Another New Year

My new year’s resolution is the same as every year I don’t make a new year’s resolution. I don’t think you should worry about improving yourself only to disappoint yourself by breaking the resolution. So I’m just going to do the best I can to do the best I can!

Now there will be a bunch of people that will go to their nearest lake and do the Polar Plunge and that really looks cold. I’m not sure I see the importance of freezing on the first day of the new year. The closest I ever got is to splash cold water on my face and that is about as refreshing as I care to get.

It seems that the older I get the more memories of how much more enjoyable it was to watch televised sports. For one thing there weren’t as many games televised so when you did get a chance to see one it was special. The bowl games in particular were comprised of teams that had solid records and were competitive. Now you only need 6 wins to get a bowl invite. So it is conceivable that a team that won its first six games and lost its last six would still be eligible to play in a bowl game.

Now there was a time when teams would be invited to play in a post season game but a coach or the school would turn it down because they didn’t feel they deserved it. Yikes! In this day of participation trophies and the importance of extra practices and money turning down a bowl game doesn’t seem like an option. But if you have watched some of these games and have seen the sparse crowds it makes you wonder what the value of hosting a game like this would be. Sure there is TV revenue and big sponsorship donations but excitement is often limited.

But it does give these schools a chance say they played in a bowl game. The criteria has changed so much. I remember when only the Pac 8 champion could go to a bowl game and teams with lofty records by today’s standards could only watch the game on a TV. But the conference changed and good teams were invited to bowl games.

I’ve talked about how bad the NCAA has messed things up due to the Transfer Portal. I understand the timing of it all. Open up the portal after the season concludes so that the players that transfer will be able to get registered and start classes at their new school in January. I’m sure that the school could figure out how to get the star transfer up to speed a couple of weeks into the new semester.

But what if that transfer is on a bowl bound team how does that help the team he’s leaving? I’ve said it before and it bears repeating when a kid signs on the dotted line that they are going to State for the next four years what guarantee is that? We’ve heard the scenarios, the coach that recruited them leaves, or gets fired or the athlete didn’t think they were getting enough playing time or they know somebody at another school that thinks the star player would be a real fit on their team. Oh my!

Let’s face reality. The scholarship for an education isn’t the big prize anymore. There is a good chance that the transfer will be informed as to which classes they will be attending. Forget that dream of being an engineer as there are not enough hours in the day to keep up with those studies, get into the film room, lift weights and practice. It makes me wonder how some of these guys have enough time to film commercials for NIL money. But they all seem to be doing fine, right?

Now there are a lot of transfers that have done well at their new schools but not all transfers get a chance to be part of a new team. And that is where there can be a real problem. Now a young kid that wants a fresh start because things didn’t work out at one school and either isn’t offered by another school or doesn’t play at the new school and loses interest altogether, what happens to their future? And who is giving this kid guidance? Just wondering.

Happy New Year and thank you for reading. Hope you have a great 2025!

— Dale Anderson is a sports columnist from Ritzville. To contact him, email [email protected].