How’s this for ironic: Louisiana VIPs participating in the weeklong Washington Mardi Gras festivities are flying north early to D.C. to escape a big winter storm.
The further south you drive, the more slick it will get today.
Snow above the shoetops, maybe even near the knees, is arriving in Cajun country, but not on the red clay hills around here, or even in L.A. (Lower Arkansas).
On his first day back in office, President Trump stalled immigration just as Winter Storm Enzo invaded the I-10 corridor all the way to the Alamo. Enzo? Really? The National Weather Service better mainstream storm names or risk being defunded.
Beg your pardon – which seem to be in abundant supply in the last few days.
But back to irony. There was plenty in Monday night’s College Football Playoff national championship game, the college game’s version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
When pro sports is continuing pushing for parity, big-time college sports is looking a lot like the guest list at Monday’s inauguration ceremony. Tech kingpins (and we’re not talking about Louisiana Tech, Georgia Tech or Texas Tech) who rank among the world’s wealthiest men were front and center: Elon Musk, of course, alongside Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Apple’s Tim Cook and TikTok shotcaller Shou Zi Chew.
This just days after outgoing President Joe Biden warned American democracy was sliding into an “oligarchy” of tech billionaires. Clarity hasn’t been a Biden strong point for quite a while, but seeing is believing and there was nothing subtle about the collection of financial titans in the Capitol Rotunda.
Not among them was the world’s second-richest man, who popped up at the core of college football’s biggest recruiting coup late last year. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison’s much-younger bride, Jolin, is a Michigan graduate and was apparently the motivation behind a hefty NIL contribution that yanked the nation’s top quarterback prospect Bryce Underwood from LSU’s freshman class to the Wolverines’ signing haul in December.
The SEC’s “It Just Means More” slogan has a hollow ring to it, not only because no SEC team played Monday night. To win, you Just Need More. This paradigm shift is, said Baylor beat writer Sam Bradshaw, “why a lot of people care less now.”
Those people are the ones who are rooting for the schools that can’t pay at the highest level.
This season, the grand poohbahs expanded the CFP to 12 teams, supposedly to create more access to the national championship chase.
It worked. Not just because for appearances, Boise State was a seeded team and Indiana made the field. Despite Monday night’s game pitting two standard-bearers, Ohio State and Notre Dame, who dispatched heavyweights Texas and Penn State in the semis, consider who lit up the scoreboard in the CFP final.
Kansas State. Ole Miss. Duke. Didn’t see any of those schools in the tournament. That’s the irony – or the sad reality of the game today.
Monday’s starting quarterbacks were NIL transfer portal prizes Will Howard (K-State) and Riley Leonard (Duke), each with two touchdown passes. Quinshon Judkins (Ole Miss) scored three of Ohio State’s TDs.
Leonard followed Wake Forest transfer Sam Hartman as the Fighting Irish QB. Hartman’s bounce to South Bend contributed to the slide of the Demon Deacons’ fortunes, resulting in the resignation of highly-regarded veteran coach Dave Clawson late last year.
Clawson explained an upset loss early this season to UL Lafayette’s Ragin’ Cajuns bluntly: “To fix problems, you need a lot of money. And we recruited what we could afford.”
At the outset of this season, former Alabama coach Nick Saban was even more blunt on ESPN’s GameDay: “If you don’t pay the right guys, you’ll be … out of luck.” (His weekly non-compliant FCC word is not included here.)
It’s why Saban is out of coaching. Not the cussing. He tired of players more interested in cashing in right away than working on what would make them better between the goalposts.
Give the Buckeyes their due. After a mortifying loss to rival Michigan to end the regular season, they had a “To Tell the Truth” team meeting with coach Ryan Day, recalibrated and today, that same Ohio State team IS Number 1. On the field, and in NIL payout – the Buckeyes have more than a $20 million pot to spend on their roster.
That’s ROI that no Buckeye fan regrets. And a reality we have to face – a Cinderella team climbing into serious contention for college football’s crown is as likely as any of us getting invited for dinner with the President and pals at Mar-a-Lago.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com