The shotgun blast sounded at midnight. The earnings restrictions on NCAA athletes were gone, and some were ready.
Quarterbacks McKenzie Milton of Florida State and D’Eriq King of Miami announced late at night their partnership with Dreamfield, a platform focused on booking live events for student-athletes.
A few hours later, OSU wrestling star A.J. Ferrari announced he had signed with wrestling apparel company Nearfall.
Then OU quarterback Spencer Rattler released his new marketing logo, complete with a snakehead coming out of the S for Spencer.
Everyone associated with collegiate athletics, from NCAA administrators all the way to fans, appear to be in much angst over what the new Name/Image/Likeness freedom means. What will happen? What to do?
Everyone except the athletes, that is. They knew what to do. Market themselves and cash in.
And there’s nothing wrong with that.
The Friday ScissorTales looks at OSU’s exceptional all-sports year, and we continue our series of repicking NBA Drafts. But we start with the brave new world of Name/Image/Likeness.
The NIL era began Thursday, and it should be the best of both worlds for college sports. The athletes who long have felt exploited finally will get paid. But the universities don’t have to pay them. A market economy is a beautiful thing.
I’m no expert on NIL, and I don’t know if anyone is. But I do have some thoughts.
► Everybody settle down.
It’s silly to believe that NIL is going to change college sports as we know it. It’s likely to change the lives of athletes, but it’s not likely to change the sporting landscape.
The NCAA’s immediate-eligibility rule for transfers has a far bigger impact than NIL. College sports are changing. But not because of NIL.
► Competitive (im)balance will not be affected.
Is Alabama suddenly going to struggle to recruit? Is Alabama suddenly going to have greater recruiting advantages?
Before NIL, Alabama gets most of whoever it wants. Why is NIL going to change that? And on a lesser scale, the same is true of Clemson in the Atlantic Coast, OU in the Big 12, Ohio State in the Big Ten, and on down the line.
Basketball, same way.
Now, other sports could be different. Baseball, for instance, only hands out 11.7 scholarships per year, divided up among 30 or so players. A sharp baseball player who knows how to make money via NIL avenues could migrate to the Southeastern Conference powers, where baseball players are regional celebrities, and make some cash that would offset the discrepancy in a lesser scholarship. But we’ll have to see.
► Star players don’t have the corner on NIL riches.
Yes, it helps to be Rattler or Spencer Sanders or Brock Purdy or some big-time quarterback. But the biggest NIL winners will be those who know how to market themselves via social media.
We’ve all read the stories of athletes we’ve never heard of but who have hundreds of thousands of followers on social media, and how those numbers appeal to business entrepreneurs.
Firing a tight spiral 50 yards downfield is beneficial in the economic arena. But knowing how to brand yourself is even better.
► Don’t worry about jealousy.
Old-time coaches are quite concerned that chemistry issues will arise from a quarterback making $100,000 on NIL will be counting on blocking from a left guard making $475 on NIL.
I certainly suppose that’s possible. But are there chemistry issues on staffs with a coach making $5 million a year, counting on a receivers coach to beat the bushes for talent making $200,000? Are there chemistry issues now, with some players driving sportscars purchased by their parents and some players without the money to see a movie?
Probably the answer is yes. And still teams function.
► The transfer portal and NIL don’t have to be a combustible mix.
Some worry that the transfer portal will go into overdrive, when you add the NIL factor.
But I don’t see it. First off, the portal is in overdrive already.
Players are transferring en masse for two primary reasons: they’re having success and want to try a bigger stage (higher level, stronger league, more prestigious program), or they’re not having success and want a fresh start with more opportunity.
Could economic wanderlust creep in? Sure, it’s possible. But a player who’s content with his role and his athletic environment isn’t likely cast a wavering eye at geography when it comes to economic benefit.
Us old-timers think of Alabama car dealers as the source for all this NIL money. But that’s nonsense. The black gold is social media. And players can strike that from anywhere.
► Rogue boosters are not the boogeyman.
Does NIL give boosters carte blanche to funnel money to athletes? Yes. Will boosters funnel money to athletes? Yes. Is this a huge problem? I don’t see how.
The basketball coach at LSU, on this very day, is Will Wade. The same Will Wade who was captured on FBI wiretaps three years ago talking about buying players.
The NCAA got out of the enforcement business long ago. It’s time to stop worrying about the corruption and just learn to live with it.
And heck, for all I know, the new transfer rules will cause rogue boosters to settle down. They like their money as much as the rest of us like money. Maybe they’ll ask, do I really want to give Johnny Linebacker $10,000, when he could pop into the portal next week?
Look, I don’t know what’s going to happen with NIL.
But I know that the International Olympic Committee spent almost a century fighting the relaxation of amateur rules. The Olympic movement not only survived the fall of amateurism, it has thrived.
