Updated ‘Rudy’ would be different

My favorite sports movie is “Rudy,” the story of a young man who, after the death of his best friend, quits his job at the factory to pursue his lifelong dream of playing football at Notre Dame. Rudy makes the team as a walkon and, with the crowd chanting “Rudy, Rudy, Rudy,” takes the field in the final seconds of the final game and makes a tackle, prompting his teammates to carry him off the field.

The story of Rudy Ruettiger is exaggerated, of course, as Hollywood often does, but I still find myself sobbing even after I’ve watched it for the 44th or 55th time.

An updated version of “Rudy” in 2023 would look much different than the 1993 movie:

After giving up after one semester at Notre Dame, Rudy transfers to three more schools before settling at a Division II school where, like he did at Joliet, he leads the team in tackles. Rudy even receives some Name, Image and Likeness money when Sonic, the only restaurant in town, promotes Rudy’s Root Beer and the Rudy Ruettinger Monster Burger. Rudy makes enough money to buy a new car, where his first trip is to Miami to reunite with his friend from Notre Dame.

So instead of a movie about grit, perseverance and staying the course, the updated version of “Rudy” would be about instant gratification and the pursuit of NIL money.

And why not? College football has turned into a cash grab to entice the best players and millionaire coaches are asking big-money and small-money donors to contribute even more to the cause.

“Whether you agree with NIL, don’t agree with NIL, if you want to win at the highest level and you want to win championships like we do here at Carolina, we’re going to have to be very active from an NIL standpoint,” South Carolina Coach Shane Beamer said.

Beamer’s quote was a reaction to a situation that involved Kentucky Coach Mark Stoops and Georgia Coach Kirby Smart. It started after a Kentucky fan complained on Stoops’ radio show about a bad game by the Wildcats and Stoops suggested his teams would be better if Kentucky fans contributed more money, like those at Georgia, the two-time national champions.

Offered to clarify his remarks days later by a reporter, Stoops took a softer stance.

“I just encourage them to donate more, because that’s what those dudes are doing,” Stoops said. “I can promise you Georgia, they bought some pretty good players. You’re allowed to these days. We could use some help. I encourage anybody that’s disgruntled to pony up some more.”

Smart rejected getting into a squabble with Stoops, whose team had lost consecutive games to Georgia and Kentucky heading into Saturday night’s game against Tennessee.

“Mark is trying to garner interest in money from his fan base for his collective,” Smart said in response to Stoops’ comments. “We’re all trying to do the same in terms of trying to get money for our collective.”

Stoops later tried to brush it all aside and responded as coaches and politicians often do by claiming the media had taken his words out of context. Always that when trying to backtrack.

I’m all for making money in our capitalistic system and I’ve enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle as a middle-class American. But I still can’t embrace athletes like JT Daniels, who is playing his final year at Rice after previously playing at Southern California, Georgia and West Virginia.

And what about Utah, where all 85 scholarship players were presented with new 2024 Dodge Ram Big Horn trucks, leased for one year, as part of an NIL deal? Wow. Fantastic.

Now, do the other sports at Utah that don’t produce a surplus for the athletic department like football and basketball? Everyone withdrawing from the same kitty was the theory Kareem Abdul-Jabbar suggested to me during an interview in 2018 on the topic of pay-for-play. But I guess that is too much socialism for people to accept.

The original Rudy was carried off the field after making a single tackle in the final seconds of his college career. An updated Rudy would make the rounds in his new truck while slurping on Rudy Root Beer and wolfing down a Rudy Monster Burger to the cheers of “Rudy, Rudy, Rudy” from an admiring fan or two.

I, for sure, won’t be watching.