Reviews, write-ups about my Babe Ruth Called Shot book: ‘Home run will live in baseball history forever’

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Many thanks to the folks for the mentions about my book, Babe Ruth’s Called Shot: The Myth and Mystery about Baseball’s Great Home Run.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel included Called Shot among its top 9 baseball books for the new season. Writes Chris Foran:

In the third game of the 1932 World Series between the New York Yankees and Chicago Cubs, Babe Ruth stepped up to the plate against Cubs pitcher Charlie Root and, after making a gesture or two, hit a home run to center field. Whether Ruth “called” his home run has been debated for the 82 years since — and even the emergence of home movies taken at the game haven’t yielded a definitive answer.

Ed Sherman, a longtime Chicago Tribune reporter, gives the correct answer: It doesn’t matter. It’s a great story either way.

And Sherman succeeds in getting that across, digging into every angle, from cross-examining surviving eyewitnesses (such as Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, who as a 12-year-old boy was at the game) to combing through the catalog of notables who were at the game, including president-to-be Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Ross Atkin of the Christian Science Monitor included it among his six baseball books.

Thanks to the kind words from Stuart Shiffman of the Illinois Times. He writes:

Ed Sherman’s Babe Ruth’s Called Shot is a uniquely entertaining and completely thorough account of the events surrounding the home run that will live in baseball history forever.

Sherman is not an advocate, he is an investigator. He has gathered every piece of evidence available and presents the facts to his jury of baseball fans. They, as all juries will consider the evidence, apply their common sense and life experience and in that fashion arrive at a verdict. But there are no legal requirements for the verdict. Each reader is a jury of one, free to decide the case as they see fit.

From the Sports Book Review Center:

Sherman concludes in “Babe Ruth’s Called Shot” that such an act would have been in character, and indeed was such a good fit for his reputation that it stuck – even if the story may not be quite true in its entirety. The author is right on target there.

We wanted to believe it happened in 1932, and we still want to believe today.

 

 

‘Priceless’: Hall of fame writer Ross Newhan and MLB son share unique baseball bond

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Want to share this video produced by The Post Game at Yahoo! Sports.

Ross Newhan, the 2000 Spink Award winner for his work at the Los Angeles Times, had the good fortune to see his life in baseball extend beyond the press box. In a compelling and emotional interview, he talks about his son David’s career in the big leagues.

Here is an excerpt from a Father Day’s column in 2004 in which Newhan wrote about David’s Major League career for the first time.

In his debut game at San Diego, appearing as a pinch runner, David stole second, turned a fine double play and scored the winning run.

His mother and sister were up cheering each of his contributions, but I sat amid the crowd at Qualcomm Stadium, not sure of how I should respond but beaming internally nonetheless, thinking of my father and knowing the baseball dots extend to the old Wrigley Field in Los Angeles and all those times my dad and I sat in the last row of the top deck watching the Angels of the Pacific Coast League – most often doubleheaders that had me begging to go by mid-game of the nightcap while my dad would say, “Patience, only a few more innings.”

The seeds were planted then, as they were probably planted for a young David on those wonderful March afternoons when I was covering the latter-day Angels in Palm Springs and he had the opportunity to serve as a bat boy for exhibition games and soak up the environment while sweeping the clubhouse.

I suspect it was then that David began to realize the best way to communicate with Dad was through baseball.

 

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Weekend wrap: Scully won’t be able to see Dodgers games because of distribution dispute; beauty of Bill Walton

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Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sports media…

Vin Scully: Tom Hoffarth reports that Vin Scully, who only does home games, won’t be able to see road games on the new Dodgers network. He is a DirecTV subscriber, and the outlet doesn’t have a deal with Sports Net LA.

Yes, we’re going to play the Scully card. Angst and all.

“The less I say about it, it’s probably the better,” he responded when we asked recently about his thoughts on the SportsNet L.A. launch.

If this matters to anyone, Scully is a DirecTV subscriber. Imagine what happens if this thing really drags out, and the Dodgers’ road trip in late April comes around, the one where they have a nine-game swing through Minnesota, Florida and Washington. That’s one of the trips where he stays home.

So if he wanted to access those games from his living room, and it wasn’t there, would it be proper form for him, or someone else, to tweet out “#INeedMyDodgers?”

Really, how embarrassing can this thing get?

Bill Walton: Ken Fang at Awful Announcing chronicles listening to game called by the red head.

