Strike One: According to Dictionary.com, a “commitment” is: “The act of committing, pledging, or engaging oneself. A pledge or promise; An obligation.”
Remember that next time you see a social media post of any kind from a high school athlete who says they are “committed” to go and play for good old State U. Thanks to the NCAA’s relaxed transfer rules – which amount to college sports free agency via the overflowing “transfer portal” – the term “committed” has next to no meaning any longer. These kids aren’t committed to anything except getting as much attention as they can for announcing they’re “committed.”
The term “committed” doesn’t mean what it used to. The there are no real commitments anymore. For a growing number of these kids, the school and program they are “committing to” out of high school is just a stopover on the way to the greener grass on the other side. Letters of intent are more like letters of “lets see how much playing time I’ll get right away.”
If I kid doesn’t think he’s going to play immediately, he’s going to go look to transfer somewhere he thinks he can. Because “team” doesn’t mean what it used to, either. It’s become all about “me.”
The latest local cases involved University of Colorado quarterback Sam Noyer, a “super senior,” and Colorado State freshman signal caller Luke McAllister. Noyer was the Buffs starter last season and earned second team all-Pac 12 honors. Now he’ll be playing at Oregon State. McAllister spent one measly semester in Fort Collins and never played in a game before deciding he wanted to be somewhere else.
Transferring is an epidemic.
Some people think this is just fine. They’re the ones who think college athletes are exploited and therefore should strictly be looking out for number one. They don’t think colleges are committed to student-athletes, so why should the players be committed to the school?
Saying and believing that college athletes are exploited is really shortsighted. At minimum, they get their college educations paid for. Ask any young person still paying off student loan debt how much that’s worth. And now they are getting stipends and can make endorsement money.
Remember, back in 2015, the Power Five conferences all mandated that athletic scholarships be guaranteed for four years, rather than going year-to-year, so even for athletes who don’t become the star players that their recruiters expected them to become, the school is committed to that scholarship for four years now.
So the schools are committed to the players, more so than the players are committed to the schools.
School is supposed to be about learning. But what the NCAA is doing now is teaching these kids that a commitment is meaningless. And that’s a very poor life lesson.
The system is far from perfect. Many will point out that coaches aren’t held to contracts, why should players be? But coaches have all completed their college educations. They are working professionals now. College is designed to teach young people how to become paid professionals, isn’t it? What the NCAA is teaching kids is that seeking immediate gratification and shying away from competition is the way to go through life. And that’s sad.
Strike Two: There are more than a few folks out there who are kind of perturbed that an image of Nolan Arenado – in a St. Louis Cardinals uniform – can be seen hanging along a street near Coors Field promoting the upcoming Major League Baseball All-Star game at Coors. Seems sort of blasphemous to some.
It’s not. It’s reality and Colorado Rockies fans simply have to live with it. The trade that sent the future Hall of Famer to the Midwest was the result of the new financial reality brought on by a global pandemic. It’s no one’s fault. (The return on the trade is another story. There’s plenty of blame to be placed there.) Because he signed a big contract and planned to be in Colorado for a long time, and then the team could suddenly, unexpectedly no longer afford to pay him is not a reason to suddenly not be a fan of Arenado any longer. He’s still the great player we’ve all watched over the years, and there’s still plenty of reason to cheer for him.
Arenado will be back in Denver twice in July. The Cards visit town July 1st through the 4th. The second time he’ll be back in the home dugout as a member of the National League All-Star team July 12 and 13th. That’s a very good thing.
Nolan should get a standing ovation when he steps to home plate for every at bat Coors Field this season. In fact, he should get even more than that.
There’s no reason to wait to retire Nolan’s number 28 and put it up on the outfield fence this season.
It’s going to happen at some point, right? Remember, the Rockies traded Larry Walker to the Cardinals (where he played in a World Series) and later this year they are (finally) retiring his number as he goes into Baseball’s Hall of Fame. Nolan will be following a similar path to Cooperstown. So why wait?
There actually IS precedent for a team to retire the number of a player who is still active. In late July of 1989, the Chicago White Sox traded future Hall of Famer Harold Baines to the Texas Rangers. Less than a month later, on August 20th of that same season, they retired his number 3 and put it on the outfield fence at old Comiskey Park. Ironically, Baines would return to the ChiSox for two more stints as a player – including signing there as a free agent before the 1996 season – before he retired in 2001, and later coached for the team. They “unretired” the number each time he came back.
So it’s been done.
The Rockies have historically been slow to honor past players. Walker’s number 33 should have been retired a long time ago. They did retire Todd Helton’s number 17 the year after he retired in 2014, but he was the first in the 26-year history of the franchise. Walker is only the second.
Arenado should be next. And there’s no reason to wait.
Strike Three: Remember, when this memorable NBA season is over, it’s not over.
The Summer Olympics in Tokyo will start almost immediately after the NBA Finals end. Like, two days after. And the way the NBA play-offs are unfolding will have a huge impact on not just Team USA, but the rest of the medal contending teams, too.
Gregg Popovich is available to be the head coach. Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Zion Williamson, Ja Morant and others were eliminated early and thus are available to play in Japan. And now, Kevin Durant – who’s Brooklyn Nets were ousted before reaching the Eastern Conference Finals – has said he will play for Popovich. So things are looking good for America’s team.
What about the Denver Nuggets?
A deeper play-off run might have changed some thing in terms of who’s available for to represent their country. As is, a few Nuggets will indeed make the trek to the far east.
One of those will not be NBA MVP Nikola Jokic, who has opted out of playing for his native Serbia. Guard Facu Campazzo, who took over the starting role running the offense when Jamal Murray was injured (and now Murray can’t play for his native Canada, either) IS now expected to play for his native Argentina in the Olympic games. Campazzo has a significant amount of international playing experience, but Nuggets fans should be concerned about his workload.
Perhaps the most surprising Olympic roster addition is Nuggets guard Monte Morris committing to play for the Nigerian national team as a “naturalized” player. Morris has no ties to the country, but Olympic rules do allow for a specified number of foreign players to compete for the national team. Nuggets teammate Zeke Nnaji might also be part of the Nigerian squad, but may have trouble making the final roster. Former CU Buff Spencer Dinwiddie will be part of the Nigerian squad that will have a lot of NBA players on it.
The missing piece in all this for Nuggets fans of course is Michael Porter Jr. What an invaluable experience it would be for the second year man to spend time with Popovich and his staff – which includes Steve Kerr – and learn how to play some better defense. MPJ was not among the 60 plus players selected for Team USA to choose the final roster from. Perhaps he gets in the mix for future Olympics.