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Monday, August 5th, 2024
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
DOES ANYONE REALLY CARE ABOUT COLLEGE FOOTBALL ANYMORE?
Football for the college ranks is a matter of a few weeks away. Are you fired up? Can you hardly wait? (Yawn….). So what will we soon have? A bunch of kids who are hired guns who come from other states, do not know anything about the Bayou state, and are coming to LSU and other SEC schools for one thing and one thing alone. The money.
Liza Minnelli summed it up well in the Broadway show Cabaret. “Money makes the world go around. It makes the world go around.” And that’s what college football has come down to. Who pays out the most money to a kid who is barely out of high school. At least in pro football, a player has to live by his contract that locks him in to just one team for several years, and builds in incentives that the player has to meet. Not in college anymore. It’s Katy bar the door and any kid can change schools at will.
That’s not how it used to be. The older system was not perfect, but college players, for the most part, would pick a school, generally stand behind older starters for a year or two, and work their way up to the first team. The recruitment of a player would often take several years. Assistant coaches would profile young players, keep an eye on them, start courting them in their senior year, and if they qualified, offer them a scholarship.
Former Alabama football coach Nick Saban summed it up well in a recent interview where he explained how he invited a potential recruit along with the player’s family to the university where they would often spend a weekend. He would invite them out to his house for lunch, and talk to their parents about the kind of education they would be getting. He told them that the team was a family, and he would build a good a moral fiber into his players.
But not anymore. Sabin said that when all major colleges meet a player, the first, no just about the only thing theses kids want to know is how much they will be paid. And if the player is not satisfied at the school where they initially agree to play, they can just jump to another school. What kind of team comradery is that? What sort of school spirit and pride in the university is built on such a foundation?
Whatever happened to so many LSU all Americans who played with pride at LSU, then went on to pro football, but then came back to Louisiana to live and work right here in the Bayou state. They took and received a good education, then they stayed in Louisiana and gave back.
LSU’s first all American was Abe Mickal, an outstanding running back, who became a doctor and went on to practice medicine for the rest of his life in New Orleans. He was one of us. He gave back. The same for Billy Cannon, who had his problems after graduation, but still had the support as everybody’s all American, and went on to practice dentistry in the state for the rest of his life. Again, he was one of us and he gave back.
Who could forget three time LSU all American Tommy Casanova, who went on to play for the Cincinnati Bengals and still practices as an orthodontist in Crowley. All American quarterback Burt Jones still works in Ruston Louisiana in the family logging business after playing pro football for nine seasons at Baltimore. The list to go on and on. And they were all one of us. They all gave back to the state of Louisiana.
Oh, I’ll probably sit in front of the couch with friends and watch some of the games. Kind of like I watched fencing or badminton at the Olympics. You see, there once was great pride in the state for our college football teams. And we all used to love cheering for the Tigers. But college football has become a pro sport now. It’s all about the money. And that’s a crying shame.
Peace and Justice
Jim Brown
Jim Brown’s syndicated column appears each week in numerous newspapers throughout the nation and on websites worldwide. You can read all his past columns and see continuing updates at http://www.jimbrownusa.com.
Hi Jim. I wonder if you would take a short paragraph in your blog to plug my new record about Huey P. Long, whose story seems to have special significance in the rough-and-tumble culture of current U.S. and Louisiana politics. If you wish you can watch the music video at https://www.youtube.com/@Waltz-of-the-Kingfish-e4s. The news release here follows. Thank you for your consideration.
Taylor Henry & the Dockside Dignitaries Out with Election Year Ballad of Huey P. Long
MAURICE, LA – The rise of populism, demagoguery, intolerance, and bloodshed in American politics calls to mind an earlier era when those same forces reigned supreme in Louisiana. With the 2024 presidential campaign season now running at fever pitch, Taylor Henry and the Dockside Dignitaries introduce “Waltz of the Kingfish,” an ode to Louisiana’s legendary Huey P. Long (1893-1935).
The ballad, performed by South Louisiana musicians with a bayou Cajun flair, weaves the story of Huey P. Long’s rise from humble beginnings to arguably the most powerful state leader in U.S. history, whose “Share the Wealth” redistribution program won mass appeal in the Great Depression but infuriated the ruling class until his assassination at the state capitol.
To watch the music video, created by Fire on the Bayou, LLC, New Orleans, go to YouTube and search for “Waltz of the Kingfish.”
Stream the song by title on Spotify, Amazon, or wherever you get music.
Produced by Eric Adcock, “Waltz of the Kingfish” was recorded on a sultry summer day at Dockside Studio on the shady banks of Bayou Vermilion in Maurice, La. Engineer Justin Tocket mixed and mastered the recording.
Taylor Henry, a 45-year career journalist, devout practicing Catholic, father of four, and Washington, D.C. attorney, covered Louisiana politics in years past for Louisiana television news channels WWL and WDSU, New Orleans; KSLA, Shreveport; and KNOE, Monroe, where he received the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award in 2008 for excellence in investigative reporting. His stories have appeared in various Louisiana print and digital publications including Gambit Weekly, nola.com, and The Dead Pelican. Taylor Henry also served for a time on Capitol Hill as Communications Director for Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao (R-LA) and Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA). He began playing guitar and writing songs as a teenager growing up in Mississippi, the state of his birth, where he developed a lifelong passion for making his own music in styles that echo southern influence and inspiration, ranging from ballads to bluegrass to blues.
Eric Adcock is a three-time Grammy award-nominated musician, songwriter, and producer from Abbeville, La. He draws inspiration from American roots music and piano stylings from the place he loves: South Louisiana. As a session musician, Eric Adcock has contributed to numerous albums including Rhiannon Giddens, The Mavericks, Marcia Ball, Zachary Richard, Warren Storm, and many other regional and international artists.
The Dockside Dignitaries are Eric Adcock (piano), Stefan Comeaux (pedal steel guitar), Kyle Hebert (accordion, fiddle, bass), Sarah Russo (backing vocals), Bill “Smitty” Smith (drums), and Chad Viator (electric guitar).
Words and music to “Waltz of the Kingfish” are composed by Taylor Henry who plays acoustic guitar and sings the lead vocal on the recording.
©2024 Patrick Taylor Hill Henry | All Rights Reserved.
My wife and my brother and sister in law were invited to a get together when Coach Saban first came to LSU; it’s been a long time and my memory is a bit foggy on details. I remember Coach went to each table to speak with four or five people; when he came to us, it was not a “speed meet.” He was calm and deliberate, acting as it he was not on a clock. Also, it seems upon being hired, he went immediately on the road to meet athletes and their families before settling into his office, home, etc. He stated that one parent had asked him why the graduation rate among LSU athletes was (among) the lowest in the conference; he responded that he did not know that and would attend to it as one of his most important tasks. He also pledged to give a large sum of money to a school fund if he won conference or met another goal. As I remember, he accomplished both.