(After Roxy Bernstein reads a promo for the NCAA Hockey Championships)
Walton: So this Frozen Four… is that some sort of drink that you have on a spring break or what is this?
Roxy Bernstein: It probably is somewhere. But that’s actually the Frozen Four, but it’s for ice hockey.
Walton: Ice hockey?
Bernstein: I know you’re big into cycling, Bill, but when was the last time you were on ice skates?
Walton: It’s been more than a couple of days. Wayne Gretzky, that guy he could skate.
Bernstein: That’s why he was called “The Great One” …
Walton: He could think too. He saw things before anybody else did. Saw things before they happened. That’s the way that Ricky Kreklow has played here tonight …

Ian Darke: Richard Deitsch at SI.com talks to the soccer announcer about his future after working this year’s World Cup for ESPN.

“That’s too difficult and anything I say would be considered disloyal to ESPN,” Darke said, laughing. “I don’t even know that ESPN would offer me another deal beyond 2016. When we get to the end of the European Championships at the end of 2016, I am like every other commentator without a contract.”

If Fox Sports management has done its due diligence, they already know about Darke’s contractual status. The network has committed to Gus Johnson as its primary voice for the 2018 World Cup, a decision that has caused consternation among some soccer fans. Fox is not going to budge with Johnson, so it’s vital they provide as much quality around an unproven international soccer game-caller. Hiring Darke for the 2018 World Cup (and 2019 Women’s World Cup) would be a brilliant move if the objective is to gain the trust of hardcore soccer viewers.

Gus Johnson: Meanwhile, Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing says this will be a big year for Johnson on the soccer front.

Stepping away from that strategy, and doing so with someone with such little experience broadcasting soccer, is a huge gamble.  Anointing Johnson as their lead voice as they take over World Cup coverage from ESPN beginning in 2015 is the ultimate risk-reward proposition.  Having a mainstream American voice call the game is an important step forward for televised soccer in the states in the long term.  However, since Johnson is not the quality of Martin Tyler and Ian Darke, Fox risks alienating and losing fans by offering a subpar product in the short term.  Fox faces a ton of pressure to live up to the high standards set by ESPN for the 2015 Women’s World Cup from Canada.

Allie LaForce: Neil Best of Newsday writes about LaForce, who is having a strong tournament as a sideline reporter.

Allie LaForce was Miss Teen USA in 2005, but any notion players and coaches might have that she is just another pretty face as a sideline reporter quickly are dispelled when she starts talking basketball.

She played the game at the Division I level as a reserve at Ohio University during her freshman and sophomore years before transitioning into a media role as a junior.

“There are a lot of sideline reporters who haven’t played the game who do an incredible job,’’ said LaForce, who will be the courtside reporter for the NCAA East Regional at the Garden. “But I think it makes a world of difference, for several reasons.”

Ron Balicki: The long-time college writer for Golfweek died Tuesday. His impact on today’s pros who he met in college was considerable as evidenced by these tweet.

Rickie Fowler, @RickieFowlerPGA: “Ron was the first and only guy I called to release the news about my decision to turn pro…he was a special man and a true friend!!”

Brandt Snedeker, @BrandtSnedeker: “RIP Ron Balicki.. You will be missed and thanks for all you did for all the young golfers across the world… Including me..”

Luke Donald, @LukeDonald: “Sad to hear about the sad loss of Ron Balicki to cancer today. Remember him well during my collegiate years. Good man”

David Duval, @david59duval: “You will be missed Wrong Ron.”

Jane Leavy: The latest Sports-Casters podcast features the great Jane Leavy.

-Jane Leavy is making her fifth appearance (0:22:36) on the podcast. Jane joins us for the first time on this podcast to talk about women in sports and how their role has changed, stayed the same, or maybe even changed again during her time in sports. Jane also talks about Derek Jeter and compares the end of his Yankees career to the end of “her guy” Mickey Mantle and other Yankee legends. Jane also talks about how Jeter’s farewell tour will be different from Mariano Rivera’s. Jane leaves us with news that she is currently working on her next project about Babe Ruth and reaches out to any listeners that might have information could help the project she hopes to get on shelves in 2016.

Mark Cuban: Michael Bradley at the National Sports Journalism Center at Indiana offers his take on Cuban’s comments about the NFL becoming a fat hog.