I know that professional sports considered free agency the devil incarnate. Turns out, the lack of free agency was what impeded the entertainment of sports.
I know that new OSU athletic director Chad Weiberg pointed out Thursday that the addition of cost-of-attendance to athletic scholarships was painted as a radical revolution, and now, “We don’t even talk about it.”
Who knows what NIL will bring? But there is no reason to believe it will change anything of substance except the amount of money in athletes’ pockets.
Repicking the 2004 NBA Draft
The 2004 NBA Draft was known for its two centers at the top. One hit, one didn’t exactly miss or hit. Such is life with the draft.
We continue our series of repicking NBA Drafts, and after the fantastic 2003 draft, the 2004 draft went back to being largely crapshoot. The eventual five best players were picked 1-9-7-15-43.
In the end, with most of the players having retired, the draft is mostly blah. A reminder that sometimes, no matter where you pick or who you pick, it just wasn’t meant to be.
Here are the 15 best players in the draft, as determined by basketball-reference.com’s win-shares metric:
1. Dwight Howard (first to Magic): The only superstar to emerge from the draft, we now think of Howard as sort of clownish. But he was a dominant big man for a long time and led Orlando to the 2009 NBA Finals.
2. Andre Igoudala (ninth to 76ers): A good player on a lot of good teams, Igoudala was a big scorer (three straight seasons averaging at least 18 points a game) in his early Philadelphia days, then a great defender and sixth man in his Warriors days. Still playing quality minutes, for Miami.
3. Luol Deng (seventh to Bulls, via trade): We forget how good Deng played when he was healthy, but Deng averaged 16.1 points a game, with quality perimeter defense, in 10 Chicago seasons, and his career lasted through 2018-19.
4. Al Jefferson (15th to Celtics): A classic low-post player, Jefferson was a big-time scorer (19.0 points a game in a nine-year span), before the game started making his position obsolete.
5. Trevor Ariza (43rd to Knicks): A poor-man’s Igoudala, Ariza has carved out quite the career. He never averaged double-digit points his first five seasons but has brought up his career average to 10.5. Ariza has not stayed anywhere long – he’s played for 10 franchises, not counting the Thunder, which had him on the roster a good chunk of this season.
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6. Kevin Martin (26th to Kings): A stunningly-productive scorer, which made up for defensive deficiencies. Martin averaged 21.8 points a game while shooting 38 percent from 3-point range in 2006-12. He was traded to OKC in the James Harden deal of 2013 and was an excellent sixth man for the Thunder. But Martin signed with Minnesota in free agency, and despite two more prolific scoring seasons, his career was over in summer 2016.
7. Devin Harris (fifth to Mavericks, via trade): A good point guard for a long time, particularly with Dallas and New Jersey. Harris played in 985 NBA games and averaged 10.8 points a game.
8. Josh Smith (17th to Hawks): A lightning-rod player who took too many bad shots and often got lost on defense, Smith still became a big-time shot blocker and a good scorer (14.5 points over 894 games).
9. Jameer Nelson (20th to Magic, via trade): Became Orlando’s starting point guard in his third season and spent eight years in that role. Many of those teams were quite successful. Nelson lasted 14 seasons in the NBA, averaging 11.3 points and 5.1 assists.
10. Anderson Varejao (30th to Cavaliers, via trade): Mr. Cavalier. Spent 12 years with Cleveland, 2005-16, as a defensive dynamo. The Cavs even brought him back this season for two 10-day contracts, four years after he left the NBA.
11. J.R. Smith (18th to Hornets): Strange career. Mercurial personality. Often in the doghouse. Always questionable shot selection. But Smith at times could guard on the perimeter, and almost always could score. As a Hornet rookie, as a Nugget supersub, as a four-year Knick and as a starter on the Cavs’ 2016 NBA title team. Smith played in 977 NBA games and averaged 12.4 points.
12. Emeka Okafor (second to Bobcats): A solid center – 12.0 points, 9.7 rebounds over 616 career games – but not befitting the No. 2 pick. Didn’t help that he toiled mostly in Charlotte anonymity.
13. Tony Allen (25th to Celtics): The OSU Cowboy probably should be higher on this list. A valuable reserve on the great Boston teams of the late ‘00s, then the heart and soul of Memphis’ gritty playoff teams in the early ‘10s.
14. Ben Gordon (third to Bulls): A good player who didn’t stick around long (11 seasons). Gordon averaged 14.9 points and shot 40.4 percent from 3-point range, but his defense left most coaches frustrated.
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15. Beno Udrih (28th to Spurs): A journeyman point guard who lasted a long time (13 seasons).
Some other notable players from that draft:
► Shaun Livingston went fourth overall to the Clippers, developed just so-so through 2½ seasons, then suffered one of the worst injuries in NBA history and played only 48 games in three seasons. Livingston bounced around the league but landed with the Warriors in 2014 and became a major bench player for championship teams.
