I started reading a book yesterday that I had gotten as a Christmas present when I was a kid. The book, titled Buckeye is about the Ohio State Football Coach at the time, Woody Hayes and the Ohio State Football program. I'm only a few chapters in to the book at this point, but some things struck me.
The first thing I noticed was how much things change. I got book as a Christmas present in 1977 and it had been written a few years before that. It spoke about how important it was to Coach Hayes that his players got their college degrees. He would keep on his players about their grades and would keep hounding his former players who had left the university without a degree. Impressing on them the importance of getting "that sheepskin". It doesn't seem to be that way anymore. College coaches don't seem to be as concerned about making sure that their players get a good education. Maybe that's just from my perspective, but that seems to be secondary nowadays, even though the incentive a University gives a player to come play at their school is to offer them a free education.
Another thing I noticed was how much the cost of football has gone up in the years since this book was written. This came to light in part due to the part about Woody wanting to make sure his players get their degrees. The book spoke of John Brockington who was a former Ohio State football player and was playing professional football for the Green Bay Packers. The author pointed out that he didn't feel it was so important for Brockington to have a degree because he was making over $100,000 as one of the NFL's best running backs. $100,000???? REALLY??? Can you imagine a professional football player, especially one of the best in his position, making $100,000 today? The book also spoke about Coach Hayes' salary. Low, even for those times, for someone as successful has he was at that size school. But far lower than I would have ever imagined. At the time the book was written, Woody Hayes, one of best known coaches in college football at a program whose attendance at games was one of the highest in the country, was making $28,000 a year. Can you imagine that today? $28,000 a year as the head coach of a college football program the size and scope of Ohio State.
Even adjusted for inflation, those numbers are low. John Brockington's $100,000 a year would be equal to just over $485,000 today. Now sit back and think if one of the top running backs in the NFL were making $485,000 a year. I'm thinking the cost of tickets and concessions at NFL stadiums would be much less expensive. And Woody's $28,000 in 1973 would be $135,845 today. Can you imagine the coach of Ohio State football being paid $135,845? And Woody also pulled double duty as a physical education professor during his time at Ohio State. Urban Meyer was hired this year by The Ohio State University for $4,000,000 a year! So, adjusted for inflation, he is being paid nearly 30 times what Woody Hayes was making.
The thing I've noticed about what hasn't changed in 40 years is that the media still writes the story with their own slant to it. Woody Hayes did not like the media. He had been burned by the media a few times and was very suspicious of them. He had learned that the media would twist words and edit comments so that, while technically accurate, conveyed the message the media wanted them to convey instead of what they were actually meant to convey. A good recent example of this is the situation we've been hearing about in Florida. The tragic shooting of 17 year old Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman. I'm not about to defend George Zimmerman, but as time has gone on I've learned that some of what has led to the outrage in this case is the way the media portrayed Zimmerman. They played portions of a 911 call Zimmerman made to police that night, including a comment made by Zimmerman saying, "he looks black". Now most people listening to that assumed that Zimmerman was coming to the conclusion that Martin was up to no good simply because he was black. It was a natural assumption to make, why else would Zimmerman just say, "he looks black" unless we was racist. But the problem was in the editing. The reason Zimmerman said, "he looks black" was because the dispatcher asked Zimmerman, "What's the guy look like? Is he white, black, hispanic..?" to which Zimmerman replied, "he looks black". That puts a whole new twist on the conversation. That doesn't mean that Zimmerman is completely guilty, but because the press called Zimmerman's comments "racially charged" there is an uproar. There is no other reason that we know of that this incident may have been racially motivated other than the misleading editing by the media. Now, any investigation done and any conclusions made from those investigations will be suspect. If Zimmerman is not charged it will be a racial thing. If he is charged, it will be to avoid the appearance of a racial thing. A true, fair investigation is almost impossible.
So even back in 1973 the media was doing less true reporting of the news, and more trying to sensationalize issues for ratings, buyers, etc. I learned that lesson myself about 22 years ago.
The first thing I noticed was how much things change. I got book as a Christmas present in 1977 and it had been written a few years before that. It spoke about how important it was to Coach Hayes that his players got their college degrees. He would keep on his players about their grades and would keep hounding his former players who had left the university without a degree. Impressing on them the importance of getting "that sheepskin". It doesn't seem to be that way anymore. College coaches don't seem to be as concerned about making sure that their players get a good education. Maybe that's just from my perspective, but that seems to be secondary nowadays, even though the incentive a University gives a player to come play at their school is to offer them a free education.
Another thing I noticed was how much the cost of football has gone up in the years since this book was written. This came to light in part due to the part about Woody wanting to make sure his players get their degrees. The book spoke of John Brockington who was a former Ohio State football player and was playing professional football for the Green Bay Packers. The author pointed out that he didn't feel it was so important for Brockington to have a degree because he was making over $100,000 as one of the NFL's best running backs. $100,000???? REALLY??? Can you imagine a professional football player, especially one of the best in his position, making $100,000 today? The book also spoke about Coach Hayes' salary. Low, even for those times, for someone as successful has he was at that size school. But far lower than I would have ever imagined. At the time the book was written, Woody Hayes, one of best known coaches in college football at a program whose attendance at games was one of the highest in the country, was making $28,000 a year. Can you imagine that today? $28,000 a year as the head coach of a college football program the size and scope of Ohio State.
Even adjusted for inflation, those numbers are low. John Brockington's $100,000 a year would be equal to just over $485,000 today. Now sit back and think if one of the top running backs in the NFL were making $485,000 a year. I'm thinking the cost of tickets and concessions at NFL stadiums would be much less expensive. And Woody's $28,000 in 1973 would be $135,845 today. Can you imagine the coach of Ohio State football being paid $135,845? And Woody also pulled double duty as a physical education professor during his time at Ohio State. Urban Meyer was hired this year by The Ohio State University for $4,000,000 a year! So, adjusted for inflation, he is being paid nearly 30 times what Woody Hayes was making.
The thing I've noticed about what hasn't changed in 40 years is that the media still writes the story with their own slant to it. Woody Hayes did not like the media. He had been burned by the media a few times and was very suspicious of them. He had learned that the media would twist words and edit comments so that, while technically accurate, conveyed the message the media wanted them to convey instead of what they were actually meant to convey. A good recent example of this is the situation we've been hearing about in Florida. The tragic shooting of 17 year old Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman. I'm not about to defend George Zimmerman, but as time has gone on I've learned that some of what has led to the outrage in this case is the way the media portrayed Zimmerman. They played portions of a 911 call Zimmerman made to police that night, including a comment made by Zimmerman saying, "he looks black". Now most people listening to that assumed that Zimmerman was coming to the conclusion that Martin was up to no good simply because he was black. It was a natural assumption to make, why else would Zimmerman just say, "he looks black" unless we was racist. But the problem was in the editing. The reason Zimmerman said, "he looks black" was because the dispatcher asked Zimmerman, "What's the guy look like? Is he white, black, hispanic..?" to which Zimmerman replied, "he looks black". That puts a whole new twist on the conversation. That doesn't mean that Zimmerman is completely guilty, but because the press called Zimmerman's comments "racially charged" there is an uproar. There is no other reason that we know of that this incident may have been racially motivated other than the misleading editing by the media. Now, any investigation done and any conclusions made from those investigations will be suspect. If Zimmerman is not charged it will be a racial thing. If he is charged, it will be to avoid the appearance of a racial thing. A true, fair investigation is almost impossible.
So even back in 1973 the media was doing less true reporting of the news, and more trying to sensationalize issues for ratings, buyers, etc. I learned that lesson myself about 22 years ago.
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