Things discussed:
- Hunter Dickinson: This is why NIL is good for the game. In college he's the cornerstone of a very good team, a heel, and a constant presence; no NBA fans are going "Ah man, I hope my team drafts you."
- Illinois is falling apart: nobody wants to play for Brad Underwood.
- NCAA vs NIL: They're going to lose—their latest fig leaf just got blown up by Mississippi and Tennessee. Emmert firing isn't going to change this. They serve the presidents who serve the donors. Opportunity here for the players to unionize and fill the power void.
- The future is contracts whether they want it or not, because the schools are parties who want services, and are hunting for someone to make a deal with because the NCAA can't protect them anymore.
- Players unionizing?
- Transfer portal shopping: Shannon seems like an NIL duel with Texas Tech, who wants to keep him.
- Portal problem for Michigan is transferring credits, because they have a matching system where the classes you took have to match classes offered at Michigan, and the people who could change that are, by design, siloed from people who want to make that change for sports reasons.
- Where Michigan is on NIL versus where they should be are miles apart.
- NCAA has imbalances that have grown up from years. Stop caring who's advantaged; no matter what changes you make to a system there will be a change in advantage. What matters is what's moral—what's right for the game and for its participants.
- Example: small schools like playing over-agers and Michigan doesn't like it because our players out of high school are better than theirs. But it's good for the players and good for college hockey and good for people getting an education and participating in college sports who aren't going to be pros, which matters more than Michigan's traditionalist needs.
- Mel: does he have a job? When are they going to say something?
- Lions/Hutchinson. Seth says the Lions can't take Aidan Hutchinson because he is a winner and the Lions are losers.
- All me to explain, off-air: The Lions are the only franchise in professional sports that knows how to make losing fun.
