At dinner with some family friends, the conversation turned to the current state of affairs in college football. It’s been a hot topic lately. Locally, for sure, but also nationwide. Those sitting across the table had a very dim outlook on the direction the collegiate game seems to be headed.
For several minutes I listened to them going back and forth, relishing in the doom and gloom nature of things.
I calmly, and diplomatically, took in their opinions. I later gave myself a pat on the back because those who know me best know I have a proclivity for getting worked up on such matters.
After all, they raised some valid points. I, too, am proud of my school and its teams and want nothing more than for great athletes to feel the same. With such a fluid transfer portal, it can feel like we’re getting away from that. Much of their talk was simply echoing what pundits everywhere are calling the downfall of college sports – NIL.
My approach on the topic is more wait-and-see. Sure, it helps that my Dawgs are bringing home plenty of wins to soften the blow of recent radical changes, but I refuse to have a cynical outlook on college football.
My grandfather used to say that a majority of the things we worry about today won’t matter down the road. Either that or we’ll later realize everything worked out the way it was meant to.
The stress we put on ourselves and others, turned out to be all for naught. His point wasn’t that such instances weren’t important, but rather that they were out of our control.
In hindsight, I recall countless scenarios where that wound up being the case. Our immediate reaction to changes that alter our way of doing something is to revolt. Sometimes in life, that tendency is necessary. Standing firm in your beliefs can be a noble cause.
For the most part, however, I’ve found my grandfather’s words to be true. Ahead of the 2022 MLB season, there was a league wide work stoppage over issues surrounding a collective bargaining agreement.
I’ll spare you the jargon. I don’t understand it either. For a brief period of time, it appeared any hopes of experiencing Major League Baseball again were dashed. Miraculously, after only a brief delay to Opening Day, both parties reached an agreement and ended the months-long stalemate.
The same analysts who, the month before, were “100 percent certain” the 2022 season would not be played, were back on their beats as if nothing ever happened.
Perhaps a better example is COVID. For much of 2020, it was easy to believe life would never again resemble what it was prior.
Making matters worse, it seemed everyone was fighting over which course of action would best help us move forward as a society.
While I’ll certainly never lessen the severity of the pandemic and the impact it’s had on so many families, I think humanity took the “dub” on this one. We rallied together and rode it out.
Last Thursday I was heading southbound towards Atlanta. A powerful storm system rolled in. I usually don’t mind driving in adverse conditions. Usually.
This situation quickly turned eerie. Everything hit as I was in a dead zone. No stores, no cell service. After taking some hail pellets to the windshield and seeing a few loblolly pines do karate, I decided it best to pull over. Just have to ride it out at that point. There’s no sense in fighting something you have no control over. I was in full Jesus take the wheel mode.
As for sports, I’m getting more comfortable with letting things play out organically. Every year there are structural and rule changes I don’t agree with.
But based on past experience, these things tend to sort themselves out one way or another. So I’ll work on doing my best with situations I can control and going with the flow in those I can’t.
Lang Storey is the sports writer for The Northeast Georgian. Reach him at 706-778-4215 or lstorey@TheNortheastGeorgian.com.