ANTONIO CLOWN, CALI PAYDAY — The Weekly Opine

Have we seen the last of this man in the NFL? Hope so. (Photo credit: CNN, Sporting News)

He (hopefully) gone!

What were they thinking? The Oakland Raiders, New England Patriots and the athletic trainer who recently accused Antonio Brown of sexual assault.

One of the traditions in American sports is professional athletes often eat for free. Restaurant owners are happy to hand out freebies to pro athletes, even though the athlete can easily afford the most expensive meals anywhere. For the restaurant, it makes for great PR having athletes in the house. All the better if positive social media is generated.

Antonio Brown now faces at least three cities, Pittsburgh, Oakland and Boston, where there are no more free meals. Because the former NFL All-Pro has a knack for wearing out his welcome in less time than it takes Usain Bolt to run 100 meters.

Oakland crazy Part 2

Last year, in a mind-numbing decision, the Raiders let superstar defensive end Khalil Mack get away to the Chicago Bears. Mack is acknowledged as one of the top five defensive players in the league, yet the Raiders barely flinched when they traded Mack to Chicago after prolonged contract negotiations.

This year, the Raiders brought in Antonio Brown to bolster their wide receiver corps. Then Oakland suffered through multiple Brown-related distractions (cryotherapy-caused frozen feet; refusal to wear NFL-sanctioned helmet; grievances filed against the NFL; fined for missing practices; altercation with Raiders general manager Mike Mayock).

As Brown’s circus quickly grew from one ring to three rings, Raiders head coach and personnel decision-maker Jon Gruden professed his love for, and support of Brown. GM Mayock, however, became Brown’s Public Enemy #1 while Brown humiliated Gruden and the Oakland franchise with his antics. Gruden, who won a Super Bowl coaching Tampa Bay, and was subsequently an excellent analyst on NFL broadcasts, appears to have lost a step or two when it comes to coaching.

Oakland finally dismissed Brown before the season started.

There is no doubt the New England Patriots are the greatest U.S. sports franchise of the 21st Century.

New England has the best coach, Bill Belichick, and quarterback Tom Brady is the G.O.A.T. (greatest of all-time). Another reason for the Patriots success is they are fearless. They take risks. Often, risk-taking pays off in championships for the Patriots. But they rarely gamble.

When the Pats made a one-year, $9 million offer to Antonio Brown they were gambling. Risk-taking is measured and thoroughly evaluated. Gambling carries an element of carelessness.

The ink was barely dry on reports the Raiders let Brown go, when the Patriots announced they claimed the mercurial Brown, just hours after he was released by Oakland. In a few days the Pats were left holding the sourest of apples when one, and then a second allegation surfaced that Antonio sexually assaulted two women.

To their credit, the Pats immediately said ‘so long’ to Brown and his behavioral malware, before he could infect the team and disrupt their quest for another Super Bowl title.

No one doubts the Scarecrow’s intelligence. (Photo credit: The Weekly Opine)

If she only had a brain

As for first accuser Britney Taylor, she met Brown while both were in college at Central Michigan. Brown played football and Taylor was a gymnast. A few years ago, Taylor accepted Brown’s invitation to be his trainer.

Taylor alleges that while she was at Brown’s home sometime in 2017, Brown exposed himself and forcibly kissed her without her consent. Several months later, in 2017, Brown ejaculated on Taylor’s back while she watched TV at his home. Both of those alleged assaults occurred during training sessions. Months later, in 2018, Taylor went to Brown’s house after being at a nightclub, because she was hungry. On this occasion, Taylor says Brown assaulted and raped her.

At some point the truth will come out. While innocent until proven guilty is the law of the land, given Antonio’s well-documented erratic behavior, it’s not a stretch to believe Taylor.

However, Taylor exhibited barely a modicum of brainpower. What woman in her right mind returns to a man’s house not once, but twice after he’s sexually assaulted her? By no means does Taylor returning to Brown’s house after the first incident, and second incident, excuse or justify being assaulted and raped. But why go back after the first incident? Geez.

Taylor will never be confused with the Scarecrow, who did not think he had a brain when he was the smartest one of the bunch.

The #MeToo movement likely influenced Nike to dump Brown, when the second woman came forward alleging Brown exposed himself to her. In 2003, when Kobe Bryant faced credible rape charges, alleged by a 19-year old Colorado hotel worker, Nike refused to dump Bryant. Even after Kobe avoided trial, settling financially with the woman and releasing a self-incriminating statement.

Now the NFL, which used to brush aside allegations of player mistreatment of women like an annoying fleck of dandruff, has opened an investigation into Brown’s behavior. Brown subsequently tweeted he is done with the NFL, only to delete the tweet a day later. The guess is Antonio Brown will not catch another pass in the NFL.

