Guest post: The Gridiron unbound
Indiana columnist and historian Mike Murphy dissects the business of college sports and last week's Ohio State, Michigan brawl
Today’s newsletter features a guest column from longtime Indiana Republican, communicator and historian Mike Murphy.
I’ve got media reporter
on the Livestream today at 4p ET. We’re talking about the new independent media, what works, what doesn’t, what counts as “mainstream media” these days and more. Read his piece from earlier this year on the long tail of journalism.
If you’re not already, support independent journalism with a paid subscription — $5/month or $50/year. I’m staying in the trenches because I believe in and love professional reporting, but I need your help to do that. Your support is what keeps me from dropping journalism for a more steady and lucrative career in public relations or, apparently, bitcoin.
1. The Big Ten becomes the Big Timid
Reprinted with permission from Indiana Capital Chronicle, a member of States Newsroom. Find more from Indiana Capital Chronicle here.
There has been a lot of angst about the meaning of Saturday’s post-game brawl between Big Ten teams Ohio State and Michigan. Some of my friends interpret the throw-down as a good thing. One friend wrote “we could use a little more mess.” He gives the college football system too much credit.
I have been going to Notre Dame games since 1962. When my Dad was entertaining university guests, I could hear the fans cheer from my front yard. I did not have to be there or watching on television to know how the Irish were doing. There is something, though, about witnessing the violence of an intense college rivalry that can be tough to watch, but impossible to look away from.
Between 1971 and 1983, I went to every home game — five of those years standing among the players on the sideline, often within feet of Coach Ara Parseghian. Back then, all players had to play for was each other, and school pride. Like a combat unit, you fought for the guys on either side of you, designated by your gold helmet, analogous to your division patch. Big-time college football today represents none of those noble characteristics. It is fruitless to try to hang on to values of the “good old days”, which have left us like a ’63 Studebaker.
Today’s Division 1 is a free agent environment in which players sometimes wear the uniform of four or five teams in six years. Fewer graduate, because they have realized it’s not about the education. It’s about the money. Pure, unadulterated greed. And can you blame the players? For decades, they and their parents watched athletes’ bodies being used by universities that built billion-dollar temples to the school brand while cascading multi-million- dollar contracts on coaches. At Notre Dame, the head coaching position is endowed by a mega-rich Irish fan. The university built a $400-million addition to their iconic stadium, and in the best tradition of propaganda, labeled it an “academic building.” And the alums bought into it. Anything perceived to bolster the Lady on top of the Dome.
Business model
Now, in search of the championship ring, alumni networks have formed corporate LLC’s that fund hiring players as young as 14. They do not even pretend it has anything to do with education. The “ring” absolves all sins of greed. Players, understandably, are demanding their shares of the cash haul. After all, they are the ones who end up with broken bodies.
If you really believe that Division 1 football exhibits any but the most surface qualities of earlier decades, please sit down with Nick Saban, the best college football coach of the past 40 years (maybe ever). And yes, that includes Knute Rockne. At least read interviews he has given. He will tell you that after the Alabama-Michigan game in early 2024, he realized that he had nothing to talk about with his players. All they cared about was “how much playing time will I get next year, and how much will I get paid?” Saban chose to hang up his headphones.
The Ohio State-Michigan brawl had nothing to do with school pride. It was a classless, petulant eruption of spoiled, entitled teenagers, whose cars often cost more than most Americans’ homes. The police were justified in pepper spraying players and coaches wearing the colors of both schools.
The Big Ten will now forever be known as the “Big Timid”. When the conference had the chance to hold Ohio State and Michigan accountable for “loss of institutional control” (literally), they punted. The schools were each fined $100,000. In Michigan’s case, .05% of the university’s endowment. For Ohio State, the equivalent of the day’s profits for a couple of the stadium’s hot dog stands. The Big Timid also fumbled the opportunity to show the nation that wanton violence at their games will not be tolerated. The players have no one to show them a better way.
Fortunately, you can watch great college football in its purest form, less than two hours’ drive from where the Big Timid championship will be played. On any given Saturday you can see Wabash, or DePauw, or Hanover, or Taylor play their hearts out. Smart, great athletes who play for the guys on either side of them, and for the honor victory brings. That is what American college football should be all about.
Mike Murphy is a Strategic Communications Consultant, Author, and Historian. He served in the Indiana General Assembly 1994-2010. He graduated with a master's degree from Indiana University and a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Notre Dame.
7. Get in front of decision-makers with 24sight News
The fractured media environment has elevated the importance of independent journalism not only as a means of helping the public make informed decisions, but also for top leaders looking to make sense of things in some very tumultuous times.
A sponsorship helps get you in front of the people who call the shots, build your brand and support independent journalism. 24sight News is read regularly by top government officials, staffers, campaign aides, media leaders, local leaders and many more across the political spectrum and the country.
My first sponsor, Highlighter, launched as a startup recently helping parents of children with special needs throughout the Washington Metro area navigate the world of individualized education programs (IEPs) with its AI tools. It recently expanded to school districts in Tennessee, learn more about Highlighter here.
If you’d like to discuss opportunities, email me at tom@24sight.news.
Cheers,
Tom LoBianco
National politics reporter and co-founder, 24sight News