Pros By Any Name

Pro football playoffs open this weekend and there is a heavy schedule of NFL games, too.

Yes, my friends, the college game is nothing more than a minor league pro operation, at least at the upper levels. Name Image and Likeness (NIL) revenue is the tail that now wags the dog.

College sports programs have been taken to court and forced to share their monetary windfalls with the athletes. Part of of that is allowing said “amateur” athletes to collect on separate deals. And this leads to absurdity such as the backup Texas quarterback — in part owing to a last name of Manning — earning $3-plus million in NIL money, which is more than the starter gets.

I will watch the spectacle, but with a jaundiced eye and sheer disgust for when the broadcasters talk about playing for State.

This moves us to re-order a traditional Christmas carol to acknowledge the state of athletics.

Sing it to the tune of We Three Kings

College sports are stacking the cash

And this leads to lots of backlash

NILs and other payments

Make us all want to puke

Oh, stars make money, stars shine bright

Backups also claim their right

Making millions, even billions

This is a corrupt stew

College football, NFL

What’s the difference no one can tell

All are pros as ye can see

Playing for pay their thing

Oh, let’s all praise hypocrisy

Right in front, for all to see

Amateurs are a dying breed

Let us lament our loss

In the end, no longer a game

Just a chance to make it rain

Showing up on CNBC

Tracking the worth of State

Oh, once again let us proclaim

How we miss the college game

Big name coaches feel the same

Leaving the sport for dead.