Posts Tagged ‘VASF’

Whoo Hoo!!!

Kickoff is getting closer…

– So it goes …

Image(s) Courtesy of:     UTAD ||  Statement on Fair Use

Note:  This post is essentially a comment responding to a post by Hooper over at RTT regarding the Brian Butler Saga.  I considered posting some of this as a comment on that venerable site, but opted instead to post my thoughts in an actual article.  Thus, I would encourage anyone reading this post to give the original post by Hooper a look.

For a detailed account of Brian Butler’s exploits in the world of college football recruiting you should check out an excellent article written by The New York Times’ Thayer Evans and Pete Thamel entitled “College Recruiting’s Thin Gray Line,” upon which the author of this post also relied.

Brian Butler has been called many things by many people, not all of them are nice.

Butler is a former rapper and call-center manager, and a seemingly respectable football trainer based out of Wichita, Kansas.  At present, Butler is the principal and operator of the Potential Players recruiting service through which he serves as a self-styled, come-lately, “recruiting adviser” to high school football standouts across the country.  A “gifted” self-promoter, he is also the subject of a recently announced investigation by the NCAA.

Brian Butler working a recruit (NY Times / Simmons)

There are many questions being asked about Butler by many people, especially those recruiting high school standout Bryce Brown (which includes Tennessee).  The fundamental question, however, centers on whether he is essentially seeking to act as a sports agent for players being recruited by college football programs.

For now, at least, there is no definitive answer to this query.

The reason that this is an issue is that Butler has widely taken the position that the only way that college recruiters can speak with high-schoolers that he is “advising” is by going through him.  To many, this appears—at least outwardly—that Butler is serving as an “agent” rather than simply as an “adviser.”

Again, why does anyone care?  Under NCAA bylaws, current and potential student athletes are prohibited from retaining agents, and requires that all prospective athletes undergo an amateurism certification process, which includes, among other things, certifying that the athlete has not agreed to be represented by an agent.  On the issue of agents, NCAA Bylaw 12.3 states that:

An individual shall be ineligible for participation in an intercollegiate sport if he or she ever has agreed (orally or in writing) to be represented by an agent for the purpose of marketing his or her athletics ability or reputation in that sport. Further, an agency contract not specifically limited in writing to a sport or particular sports shall be deemed applicable to all sports, and the individual shall be ineligible to participate in any sport.

• See NCAA Operational Bylaw 12.3.1 (PDF )

The NCAA’s website offers additional guidance stating that:

…a student-athlete (any individual who currently participates in or who may be eligible in the future to participate in intercollegiate sport) may not agree verbally or in writing to be represented by an athlete agent in the present or in the future for the purpose of marketing the student-athlete’s ability or reputation. If the student-athlete enters into such an agreement, the student-athlete is ineligible for intercollegiate competition.

Also, a student-athlete may not accept transportation or other benefits from an athlete agent. This prohibition applies to the student-athlete and his or her relatives or friends.

The term “agent” includes actual agents, runners (individuals who befriend student-athletes and frequently distribute impermissible benefits) and financial advisors.

It is not a violation of NCAA rules if a student-athlete merely talks to an agent (as long as an agreement for agent representation is not established) or socializes with an agent.

• via: Overview of NCAA Bylaws Governing Athlete Agents | NCAA.org

Thus, Butler acting as the only means of communication with a recruit could be troubling and potentially a violation of NCAA rules, hence the NCAA investigation.

This raises a particularly thorny set of issues for high school athletes and their families, college athletic departments, high school coaches, college boosters, the NCAA, and State Legislators.  That’s right, I said State Legislators.

For these reasons, I am personally of the opinion that someone—whether it be Butler, athletes, college institutions, or otherwise—will end up paying for what amounts to an infraction that lies in the proverbial “gray area” of the NCAA’s rules.  A violation in spirit, if not in the letter.  The problem is, however, that whether Butler’s conduct violates many rules or none all depends on the perspective applied to the facts, and for the record, I make no assertion that I know or understand all of the facts.

Still, let’s use a hypothetical to illustrate the complexity of the situation.

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Well, I do believe that the whole “Kiffin-Gate” thing is getting a little out of hand now, not that I am really all that surprised.  I still stand by my comments of the other day, that while the Blackjack General may have been wrong about the rule, his comments have had the desired effect.

Take for instance the fact that Gregg Doyel (who attended Florida, is known for loving to tick people off, looks remarkably like Anthony Edwards from ER, and apparently cannot spell either of his names correctly) who probably could have given damn about the Tennessee Volunteers at this point in time, is ventilating at full tilt.  This has led Doyel to conclude, among other things, that:   1) Kiffin should be fired immediately; 2)  Tennessee fans are “stupid people” (especially VASF donors); and 3) Kiffin is an “idiot,” “bufoon,” and “dumb.”  Doyel also concludes that, as the opposite of “Urban” Meyer everyone should refer to Tennessee’s head coach as “Rural” Kiffin.  That has to be one of the dumbest plays on words I’ve heard in a while.  Others, have been more complimentary, including  Bruce Feldman and the guys at PTI.

What, John Adams supporting the Vols?

