The 2023 NCAA Football Bowl Season has been fun to watch, right? College football teams with most if not all of their 2023 roster either opting out for the NFL Draft or transfer portal-ing to another team. Blowouts, lopsided wins, exaggerated stats and egos, humiliated fans who paid big money to travel, humiliated players who decided to stay and play. Madison Avenue advertisers must be so psyched to see their investment money so well spent on sub-par games and an entertainment value just a shade above watching grass grow. The future of bowl games will be different in the coming years with the new playoff format due to start in 2024. We shall see if these end of the season games get any better and if Madison Avenue starts to pull away from committing big dollars to these lackluster events.

I was thinking about this opt out phenomenon, which seems to be creeping into every single sport at just about every level these days. Players, who potentially will be due for big bucks via a draft sometime in the near future, elect to skip games, bowls, events so they don’t get injured and reduce their big day. I mean their big pay day. Or perhaps, a star player on a team already slotted for postseason play claims to have back spasms or a headache or a splinter and cannot possibly suit up for game time. It happened to me and my kids and Rachel some years back. And I’m still pissed about it all these many years later.

The Miami Heat were playing the Boston Celtics at the Garden in Boston late in the season, just before playoffs were set to start in the NBA. It was an opportunity to see the Celts play Wade, Lebron, Bosh (Heat players at the time) as they got ready for another championship run. The tickets were expensive, it was a XMAS present for our entire extended family, there was a lot of buildup emotionally for everyone, the ride up from RI to Boston everyone was psyched and couldn’t wait to see a historic NBA player (LJ specifically) in person. And then there was a notification. One of my kids had the ESPN app, which reported that LJ would not be playing due to “back spasms.” ’Opt out Loser’ I screamed in the Garden parking garage. I added some other choice words in there and in the crosswalk approaching the arena, up the escalator, into our seats, during halftime – well you get the point. It sucked for us fans, for my kids, it was a real gut punch. I couldn’t ask for a refund or a reduction. But from that day to now, I have no respect for that player, no matter his place in NBA history. Mainly because he had played the night before and was in the lineup the day or two after the Celtics game. Opt out Loser!!!

I tell you who did not opt out when he could have. Ted Freaking Williams. Last day of the season, 1941, Williams was right at .399 something that would have given him a .400 average for the year. The Red Sox were due to play a doubleheader against the (Philadelphia) Athletics, and if Williams had a poor day at the plate, his .400 average would have plummeted to a (still respectable) .390 something. Not Ted Williams, fighter pilot, war hero, sportsman, Duffy’s Tavern frequenter, Red Sox player, Red Sox starter. Nope, Williams suited up and crushed that .400 average going 6 for 8 in the doubleheader to end the season on his terms. A .406 average earned on his terms, and not by taking a lay-up, a shortcut, a chance for greatness simply by opting out. Way to go, Splendid Splinter. 

And now just this morning on the football pre-game news stations, a potential roster of perhaps an NFL Hall of Fame induction ceremony guests some years from now – not playing this weekend. So if you bought a ticket in June for a game featuring the Kansas City Chiefs looking to see a potential Hall of Fame quarterback play, guess what. You will be attending the game watching a backup in the game and your star player will be wearing a baseball hat on or winter hat, depending on the weather. If you email the Chiefs for a refund or a reduction, will you get the response you want? Nope. It stinks for the fans in the stands and at home. And the reality is, I get the rationale for the most part. I just don’t have to like it nor do I have to waste my time watching the games. Your decision, your time, what will you do with it?

Is it selfish on the player’s part? Is it greed? Is it under strict advisement from an agent or trusted advisor or coach? How much say does the player have? On the professional level, probably far less than in the collegiate and amateur levels. Like the Celtics game, there is always a silver lining. I got to watch the Celtics beat the Heat that night and I laughed my head off that the last place Celtics beat the unbeatable Heat. And I won an awesome Green Monster plaque signed by a bunch of former Red Sox players. And had an awesome night with the family.

As far as bowl games and silver linings, substitute players can potentially go in and make an impact and play a heck of a game and bump up their draft status and perhaps play their way into a starting role for 2024. And then, after a stellar campaign in which they draw national attention and increase their draft day potentiality, and at the end of the season, they can then opt out of their bowl game so they can be ready for their big pay day! Viscous circle isn’t it?