Moving the Chains: Before Sports lost its Sanity – Part Two

Columnist

Continuing with the comparison of sports — then and now…

 Bear Bryant. Dean Smith. Bobby Bowden. College coaches were respected once upon

a time. Today, with the likes of Bobby Petrino, Charlies Weis, and Urban Meyer,

they’re more likely to be ridiculed.

 LSU’s ‘Pistol’ Pete Maravich averaged more than 44 points a game in his three-year

collegiate career. And he did it without the benefit of making any three-point shots,

because there was no such thing back then. No one has come close to his scoring

average ever since. In fact, only nine players have averaged more than 30 points a

game even after the three-point shot was introduced in 1986. There will likely never

be a player again who could score like Maravich — even with a shot worth three points

which, in my opinion should be abolished anyway.

 Speaking of abolished, the NCAA outlawed dunking while Lew Alcindor was playing

basketball for the UCLA Bruins. Why? Because Alcindor was so dominant with it. He

was the exception, and therefore was singled out. Hardly anyone in college dunked

back then. Today, dunking is no longer the exception; it’s the rule. Virtually every

basketball player in college and the NBA does it. While I don’t think dunking should be

abolished like the three-point shot, I DO think the rim should be raised another foot.

It’s time to make dunking the exception once more. As for the players who will no

longer be able to dunk on an eleven-foot goal, they will just have to adjust to shooting

at a higher basket — although it might not happen overnight.

 Olympic teams from the United States were comprised of amateurs. Today, athletes

from around the world who are paid to compete in their respective sports are allowed

to compete in the Olympics as well. That just doesn’t seem right, and it never will. The

Olympics should be for athletes who participate in their chosen sport to represent their

country … and bring home the gold, the silver, or the bronze — not the green.

 Speaking of being paid to compete, the professional athletes’ salaries have gotten

completely out of hand. Pete Rose, the career leader in hits in Major League Baseball,

earned $7.1 million in his storied 27-year. That would be $7.1 million — for the duration

of his time as both player and coach. Travis d’arnaud, who will catch for the Atlanta

Braves this season, will earn more than that in this year alone. Today, even the

athletes in collegiate sports can be paid through the absolutely insane NIL. South

Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler had a NIL value estimate of $2 million in 2022.

And there were three other college quarterbacks with NIL values even higher than that.

 All-Star games in Major League Baseball were taken seriously. Remember Pete Rose of

the National League barreling over Ray Fosse, the catcher for the American League, at

home plate to win the game in 1970? Today, the Home Run Derby draws more interest

than the outcome of the game.

 The NFL’s pro bowl was another All-Star game that used to be taken seriously. Today,

it’s been reduced to a plethora of meaningless competitions — like dodgeball and Kick

Tac Toe (I only wish I was kidding) — before culminating in a game of seven-on-seven

(wait for it) FLAG football.

 Everyone knew the name of the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion. Muhammad

Ali. Joe Frazier. George Frazier. Larry Holmes. Quick: who is the champion today?

(It’s Tyson Fury. I had to look it up. Be honest: I saved you the trouble of doing it,

didn’t I?)

 College football conference alignments used to have some semblance of geographical

accuracy. (Where have you gone, Southwest Conference?). Soon, west coast teams

(USC and UCLA) will be joining the Big Ten, setting the stage for cross-country travel for

regular season games (i.e. UCLA vs. Rutgers will feature teams from California and New

Jersey, respectively). Texas and Oklahoma will soon join the Southeastern Conference.

Fans can now look forward to the much-anticipated game — after all, they haven’t met

in more than 100 years — between the Longhorns and the Commodores of Vanderbilt

(sarcasm font used).

 Sports Illustrated was once known for its timely reporting, outstanding writing, and

weekly publication. Today it’s only published once a month, and although the writing is

still better than what is found in most magazines, the reporting is anything but timely.

Most of the articles are features of athletes, teams, and events that took place in the

past. Case in point: it used to be that when a major sporting event occurred — the

Super Bowl or the Masters, for example — the coverage in the magazine was thorough

and eloquently written. This year, after the Georgia Bulldogs won their second

consecutive National Championship, regular subscribers had to fork over an additional

$19.99 for the ‘special edition’ coverage of the game. Incidentally, there was no

mention of it in their regular monthly issues.

To be continued…