Shared this perspective today…
I’ve come to a realization and I am working through it. Would genuinely appreciate y’all’s help as I think through this:
Growing up in Charleston we have a thing called a crab trap. You put a turkey neck in the hold and then throw the trap in the creek. Crabs come in to eat on the neck and they get stuck inside and can’t get out. They will then destroy each other in desperation. We put them on ice and they go to sleep and then we clean them….we pluck their meat to the bone.
I think what we are seeing is millions of people across the country who secretly loathe this current system of college football, but gave in to it out of desperation. This includes coaches, boosters, and fans. They were absolutely desperate to win. One individual who owns NIKE actually said (I’m paraphrasing) “I am desperate to win a national championship and will give the Oregon program a blank check to get any player they want.” What? Well, we in South Carolina, and certainly at Clemson, have never had this kind of luxury. All we have is who we are. All we have is each other. We see statements like this and see resources being dumped into programs and we wonder “how in the world can poor little SC ever compete with that?”
www.mediaite.com
They gave away who they are, their culture, and identity for a chance to win. They dumped endless supplies of resources into rosters and hiring players with an approach that only considers money. They illegally tampered with other people’s rosters and, in this desperation, dumped hundreds of millions of dollars into a system with no boundaries and no end to the amount of resources that can be spent. Blank checks from large corporations that are absolutley desperate.
Dabo has participated in this, but has refused to give up his culture and the program’s identity for the sake of fitting in on this current landscape. What I have realized is that everyone else who gave in to this system wants him to fail.
They hate him because he stayed true to his principles when they caved. The world around him told him to cave and he didn’t. They know in their heart of hearts that what they are doing is not good for the game and the one who stayed doing good…they have to destroy. They are trapped crabs who gave up who they are for a little bit of turkey neck.
I remember when Clemson lost to a now SEC champion UGA team earlier this year. The media had a feeding frenzy the likes of which I have never seen. Dabo is “done” and the “dynasty is over.” He will never make the playoff again and his way of doings things is antiquated, old, and he needs to just retire. We then celebrated UGA who has one of the worst graduation rates in college football.
What have we done as a society? Rather than celebrate this man for graduating 99% of his players, building a culture, and teaching young men incredible life principles we have tried to destroy him because he didn’t “go along” with making the decision all about money. My hope is that Dabo’s singular stand will cause other coaches to say “enough is enough.” Perhaps his stand will cause us all to question: what are we doing?
If we, as a society, chose to invest 1/10 of what we are spending on college football into actual academic pursuits then just imagine what we could do? We could cure things. We could heal people. We could create alternative sources of energy. We could write award winning literature and works of history.
Instead, what will that investment get you? A trophy that will gather dust, a great feeling that is fleeting, and being able to brag. Of course, in Clemson we are not desperate. We have won 3 national championships and have been to 7 college football playoffs. It’s easier to say this as someone who has experienced the mountaintop multiple times.
However, I am beginning to think that maybe the route Dabo is choosing is principled and hard. It is true, we at Clemson have not had the victories on the gridiron from 2021-2024 to which we are accustomed. However, I would rather us stay true to who we are than give up everything. In doing that, we would actually kill the very thing we have come to admire.
Out of desperation we destroy those around us who remain true, because we lost that truth a long time ago and it eats away at us.
We don’t want to hear it, because in the hearing of it we are reminded of our collective desperation and pursuit of trophies and mammon over the real pursuit of college football in the first place: the shaping and molding of young boys into men, providing a world class education and preparing them for the next stage of life as professionals, husbands, fathers.
Glory is fleeting. What isn’t fleeting? An educated man who has been through adversity, a father who remains committed to his family, a professional who makes an impact for a greater good not just for money. Winning is great, but winning and giving up who you are to win is not worth the cost.
What kind of men are we raising now? We are communicating to an entire generation of young men to jump ship at the first sign of more money. To forget about a commitment to something, to people and to a team in order to get paid. I’m not saying this is wrong. I’m saying it’s dangerous.
Instead of celebrating the one person asking questions about this system they have attempted to destroy him.
We have been keeping receipts. This is why at Clemson we feel like it’s us against the world.
I’ve come to a realization and I am working through it. Would genuinely appreciate y’all’s help as I think through this:
Growing up in Charleston we have a thing called a crab trap. You put a turkey neck in the hold and then throw the trap in the creek. Crabs come in to eat on the neck and they get stuck inside and can’t get out. They will then destroy each other in desperation. We put them on ice and they go to sleep and then we clean them….we pluck their meat to the bone.