It is possible that continued hubris, and as Cuban puts it, greed, will weaken the NFL’s position. Like the Roman Empire and the Ming Dynasty, no powerful entity lasts forever. It would be stunning if the NFL and Goodell were so blind as to think that anything they were to do would succeed on a grand level, and that the point of diminishing marginal returns is so far off that it doesn’t apply. Expect the NFL to focus on the maximization of its digital platforms, enhancing fan experiences and making its product as available as possible to the largest audience it can attract, before it starts trying to expand into other nights of the week – if it ever does that.

 

Return of Dino Costa: Would you pay $72 per year for subscription-based show?

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Looking who is plotting a return to sports talk radio? My old pal Dino Costa.

Tom Van Riper at Forbes.com discusses Costa’s plans to launch a subscripton-based show.

So what to do?  Embark on a go-it-alone formula that, if successful, could prove to be the path for more media personalities looking to sustain their careers, or just to find a way in. Costa is gearing up for his own gig, set to launch on May 5, emanating from a 750-square-foot studio in Cheyenne, Wyoming, distributed on PCs and mobile devices, for a subscription fee of $72 a year. The plan is for an eventual stable of contributors to churn out content through audio, video and the written word.

To find investors willing to provide start-up cash, he hit social media, eventually getting the attention of two of his Sirius listeners in New Jersey: Anthony Menicola, an owner of construction and landscaping businesses, and Frank Stillitano, an accountant and management consultant. Together they invested $250,000, enough for a low-overhead media startup to get going.

In today’s crowded, cutthroat marketplace in sports (and other) media, is this the new vehicle of entry?  In a certain sense, the business has always been entrepreneurial – you either find a way to get ratings or you go away. But today’s technology allows you to put yourself out there solo at a low cost. It means doing without the advantages of a brand name station or network umbrella. But it also means more freedom to read the marketplace and serve it the way you want to. And if you hit, all the profit flows to you. Costa’s numbers say 2,500 customers would provide enough subscription and ad revenue to break even. His goal is “several thousand” or so subscribers within the first year.

John Chelesnik, who runs the Sportscasters Talent Agency of America, praises Costa’s abilities but points out that the rogue approach is still a tough road to hoe. “Why would someone pay when there’s so much choice, so much free content?” he posits.

Costa, who does go in with an advantage of a built-in listener base from his years at Sirius, says this: “We believe we’re at a price point that’s reasonable for content that’s not available anywhere else.”

I will say this for Dino. When I wrote about his dismissal from SiriusXM, I received more response than any previous post I have done in two years at this site.

Obviously, he has a loyal following. But will they be $72 per year loyal?

At the very least, Costa won’t be gripping about the management.

 

Ernie Johnson: First Final Four will be landmark moment for Turner Sports

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I caught with one of my favorite people in sports media, Ernie Johnson. Here’s an excerpt from my interview with the Turner Sports veteran that I wrote for Awful Announcing.

*******

Ernie Johnson goes so far back with Turner Sports it actually pre-dates the start of his broadcast career. His father, Ernie Johnson Sr., was the announcer for the Atlanta Braves when Ted Turner had the outlandish idea to air their games nationally on his WTBS Superstation.

The “Crazy Ted” talk died down once the Braves became “America’s Team.” Ernie Johnson’s son learned early on never to question the drive of his father’s boss.

“It seemed like the more people told (Turner), you can’t do something, the more he wanted to do it,” Johnson said.

So that’s why this year’s NCAA tournament holds extra meaning for Johnson and other long-time employees of Turner Sports. For the first time ever, TBS will carry the Final Four games on semifinal Saturday. They had been exclusively on CBS since 1982.

It will be a landmark moment for Turner Sports. Even though Turner himself isn’t involved in the operation of the networks he founded, Johnson knows what it means to everyone with ties to the man whose name still is on the door.

“It’s huge,” Johnson said. “The reality of it isn’t lost on any of us. You watch this tournament your entire life, but you’re never a part of it. Then to be in that mix and to know that everyone is watching this event. It’s not just sports fans. It’s about fringe fans. They’re not sports fans, but they’re March Madness fans with their brackets. The tournament is one of those events that bring everyone together for a few weeks.”

A first: Illinois Governor is my lead-in on PBS’ Chicago Tonight

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I encountered one of those “What’s wrong with this picture?” situations yesterday.

