Latest Senate bill isn’t answer for portal chaos
A bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate would change the NCAA’s transfer portal rules, requiring athletes to complete three years of college eligibility before allowing them to transfer without sitting out a year.
Just what coaches and the suits want: a return to the old rules of athletic servitude.
Unfettered portal traffic like we have now can create a little chaos within programs, but restricting a student’s freedom of movement isn’t the answer. This horse, in other words, is out of the barn.
In jest: Though prohibited from doing so for now, new Commanders ownership hinted that it’s open to changing the team’s name. Some idly suggest that it could be newly christened after part-owner Magic Johnson. The Washington Johnsons? Really?
Progressing: Except for the growth of quarterback Sam Howell, maybe no personnel issue is as important to the Commanders’ season as a strong return from defensive end Chase Young, still seeking form after right knee surgery in 2021.
Read it and weep: The front sports page of the Thursday edition of this newspaper featured stories on the football teams from Old Dominion, Virginia Tech and Virginia, which had a combined record of 9-24 last season. Quite a football landscape we have here.
Follow the money: When Celtics wingman Jaylen Brown’s average annual salary jumps to $60.8 million and Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert’s rises to $52.5 mil, salary negotiations for an athlete of Shohei Ohtani’s immense and unique talents should begin at about $80 million per year.
Falling behind: Deals for Herbert, Jalen Hurts and Lamar Jackson have reset the quarterback market, leaving Patrick Mahomes, the best in the game, barely among the top 10 highest-paid QBs. And this is before the Bengals open the vault for Joe Burrow.
Chilling: As I type this,
French soccer superstar Kylian Mbappe continues to spurn a Saudi Arabian club reportedly offering him $775 million for one year. LIV golfers must find this baffling.
Waiting game: With Brian Harman’s victory at the Open Championship, golf ’s next major is more than eight months away. This should strike every golf fan as odd scheduling.
Spotlight: As the Northwestern hazing investigations continue, it may be worth asking how many athletic programs could survive the same scrutiny.
Unforced error: While explaining last week why Kenny Easley of Oscar Smith High, UCLA and the Seattle Seahawks belongs very high on any list of the top 10 Hampton Roads athletes, I neglected to mention his crowning achievement — enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Bottom line: It’s getting more difficult to buy a championship, it appears. Of the three MLB teams with the highest payrolls, the Mets and Padres are below .500, while the Yankees remain in last place. With Aaron Judge’s imminent return, though, the Yankees are very much wild-card material.
Changing times: It wasn’t that long ago that Roger Goodell wouldn’t entertain the idea of the NFL associating with gambling interests. And now? In September, NFL-themed slot machines will appear on casino floors.
In closing: No doubt miffed over losing a defensive lineman to an indefinite suspension for betting on games, new Broncos coach Sean Payton said he told his players that the gambling policy is “the same as the gun policy. Wherever you can’t carry a gun, you can’t place a bet.” Today’s NFL in a nutshell.