At any rate, it seems that this thing refuses to die.  Which, considering it is keeping Tennessee in the public eye and on the lips of every sports commentator across the country, is probably a good thing.  Oh, and for the record, it hasn’t seemed to hurt prospects with recruits out there, such as Joe Montana’s son, Nick.  As an aside, I found the thoughts of some of the “common fans” of Southern Cal’s take on all of this enlightening — they think it is great and have, almost uniformly, nice things to say about Kiffin.  I am also beginning to make me wonder if hell has frozen over considering that the KNS’ John Adams has actually been saying nice things about the Tennessee Football Program lately.

Not to be outdone, and in the hopes of spreading the venom even farther — sticking with my “This is Sparta” theme — here’s my little addition to the whole thing:

Cheater, Cheater, Pumpkin Eater! (click to enlarge)

Oh, and feel free to copy this and spread it to the four-winds (although I would appreciate a link back if you don’t mind).

At any rate, the current course of the football program at Tennessee is easy to assess:  1) after the pain of the Season of Constant Sorrow (2008) things are finally moving forward;  2) people are talking; and 3) at present the 2009 season comes down to two games:  Western Kentucky (first home game) and the 19 September meeting with the Florida Gators.

And you thought the offseason was supposed to be boring…

– So it goes …

HT to: 3SIB • Vol Junkies (for the idea) • VolNation

This post is part of a continuing series, “The Cost of Sports,” examining the impact of economic changes on the world of major sports.  To see the other posts in this series, click here.

So how much is winning worth to you?

This is a question that many have asked and answered over the years.  The reality is that there is no right or wrong answer to this question—it is a personal matter, which really lives outside the confines of “categorical absolutes” and everyday reality.  We all have our limits.  Some are willing to go farther than others.  In the end, though, it is a question of conscience (or of getting caught).

That question is now being supplanted by a new consideration, one which is far more basic and fundamental, and which is bound by the world of reality.

How much are sports worth to you?

I say that this is now bound by reality due to headlines that have become all too common across the country over the last 12 months such as the one in my hometown paper earlier this week.

That's what you like to see first thing in the morning...

You hardly have to be a news wonk to realize that the economy is seriously in the crapper.  People from all walks of life are being forced to make changes in the way they spend their money and how they live their lives.  With all of the bad news about jobs being cut, investments tanking, and businesses going under many are being forced to cut back not out of thrift but necessity.

Most rational individuals faced with the predicament of making a mortgage payment with dwindling funds or even putting food on the table will usually start by cutting out the things they can live without, namely entertainment and recreation.

Over the past generation, the cost of attending or participating in sports as a fan has increased dramatically.  For example in 1995, the average cost for a ticket to a Carolina Panthers football game was $37.92, in 2008 that average had risen to $63.32, and the Panthers had the fourth lowest ticket prices in the league.  Of course those increases have not been confined to professional sports (which I will address in part 2 of this series).

While food and shelter are obviously not things that a body can go without, tickets to watch your favorite team play are.  That begs the question, is the horizon looking bleak for the financial feasibility and solvency of major sports as we have known them?

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You hardly have to be a genius to realize that I am a college sports fan.

Whether I qualify as “die hard” is open to interpretation, I suppose. Still, as a VASF donor for more than a decade, season ticket holder for Tennessee Volunteers football, and as an individual who travels over six hours one-way to see each football game in Knoxville, I probably fall into the “dyed-in-the-wool” category placing me in the top tier of college fans when it comes to dedication (or lunacy depending on your perspective).

Either way, at various times in my life, I have contemplated becoming a more avid fan of professional sports. At times I have even been a “real” fan of certain teams by most standards. That being said, no matter what I do, I always seem to lose my interest in professional sports and return to my roots as a college football fan…

… or perhaps professional sports loses interest in me.

No, that last statement is not intended to be a wildly arrogant and self-centered declaration of my importance in the sports world. On the contrary, it is meant to show my complete insignificance — along with the millions of other sports fans out there.

In case you missed it, after forty-one years in the “City Which is Never Dry,” the Seattle Supersonics are pulling up stakes and heading to Oklahoma City to be known as the Oklahoma Clod-kickers, or something along those lines.

The era of the Supersonics is over…

Owing to the fact that I live on the Right-Coast and parted ways with the NBA in the mid-1990s, I was really not tuned into this story until after the final announcement was made. I make no claims to be a Supersonics fan, and can really only think of 2 Supersonics players ever: Shawn Kemp and Xavier McDaniel (mainly because he choked Wes Mathews in the middle of a game which is the sort of thing I tend not to forget). Still, I feel for the Supersonics’ fans, and I assume that there are a fair number of them, whether they be “die hard” or not. While I know that Seattle may potentially get another team some day, as a practical matter they now understand how SMU fans felt when their team got the death penalty for football. The only difference is that, unlike SMU who was finally able to resume play, Seattle’s program is gone for good — gonzo, outta here, dead, kaput, snuffed it …

If I am a Seattle Supersonics fan, that just plain sucks…

That got me to thinking (which is so rarely a good thing). The fact that the Supersonics could up and vanish like a fart in the wind, is the reason why I personally will never be anything more than an occasional fan of professional sports. At so many levels, that disturbs me. It also brings back a few memories.

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