With California’s new law, the pendulum swings in the athlete’s favor. (Photo credit: The Weekly Opine)

Golden State pay day

Often, the country of, er, state of California leads the way. Cali is doing so again passing a law enabling college athletes to market themselves in the lucrative world of endorsements. In the process, The Golden State may have doused the existing financial flame of collegiate sports.

The NCAA, a backward-looking organization, not surprisingly is against California’s “Fair Pay to Play Act,” which was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday, September 30. Resisting progress and fairness, the archaic NCAA claims it is “unconstitutional.” (Couldn’t NBA commissioner Adam Silver run both the NBA and NCAA, relieving slow-poke NCAA president Mark Emmert of his duties?)

College athletes should also be on university payrolls, in addition to cashing in on endorsement opportunities as stipulated by California’s new law, which takes effect in 2023. And athletes should have the freedom to jump from high school directly to the pros, same as an 18-year old violin prodigy is free to play for, and get paid by, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

The NCAA makes Titanic-size boatloads of money. According to the Madness, Inc. study the NCAA, its coaches and schools are getting filthy rich off the backs of athletes. In 2017, college sports generated $14.1 billion. Annually, March Madness delivers $1.2 billion in media rights fees. Non-profit universities are paid as much as $250 million in media and apparel fees.

Yet collectively, schools paid out $936 million in scholarships, meaning the average scholarship is worth $20,800. Pittance compared to the outsized salaries of coaches.

In 2018, Alabama football coach Nick Saban’s yearly salary was $8.3 million, making Saban arguably the highest paid public employee in America. Private-school Duke University basketball coach Mike Krzyewski is paid a whopping $8.98 million annually.

There must be – and California just proved there is - a more equitable solution than the tired refrain, “just be happy with your scholarship and the great travel experiences and everything else that comes along with being a college athlete.” The part about quality education is rendered meaningless when you look at graduation rates of college athletes.

Sen. Chris Murphy, who spearheaded the Madness, Inc. report, points out athletes graduate at lower rates than other students. Schools “defraud” athletes out of the value of scholarships making a myth out of the notion of a “free education.” And many of the athletes who graduate do not earn a quality degree.

There is little doubt the Olympics would not attract world-class athletes if the International Olympic Committee stuck to their previous caveman-era notion that Olympics athletes should be restricted to unpaid amateurism.

An offbeat cat

If cats have nine lives, former-Florida quarterback and 2007 Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow must have a drawer full of silver spoons.

After his stellar college football career, Tebow had a modest and brief NFL career. He is now a barely average studio analyst, in addition to dabbling in baseball. Not major league talent, Tebow is nonetheless allowed to take up space in the minor leagues, where fans and the media drool when he occasionally hits a home run. (There are many people working 9-to-5 jobs who, if given the chance to play in the minors every day, could pop an occasional home run).

Tebow, the beneficiary of a golden path, is against California’s new law empowering college athletes. He repeats the well-worn line about the wholesomeness of the collegiate athlete experience, which is easy to say when you come from an upper-middle class family. He claims the NCAA will turn into the NFL if players are compensated.

Tebow is out-of-touch with the realities of poor inner-city and poor rural kids, e.g. Derrick Rose and Larry Bird. Tebow never wondered where the next meal was coming from, or if he could afford to see a movie.

Chicago Bull Derrick Rose and McDonald’s All American Anthony Davis in 2011. If it was allowed, both were good enough to go from high school to the NBA. (Photo Credit: Brian Spurlock)

As director of the prestigious McDonald’s All American High School Basketball Games from 2011-2016, I interacted with families - some single parent households – who were on shaky financial footing. For them, everything was riding on their kid going to college, for a year or two, then joining the NBA to bag a much-needed cash infusion. Yes, it is wrong for colleges to greatly prosper while the athlete/family only get a scholarship.

ESPN analyst Jay Bilas rightfully argues players have market value, despite opposite rhetoric from the NCAA. The long overdue fair thing to do is set up a system where the players are compensated. Corroboration for this comes from multiple states looking to emulate California’s new law, as well as a shift in public sentiment, trending towards paying college athletes.

Indiana hoops coach Archie Miller says, “In today’s day and age, if you’re not forward-thinking, you’re standing in cement.” Adds Illinois coach Brad Underwood, “I just don’t think you can stay status quo [because] status quo gets you left behind.”

Something’s got to give. And it will. If they choose to, NCAA brass can continue stonewalling. But progress eventually overtakes stubborn resistance. It’s inevitable.