Chicago Tonight, the outstanding news show on WTTW, invited me on as a guest to discuss my book, Babe Ruth’s Called Shot: The Myth and Mystery of Baseball’s Greatest Home Run. (Here is the link from Amazon)

The first guest on the show was Pat Quinn, the Illinois governor who is running for re-election. So I’m sitting in one part of the studio getting ready for my interview, while at the other desk, Eddie Arruza is grilling Quinn. I think the governor would have had more fun talking about the Called Shot.

I said to the show’s host, Phil Ponce, “This is the first time I’ve ever followed a governor on a show.”

Ponce was quick to clarify my statement. “No, this is the first time a governor has preceded you.”

Thanks, Phil.

Thanks also for an enjoyable interview. And much appreciate Taurean Small doing a Q/A with me and running an excerpt of the book on the Chicago Tonight site.

From the Q/A:

Where does the infamous “called shot” moment stand in the legacy of Babe Ruth?

That’s the defining/signature moment of his career. Prior to that, he didn’t really have that moment. He never had that game-winning home run like this. When you look at the defining moments of others sport stars’ careers like Michael Jordan, Ruth never had that. This was his crescendo. And it occurred at Wrigley Field during the World Series with the “called shot.” If you ask people — “what’s the defining moment of his career?” — they will invariably hold their arm out and point. Everyone knows it’s the called shot.

And an excerpt from the excerpt of my interview with former Supreme Court justice John Paul Stevens who was at the game.

Ruth hit left-handed, so Stevens, sitting in a box seat along the third baseline, had a clear view of the man at the plate. He could see into his eyes and try to read his lips. “My interpretation was that he was responding to what Bush was saying. He definitely pointed toward center field. My interpretation always was, ‘I’m going to knock you to the moon.’”Stevens laughed. “That was a kid’s reaction,” he said.

So did it happen? According to a man who has sat on the highest court in the land adjudicating matters of national importance for decades, did Ruth call his shot?

“He definitely was arguing,” Stevens said. “He definitely did point to something. I have no idea what he said or his motivation.”

Good move: Writers invited to join sports editors association

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This is long overdue. The Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) is going to invite writers to join their group.

Since launching this blog in 2012, I have been following the APSE site and even attended their convention when it was in Chicago. It struck me that the sports editors were discussing topics and exchanging ideas that would be of high interest to writers like myself.

Why not include us?

Apparently, Kent Babb of the Washington Post and Dan Wiederer of the Chicago Tribune agreed.  APSE president Tim Stephens, deputy managing editor for CBSSports.com, writes in his newsletter:

As a multiple-time APSE award winner, Washington Post reporter Kent Babb  had reason to take an interest in the organization that was recognizing his best work. Babb began attending APSE events on his own, taking the opportunity to introduce himself and get to know editors across the nation.

 

Being a good reporter, he also saw an opportunity to question the status quo.

 

“At the Boston convention (in 2011), I invited a writer friend of mine to drop by a session or two; if there was any heat, I’d take it, because I’ve just been showing up for the previous few years,” Babb said. “He didn’t feel like he should, though, it being an editors meeting and all, and he said he just wouldn’t feel comfortable. I thought this was a problem for the organization and for any writers interested in taking part — for learning or networking reasons — because we in journalism can’t afford to be hesitant. Sometimes I feel like writers and editors don’t always speak the same language, but in my experience, APSE events have helped me break down that communication wall.”

 

Babb began thinking he should do more than break down that communication wall. He and reporter Dan Wiederer, also a multiple-time APSE winner now with the Chicago Tribune, launched a campaign to allow writers to join APSE. They made their pitch to the membership in 2012, and it was passed by APSE’s executive committee at last June’s summer conference in Detroit.

Writers now can join APSE for $50 annually if their organization is already a member of APSE.   (Writers from non-APSE news organizations can join for $75 but  should contact me at tim.stephens@cbsinteractive.com or Executive Director Jack Berninger at jackapse@aol.com before applying. Here is a link with lihttp://apsportseditors.org/how-to-join/ and you can sign up and pay here: http://registration.apsportseditors.org/pay/

Later Stephens writes:

It seems only natural that APSE open its doors to writers, especially considering how many editors began their careers as writers before moving into management and the evolution of the newsroom also creates opportunities for writers to lead both in the field and from the sports editors’ office.

 

“Having the door to APSE opened just a little more, and formally so, I believe will help ambitious and driven writers to further their growth as sports journalists,” Wiederer said. “That growth, above all else, is what I think the priority of an APSE writers wing would be.”

It’s a good move. Highly recommended. I’m looking forward to becoming a member.

