While it’s not entirely new, more and more money is being invested in college football these days, and more and more players are realizing that it’s a business and not of a game. Before they could even profit from their name, image and likeness, some high school students chose not to play their game of bowls due to the risk of being seriously injured and hurting their chances to play (and make money) in the NFL.
This led Kirk Herbstreit and Desmond Howard to go into “old man shouts at the cloud” mode and claim that today’s college football player “don’t like football” and “don’t really care” to play bowling games.
and, as befits a show that shouldn’t even need to be on the air, the hosts go on a rampage with “today’s youth are entitled and it’s the video games’ fault” nonsense. pic.twitter.com/4EdBFuTivH
– Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) January 1, 2022
Herbstreit: “What is the difference as a player to say that these games are “meaningless” when, quote, we have played “meaningless” games. I mean, I know you (Michigan) were here (Rose Bowl) a lot. But I just don’t understand if you don’t make the Playoffs, how does it make no sense to play football and compete?
“Isn’t that what we do as footballers? Are we in competition? So I don’t know if modifying it or expanding it is going to change anything, I really don’t know.
“I think this era of players just don’t like football.”
Howard: “That’s what I was going to say. We face a different mentality today when dealing with these student-athletes, especially football players. I mean, their whole mentality right now is focused on the championship, the Playoffs. You have to get started in the CFP. And because of that, they don’t enjoy bowl games.
“Now when Herbstreit and I were coming, going to a pétanque match was a huge reward for a fantastic season. That’s what it meant. It’s like, “Okay, your team played well, so you’re going to get rewarded by going to this bowl game, you’re going to get a ring, you’re going to get some gifts.” » Now the kids don’t really care. They feel like they’re entitled to everything and it’s like we’re not moving towards the one that matters, so it just doesn’t mean as much to them as we grew up to.
There’s a lot to unpack here. I could make the standard argument “players retire because if they get injured it could hurt their professional chances” and while that is entirely true, the problem goes much deeper than that.
First of all, the idea that today’s college football player “doesn’t like football” is such a lazy view that it’s depressing to call “analysis” in this day and age.
Some of these players have professional aspirations in mind and may view college as a stepping stone, but to borrow a quote from the NCAA: “Most of us become professionals in something other than sports.” “A lot of these players play because they love the game. Because if they’re not going to the NFL, why would they play in the first place?
When it comes to “meaningless” bowl games, yes, most of them are. Much of this was due to Herbstreit and Howard’s employer, Disney. In “their era,” the early 90s, there were 18 bowl games and in 1992, only 11 unseeded teams made it to a bowl game.
There are now 43 bowl games, 40 of which are broadcast on a Disney-owned network, and 59 unranked teams were scheduled to play in a bowl game this season. There were 84 bowl-eligible teams, compared to 46 that were not. And because of COVID, one of those 46 teams was able to play in a bowl game. When 2/3 of the teams qualify and are scheduled to play a game of bocce, it’s no longer special to go to a game of bocce. No offense, but if someone truly has professional aspirations, there is no reason why they should risk tearing their ACL to try to win the “prestigious” Boca Raton Bowl.
All these games get great grades and that’s why ESPN and the NCAA continue to want to expand the bowl program but, while I understand that Herbstreit and Howard can’t criticize their employer on air, they also shouldn’t point fingers at the players and criticizing them for not caring about bowl games when ESPN has watered down the bowl season so much that we see 6-6 Wyoming beat 7-6 Kent State on a blue turf field in Boise, Idaho.
In a way, Herbstreit and Howard were right: Playing in a bowl game in the early ’90s was a reward, because not everyone had the opportunity to play. However, it is not the case. And that was before the College Football Playoff existed. A really good analyst should be able to recognize that it’s not 1992 anymore and modify their analysis to fit today’s game.
With so many teams playing in the playoffs, that raises another issue. I’m in my early 30s and started playing organized sports when I was 8 years old. All I’ve heard my whole life is old people trashing younger people for winning participation trophies. “We play sports to win and to win a championship.” “Participation trophies are low.” “Kids today are fed and unprepared for the real world by giving them participatory trophies.” Blah blah blah blah blah.
Don’t get me wrong, I hated participatory trophies as a kid and there comes a time when you have to teach kids to compete and strive to win. But what is bowl season, other than a series of exhibition games featuring a group of teams that weren’t good enough to play for the national championship and were instead playing for what amounts to a bunch of participation trophies? Of course, these teams are actually playing and in a sense, the winner of the LendingTree Bowl will have earned their trophy. But no player, not even someone who played in the era of Herbstreit and Howard, went to bed at night and dreamed of winning the Blockbuster Bowl. Maybe the Rose Bowl, but definitely not the Blockbuster Bowl.
You can’t have both. It’s confusing to me when Howard criticizes players because “their whole mentality right now is about the championship”, and today’s kids are entitled to that, when their mentality is to s Strive to be the best and win this championship. And now they’re being criticized for it? When we told them all their lives that “participatory trophies are for weaklings?”
Let’s be real, this lazy analysis by Herbstreit and Howard is nothing new. They didn’t invent this phenomenon where the older generation thinks they are perfect in every way and the younger generation is the absolute worst and is weaker and more entitled. That’s how it is in society and in college football. I’m sure CFB analysts at the time were criticizing Herbstreit and Howard’s generation and accusing them of all kinds of things because “In our day, Bear Bryant made us run until we puked.” And we didn’t have any water outages either.
I’m sure if you go back further, these people were criticized when they were playing by people older than them. In the future, when current college players are the age of Herbstreit and Howard, they will also be out of touch and criticize future players for absurd things that are not their fault.
A lot of this is because people like Herbstreit and Howard see young players getting opportunities they haven’t had and feel hurt that they don’t have the kind of exposure, platform or ability to earn money than today’s players. that they had when they were in college. By 1992, only the most successful and established teams were broadcast on national television. Even then, most of these teams weren’t guaranteed all of their games on national television. Now almost every game, regardless of team, is available worldwide, either on cable or streaming.
No one disputes that college football players today enjoy many more advantages than previous generations did not have. But if Herbstreit and Howard ignore the fact that they, too, had advantages when they played that older players didn’t have, then they are simply perpetuating jealousy and bitterness toward a group of people who have nothing to do with it. with the greed of college sports. are.
It’s simply about two people who are not afraid to accept the fact that they are disconnected from the fact that they can only apply their experiences from 30 years ago in a sport that has evolved considerably and which does not can only blame the players because they I can’t, or won’t, admit that the game has failed them. Maybe it would be better for them to go see a therapist for help, instead of projecting their insecurities and regrets onto those who do what everyone else in college sports does (including Herbstreit and Howard) and to make the best business decision for themselves.
