . Welcome to the party, Red Raiders.
- Speaking of college sports and “regular order”, the House Settlement is not the end. It’s merely the beginning. Even after the judge signed-off the deal that allows/mandates schools to set aside roughly 22 million dollars a year to pay players, lawyers around the country were lining up. There will be lawyers, lawsuits and more that will hold up the implementation of House for months if not years. In fact. I don’t think it ever becomes the “law of the land” for college sports. If I’m a school like Texas Tech, I proceed as normal with N.I.L. and more. Better to seek forgiveness in years to come than ask for permission right now to do what you need to do to win and be competitive. Until there is a C.B.A. with college players and colleges….nothing will fundamentally change.
- Back to the Women’s College World Series. The Big 12 could and should take a lesson from what goes on in OKC each Spring. The park is the exact right size for the crowds. It generates awesome energy with a full-house of fans. Do that for the Big 12 Baseball Tournament if you insist on continuing to play it. Take it back to minor league baseball stadiums like the Old Days in Bricktown. The atmosphere was great, fans had fun and you make more money than having to work the the Rangers or whoever… The Arizona site will be a disaster. No one will go out there from Texas and Oklahoma, let alone the other schools. One reason that the old Pac-12 schools are glad to be in the Big 12… Big 12 programs have fans who care and show up to games, unlike most schools West of the Rockies. So, take a cue from the WCWS and get the Big 12 Tournament back to OKC, Frisco or some other smaller venue where the fans who care about a tournament that even the players and coaches hate… might show up and have some fun.
Y’all have a great rest of the day and we’ll see you in the morning with our 5 Things columns.
Hyatt
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