 

 

Coming in May: ‘Most definitive’ Michael Jordan biography on the good, the bad and in between

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This is being billed as the first definitive biography on Michael Jordan.

Roland Lazenby’s “Michael Jordan: The Life” is due out in early May. It is a whopping 720 pages.

Surely, his incredible feats will be celebrated. However, if you are an avid Jordan fan looking for a valentine, this probably isn’t the book for you.

According to the release, Lazenby gets into all facets of his rather complicated life. They include sexual abuse allegations by his sister, Deloris, toward their father, James. In 2009, she wrote a book accusing James of raping her.

From the release:

“Provides a startling new context for Jordan’s life, especially with regards to the largely unreported inner conflicts of his family (who have offered up inaccurate narratives of being the perfect American family), driven by Jordan’s older sister’s allegations of sex abuse against their father, James Jordan.”

That should create a few headlines.

By now, everyone knows Jordan isn’t perfect. Lazenby, who has written books previously on Phil Jackson and Jerry West, will explore all the angles.

From the release:

“For all his fame and glory on the court, MJ also has a dark side—that of a ruthless competitor and lover of high stakes. There hasn’t been a biography about Michael Jordan that fully encompassed the dual nature of his character and drew such a complete portrait of the superstar until now.”

Certainly more to come here.

Here is the entire release:

*******

Michael Jordan is a six-time NBA champion, five-time MVP, ten-time nominee to the All-NBA First Team, fourteen-time All-Star, an Olympic gold medalist, and one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History. From his college ball days in North Carolina through his heyday with the Chicago Bulls in the ’90s and up to today, where he is a recent Basketball Hall of Fame inductee and co-owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, every step of his legendary career has been startlingly remarkable. MJ’s superhuman athletic prowess has been the focus of fans and press the world over, and even now, at age fifty, MJ’s career and life—on and off the court—remain the subjects of emphatic interest.

For all his fame and glory on the court, MJ also has a dark side—that of a ruthless competitor and lover of high stakes. There hasn’t been a biography about Michael Jordan that fully encompassed the dual nature of his character and drew such a complete portrait of the superstar until now. MICHAEL JORDAN: The Life by Roland Lazenby (Little, Brown and Company; May 6, 2014) reveals the fullest, most compelling story of the man who is Michael Jordan.

Basketball journalist Roland Lazenby has spent almost thirty years covering MJ’s time in college and the NBA. His intimate access to Jordan’s coaches, friends, teammates, and family members provided him a truly well-rounded perspective of the man, the myth, and the legend. He witnessed Jordan’s growth from a skinny rookie to the instantly recognizable global ambassador for basketball he is today, and in MICHAEL JORDAN: The Life he pulls back the curtain on many lesser-known aspects of Jordan’s life.

In the book, Lazenby:

Explores intimate details about Jordan’s childhood and four generations of North Carolina ancestors before him—moonshiners and hard workers—who Lazenby writes about more deeply than anyone has before

Provides a startling new context for Jordan’s life, especially with regards to the largely unreported inner conflicts of his family (who have offered up inaccurate narratives of being the perfect American family), driven by Jordan’s older sister’s allegations of sex abuse against their father, James Jordan

Draws the most complete portrait of Michael Jordan’s life and career, stretching from his youth—including the infamous story of getting “cut” by his high school team—through his time playing in North Carolina, with intimate details about Jordan’s relationship with Coach Dean Smith

Takes a complete dive into Jordan’s Bulls-era heyday, including his productive but often fraught relationships with his coaches, teammates, and team managers/owners, in all of their fascinating and dramatic intensity

Reveals a fully rounded picture of who Jordan is as a person and how hard, aggressive, and demanding he can be—and how he drove his teammates to perfection often through verbal abuse, just like his father did to him as a boy

 

 

He’s right: Jay Bilas changed my mind on pay-for-play for college athletes

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After being married to a lawyer for nearly 21 years, I learned a long time ago that it is fruitless to debate people who argue for a living. You never win.

So when I talked to Jay Bilas, who is a lawyer, a couple of times earlier this year, I didn’t expect that I would alter his view on the pay-for-play issue in college sports. However, I didn’t anticipate that he would change mine.

Below is Bilas’ appearance on the Keith Olbermann show last night to discuss the ruling in the Northwestern union case.

Bilas argued many of the same points in an interview I did with him in February prior to the hearings on the Northwestern case. In wake of what happened yesterday, his comments are worth reviewing.