► Kirk Snyder, who had some flashes with the Hornets in their OKC days, went 16th overall, to the Jazz. But he played in just 211 NBA games.
► The Seattle SuperSonics’ first-round pick, 12th overall, was center Robert Swift, who lasted just four seasons.
OSU athletics had a very good year
New OSU athletic director Chad Weiberg dropped a nugget of information on his first official day on the job. Weiberg was in the middle of his introductory speech in the O-Club room of Gallagher-Iba Arena when, while extolling the solid position of the athletic department, he pointed out that “every single one of our teams participated in NCAA postseason play.”
That struck me as significant and it struck some OSU fans, too.
And it’s true. It comes with some caveats, of course.
OSU sponsors 17 sports. So it’s not like Stanford fielding 36 varsity teams. But still, impressive.
And some teams don’t actually qualify for the postseason. Individuals do. Wrestling is that way. Track. But all 13 teams with a path to postseason play made it.
Football. Both basketball teams. Both tennis teams. Both golf teams. Both cross-country teams. Equestrian. Softball. Baseball. Soccer.
“I point that out not to brag or take any credit, but simply to say I’ve been fortunate to be a part of good things with good people over the last four years here,” Weiberg said.
OSU finished 18th nationally in the Learfield/IMG College Directors’ Cup, which measures department-wide success based on a university’s finish in NCAA championship events. That’s OSU’s second-best finish ever, behind a No. 13 placing in 2015-16.
Texas finished No. 1, followed by Stanford, Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Southern Cal, Alabama, Arkansas, Ohio State and Georgia.
OU was No. 24, Baylor No. 29, Iowa State No. 38, Texas Tech No. 43, Texas Christian No. 45 and West Virginia No. 49.
OSU did not win an NCAA championship this school year. But the Cowgirl golf team was the NCAA runnerup, and five other OSU teams finished in the top 10 – men’s cross-country, equestrian, and men’s golf and wrestling, third or tied for third; and softball, tied for fifth.
The NCAA does not sponsor an equestrian championship, so that success was not included in the Director’s Cup rankings.
“There are so many good things happening here, highlighted by the teams’ success of this year amid the backdrop of COVID,” Weiberg said.
Mailbag: Mike Holder & Boone Pickens
Most of my email comes from regular readers who are like me. On the outside of this big machine we call sports. But every once in awhile, I hear from someone on the inside.
Like Thursday, when I received a nice note from Elizabeth Cordia, Boone Pickens’ daughter. She wrote about my column in the Wednesday Oklahoman, concerning outgoing OSU athletic director Mike Holder.
Elizabeth: “Thank you for the wonderful article about Mike. It’s a story that needs to be shared over and over, as you know, Mike will be the last to toot his own horn! It’s truly an amazing story how he had a vision, put the right team together and then fulfilled a dream. He gives my dad so much credit, but Mike Holder was the visionary and the team builder. His critics truly could not have understood his accomplishments. My father loved Mike like a son, and he would greatly appreciate your giving Mike the praise and recognition he deserves.”
Tramel: Well, thanks. Very nice to hear from Pickens’ daughter. As some of you know, I got to know Boone fairly well, before his death in 2019 at age 91. I spent a day at his Dallas office several years ago for a story, and I once rode with him on his jet to an OSU-A&M game. He would call me on occasion, just to get a different OSU perspective. I really valued our relationship. But Elizabeth is right. Holder is the man who made it happen at OSU.
Venue ventures: Franklin Field
The Philadelphia Eagles have been in existence since 1933 and have called six stadiums home.
The Baker Bowl, home of the Phillies, built in 1887 and torn down in 1950.
Municipal Stadium, later renamed JFK Stadium. Opened in 1926 and torn down in 1992, it was home to 41 Army-Navy games.
Shibe Park, later known as Connie Mack Stadium, home of the old Athletics and later the Phillies. It opened in 1909 and eventually was razed in 1975.
Veterans Stadium, which the Eagles shared with the Phillies as one of the multi-use coliseums similar to Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and St. Louis. It stood from 1970-2003.
Lincoln Financial Field, current home of the Eagles.
And the University of Pennsylvania’s Franklin Field. The stadium I would like to visit.
Franklin Field was the Eagles’ home from 1958-70. It has hosted 18 Army-Navy games. And it’s been the home of the Penn Quakers since 1895.
Franklin Field is home of the Penn Relays. It was the first American stadium with a scoreboard of an upper deck. In the 1930s, Penn led the nation in attendance, with the 65,000-seat stadium often expanded to accommodate 78,000.
Franklin Field has undergone renovation and now seats 52,000. The Quakers do not lead the nation in attendance. But Franklin Field, still hosting college football, is a monument to other times.
Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.