I think what we are seeing is millions of people across the country who secretly loathe this current system of college football, but gave in to it out of desperation. This includes coaches, boosters, and fans. They were absolutely desperate to win. One individual who owns NIKE actually said (I’m paraphrasing) “I am desperate to win a national championship and will give the Oregon program a blank check to get any player they want.” What? Well, we in South Carolina, and certainly at Clemson, have never had this kind of luxury. All we have is who we are. All we have is each other. We see statements like this and see resources being dumped into programs and we wonder “how in the world can poor little SC ever compete with that?”
Nike Founder Phil Knight Providing Alma Mater With ‘Unlimited’ NIL Funding in Hopes of Winning College Football Championship
Nike co-founder Phil Knight is reportedly willing to exhaust his vast resources to ensure the Oregon Ducks football team wins a national championship.
They gave away who they are, their culture, and identity for a chance to win. They dumped endless supplies of resources into rosters and hiring players with an approach that only considers money. They illegally tampered with other people’s rosters and, in this desperation, dumped hundreds of millions of dollars into a system with no boundaries and no end to the amount of resources that can be spent. Blank checks from large corporations that are absolutley desperate.
Dabo has participated in this, but has refused to give up his culture and the program’s identity for the sake of fitting in on this current landscape. What I have realized is that everyone else who gave in to this system wants him to fail.
They hate him because he stayed true to his principles when they caved. The world around him told him to cave and he didn’t. They know in their heart of hearts that what they are doing is not good for the game and the one who stayed doing good…they have to destroy. They are trapped crabs who gave up who they are for a little bit of turkey neck.
I remember when Clemson lost to a now SEC champion UGA team earlier this year. The media had a feeding frenzy the likes of which I have never seen. Dabo is “done” and the “dynasty is over.” He will never make the playoff again and his way of doings things is antiquated, old, and he needs to just retire. We then celebrated UGA who has one of the worst graduation rates in college football.
'We need to do better': Georgia football ranks last in FBS in latest NCAA graduation rates
Georgia football is at the bottom of more than 130 FBS programs in the latest NCAA graduation rate metric. Here's how the school is addressing that.
www.onlineathens.com
What have we done as a society? Rather than celebrate this man for graduating 99% of his players, building a culture, and teaching young men incredible life principles we have tried to destroy him because he didn’t “go along” with making the decision all about money. My hope is that Dabo’s singular stand will cause other coaches to say “enough is enough.” Perhaps his stand will cause us all to question: what are we doing?
If we, as a society, chose to invest 1/10 of what we are spending on college football into actual academic pursuits then just imagine what we could do? We could cure things. We could heal people. We could create alternative sources of energy. We could write award winning literature and works of history.
Instead, what will that investment get you? A trophy that will gather dust, a great feeling that is fleeting, and being able to brag. Of course, in Clemson we are not desperate. We have won 3 national championships and have been to 7 college football playoffs. It’s easier to say this as someone who has experienced the mountaintop multiple times.
However, I am beginning to think that maybe the route Dabo is choosing is principled and hard. It is true, we at Clemson have not had the victories on the gridiron from 2021-2024 to which we are accustomed. However, I would rather us stay true to who we are than give up everything. In doing that, we would actually kill the very thing we have come to admire.
Out of desperation we destroy those around us who remain true, because we lost that truth a long time ago and it eats away at us.
We don’t want to hear it, because in the hearing of it we are reminded of our collective desperation and pursuit of trophies and mammon over the real pursuit of college football in the first place: the shaping and molding of young boys into men, providing a world class education and preparing them for the next stage of life as professionals, husbands, fathers.
Glory is fleeting. What isn’t fleeting? An educated man who has been through adversity, a father who remains committed to his family, a professional who makes an impact for a greater good not just for money. Winning is great, but winning and giving up who you are to win is not worth the cost.
What kind of men are we raising now? We are communicating to an entire generation of young men to jump ship at the first sign of more money. To forget about a commitment to something, to people and to a team in order to get paid. I’m not saying this is wrong. I’m saying it’s dangerous.
Instead of celebrating the one person asking questions about this system they have attempted to destroy him.
We have been keeping receipts. This is why at Clemson we feel like it’s us against the world.
