I used to be as soon as the Grinch who hated when groups with shedding data ended up making the postseason. All groups. All sports activities. All eras – even these I wasn’t round.
In 1960, the yr earlier than arriving in Los Angeles, the 25-50 Minneapolis Lakers made the playoffs, sweeping the 30-45 Detroit Pistons in a primary spherical. For a Lakers fan like me, it must be a feel-good story. As a substitute, my internal Grinch would hear this little bit of historical past and surprise: What’s so particular a few workforce with a shedding document beating one other?
However that was the outdated me.
Opinion columnist
LZ Granderson
LZ Granderson writes about tradition, politics, sports activities, and navigating life in America.
I now have a coronary heart for groups with sub-.500 data, and it is all due to the 5-7 Minnesota Golden Gophers.
This school soccer workforce would not actually belong within the postseason. Not with that document. However the NCAA traded bowl benefit for bowl a reimbursement in 2010 when it allowed 6-6 groups to be eligible. This allowed extra (pointless however worthwhile) video games to be squeezed in. Two years later, after additional bowl enlargement, the group allowed groups with shedding data to develop into eligible if there weren’t sufficient profitable groups to fill the bowl video games.
This yr, solely 79 groups gained six or extra video games and there are 82 bowl slots. To fill the vacancies, the NCAA invited two colleges from decrease divisions — James Madison and Jacksonville State — to bowl with the massive boys. Mixed, they went 19-5 this season, in order that is smart.
The Gophers, then again … effectively, they made the lower due to good grades.
You don’t say.
In 2003, the NCAA launched a brand new scoring system designed to carry universities extra accountable for the tutorial efficiency of student-athletes. That features commencement charges. Ohio State gained the nationwide championship at a fee of solely 36% in 2003. The bottom fee in that postseason belonged to the Oklahoma Sooners. They gained the Rose Bowl at a fee of 26%.
This yr’s Gophers could have completed the common season on a three-game shedding streak, however they nonetheless completed within the prime 10 for educational achievement. And of the five-win groups, Minnesota was ranked No. 1 and earned a bowl invitation.
Subsequently, calling the Gophers losers regardless of their document on the sphere would not fairly ring true. For 4 consecutive seasons, the varsity has completed above the tutorial common within the NCAA. An achievement worthy of recognition. And there is definitely no have to be a purist about postseason eligibility when mediocrity is so worthwhile.
Take a look at Texas A&M, which is pays Jimbo Fisher $75 million to not follow soccer. That is the price of firing him two years after he signed a totally assured 10-year, $95 million contract. In response to Yahoo Sports activities, colleges are on the hook for greater than $120 million in buyouts this yr. In 2021, universities spent a then-record $94 million on layoffs.
The added bowl video games of latest years introduced further income however apparently not scrutiny as a variety of athletic administrators acted as in the event that they had been utilizing Monopoly cash to rent coaches.
This is identical mind belief that argued in opposition to to pay the gamers or allow them to money in on name-picture-like gives.
Enterprise was all the time paramount. For many years, school soccer emphasised the “athlete” as “student-athlete” and put cash earlier than revenue.
The Gophers could have dissatisfied followers by shedding seven of 12 video games within the common season, however for the remainder of us, they’re now a feel-good story. Which bowl they find yourself in will not be recognized till Sunday, however the one in Las Vegas is a doable vacation spot. In a season the place tens of tens of millions of {dollars} go to coaches who did not win, why should not the Gophers additionally get a season-ending bonus?
The training locations a transparent emphasis on follow in addition to research. Minnesota has not too long ago gained 5 straight bowl video games, a streak that started in 2015 with the Fast Lane Bowl, which was created the yr earlier than. And like this workforce, that Gophers workforce additionally completed 5-7 and made the postseason due to good grades.
The outdated me hated that postseason giveaway spot. However my little Grinch coronary heart has began to develop.