Mr. Conventional Wisdom is chicken soup for Greg Sankey’s soul.

This, I predict, is going to be a real hoot, promising way more than it can ever deliver.

Hello, world 👋

This account will serve as your source for rules, videos, statistics and activities inside the SEC Video Center.

Go easy on us!

— SEC Officiating (@SECOfficiating) July 15, 2019

Well, except for letting the folks in charge feel good about doing something.

It's all about transparency. The fans on the wrong end of a tough call will never be satisfied but they will understand how the process works. https://t.co/ePcWhCSIjx

— Tony Barnhart (@MrCFB) July 15, 2019

Uh hunh, right, Tony.  That will make it all better.

If Barnhart didn’t exist, Greg Sankey would have to invent him.

Advertisements

“(But when) you’re a fan, it’s like, ‘oh man, this isn’t good.’”

The best thing about Mr. Conventional Wisdom weighing in on the Jeremiah Holloman situation is that you don’t need to read what he has to say, because you already know what he has to say.

It’s like not having regrets over that five minutes of your life you’ll never get back, because you didn’t give those away in the first place.

Mr. Conventional Wisdom goes to antitrust court.

Hey, Tony’s got this whole player compensation thing sussed.

And there are two realities that the powers that be in college athletics have to face at this point in time:

1—Maintaining the status quo is no longer an option. We have reached a critical mass where something has to be done. If not, there are hundreds of lawyers who can’t wait to take on the system because they know they are going to win. And the NCAA member institutions know it too.

I’m not a lawyer but I raised one and I think a pretty strong case can be made that the current rules on this constitute a restraint of trade.

Oh by the way, Congress can’t wait to jump in on this one with both feet. Representative Mark Walker of North Carolina has introduced a bill that would strip the NCAA of its tax exempt status if it doesn’t allow the players to test the market place to see what their name, image, and likeness are worth.

2—You can’t just pay the players for services rendered. You can’t. As much as some players and some fans would like to just cut the guys a check and be done with this issue, there are clear reasons why that can’t happen.

Title IX says that if football and men’s basketball players get a check from the school, then the members of the volleyball team get the same check. It doesn’t matter that football and basketball generate billions and volleyball does not. College athletics is a multi-billion business but it operates under the umbrella of an educational institution.

If players are paid, then they become employees. If they become employees then they can unionize. If they unionize they can strike over compensation and benefits.

Does anyone want to tell him the players are already being paid?  Eh, what’s the point.

By the way, if you’re looking for your dose of quintessential Mr. CW, check out his conclusion:  “If this can gets kicked down the road again, it will get very, very ugly.”

And to think you can get that kind of deep analysis for free.

Today, in Mr. Conventional Wisdom

This is actually good news.

Fans are tired of paying premium prices for cupcakes: With the improvement of technology, the in-home college football watching experience is pretty damned good. Fans are still packing the stadiums for the big games but aren’t going to invest the time and money it takes to watch the cupcakes. So the tickets may be sold but if there aren’t fannies in the seats then the money from concessions and memorabilia goes down.

So here’s a thought: If you want fans to come to the stadium then schedule better games.

Evidently, fan friendly is a thing now.  Let’s hear it for us!

Now do McGarity.

Mr. Conventional Wisdom’s Q&A with Coach Impose Your Will is every bit the hard-hitting bland, keenly insightful cliché-ridden, top-notch journalism coach speak PR exercise you’d expect.

Q. Was it difficult for your team to focus after Alabama? It’s a hard position when you miss out on the playoffs after a tough loss.

Smart: “I’ve been there twice when I was at Alabama that when you went from playing for everything to playing for the Sugar Bowl championship. That (winning the Sugar Bowl) should be enough. If you’re a competitor and you have inner drive and you have ‘want to’…..

“We’ve can all make excuses for players being out or juniors coming out early or injuries and all that. It doesn’t matter. You’re playing Texas in the Sugar Bowl.

“You get over your wounds. Obviously they did a better job. I do think them having nine seniors on defense speaks volumes as to who they are.”

On the plus side, at least you don’t have to pay anything to read it.

Mr. Conventional Wisdom, on signing day

Here's a radical thought after NSD. Could it be that the SEC is successful in football not because of weak scheduling or media bias, but because it has a lot of really good players?https://t.co/bh4kcADM85

— Tony Barnhart (@MrCFB) December 20, 2018

Same as it ever was…

He sounds more conventionally wise in video.

In case you were wondering, Georgia is pretty good when it runs the ball.