After covering college sports for nearly a decade at the Chicago Tribune, I had been in the camp that a scholarship was sufficient compensation for playing college sports. Also, like many others, I bought into the notion that the majority of college athletic departments were losing money. There is no additional cash to pay these athletes, or so I thought.

Well, Bilas changed my mind of a couple of fronts:

The money is there. However, Bilas points out how it is allocated: significant seven-figure salaries for coaches and administrators. Heck, even in coordinators in football are making more than $1 million per year.

Bilas:

So now, do they have a lot of salaries and all that?  Yeah, but they’re paying themselves.  It’s funny how they’ve got the money to pay themselves first, and they go, there’s nothing left over.  Why are the athletes at the end?

And then there’s this:

I don’t believe, nor does any reasonable economist believe, that this entire enterprise teeters upon the athletes staying amateur.  It doesn’t.  They say, well, if we pay the athletes we’ll have to cut other sports.  Says who?  Nobody says when they say, boy, you give the players more than a scholarship, you have to cut other sports.  Nobody has to say if you pay Rick Pitino or Coach K and Bill Self $5 to $10 million, you’re not going to have other sports.  Nobody says that.  And the money keeps going up.  We’re making more money, not less, and there’s not one economic theory that says that if you pay your employees, you’re automatically, it’s a zero sum game, you’re going to have less profit.

Indeed, if you slashed coach’s salaries by 20 percent, that would free up a couple of million bucks at most athletic programs. Then you could give that money to the athletes. Simple. Right? Imagine how that would go down with those coaches.

Bilas advocates for a free market system. When I countered that it would create an uneven playing field, he had a ready reply.

It’s uneven now. They don’t pay all the coaches the same thing, do they? Nobody said, ‘Hey, Oregon, you can’t build that $68 million facility. Kentucky, you can’t build that (basketball) dorm that’s nicer than the Ritz-Carlton, because it’s not fair to everyone else.’ Aren’t those competitive advantages? We’ve never had a level playing field in college sports, and we never will.

He added.

They don’t have to give scholarships if they don’t want to.  There’s nothing that requires them to give scholarships.  They don’t pay all their coaches the same thing.  They don’t pay the lacrosse coach the same thing they pay the football coach.  How did they make that determination?  Why isn’t that too complicated?  They come out with these ridiculous questions, are we going to pay the last guy on the wrestling team the same thing we pay the quarterback?  Well, do you pay the wrestling coach the same thing you pay Nick Saban?  The answer is no.  So do what you want.  You want to pay everybody the same, go ahead.

Then there’s the notion that it can’t be done simply because nobody has ever offered a workable formula.

It’s a lame excuse. Sometimes I like to take things to the absurd to make a point, but it’s really funny how nobody ever says, like when they started this playoff, this College Football Playoff, nobody said, it’s just too complicated.  How are we going to figure it out?  How are we going to figure out what venue to use and how are we going to play all the vendors?  Do we pay all the vendors the same thing?  Do we pay the parking attendants the same thing that we pay the announcers?  How do we do it?  Do we pay all the teams?  How do we pay the coaches?  Do we pay the assistants the same way that ‑‑ it’s funny how they can make all these decisions according to the free market, but the athletes, boy, you can’t do that.

Here’s larger point. Thanks to TV, the money has grown exponentially in the last 20 years. Millions have become billions. Big difference.

The money can’t be ignored any longer. There’s simply too much for the players not to get a slice.

Bilas:

I always felt like this was going to happen because the amount of money that’s in the game now, I think this is pro sports, and the only thing that’s not pro about it is the fact that they don’t pay their employees.  The tension between the amount of money that’s generated and the amount of money that’s paid to the coaches and the administrators and all that and the amount that’s provided to the players, which is basically just their expenses, that tension is only going to grow.  That’s not going to lessen.

And finally:

I think it’s the beginning of it rather than some sort of ending point, but to me the best news about it isn’t that the players are doing something.  It’s that it is starting a conversation where the logic, or lack thereof, of the NCAA is going to be tested and scrutinized, because to me, like they’re always telling us, no, this is a great deal for the players and they get more than they deserve, and they’re not worth it.  Well, if that’s true, then the deal should be able to stand on its own, and you should be able to justify your own policies, and I think now they have to do it.

Indeed, when it comes to this issue, I’m listening to Bilas. He is the smartest man in the room.