When I was a kid, going to the ball game with my buddies, we would take the periods between innings or halves to quiz each other on sports trivia. The loser would have to buy the next round of snacks; and, considering that my personal exchequer usually consisted of two dimes in my front left pants pocket, I didn’t dare to lose. So, of course, I “cheated” and primed myself with some question/answer info that I knew couldn’t be answered. At least, I hoped.
Even in those days, “Jeopardy” was on the air, but we never thought then to take the answer/question format into our little contest.
But we will now! Prepare yourself for a “Jeopardy” style trivia quiz and see if you get to spend my two dimes.
The topic: College football.
Answer number one: NIL
Answer number two: Bryce Young
Answer number three: Well into seven figures.
Can you figure out the questions? If you have the questions, you have the sports trivia laurel wreath of the day, but good luck getting those dimes.
Question one: What are Name, Image, Likeness? They are the three elements that college players can now cash in on, according to the NCAA.
Question two: Who is the quarterback for the Alabama Crimson Tide who has not yet played a single down in a game but is already cashing in? Yes, I know it’s too long for the show, but we have extra license here. According to head coach Nick Saban, Young has sponsors lining up to promote their businesses by means of name, image or likeness.
Question number three: How much is Bryce Young liable to make? Again, according to Nick Saban, Young is already into seven figures and could easily out earn his offensive coordinator’s salary of $1.2 million. That the assistant coach earns that much is astonishing enough, but for the QB to out earn him, well that really ought to raise some eyebrows, not to mention at least one bank account.
Well, how did you do and how do you feel about the questions? Do you think a college quarterback should be earning millions? How much do you suppose his linemen might earn? Will that breed resentment? Will this be the end of the NCAA, which has spent most of their time making sure that college athletes received no monetary profit from their playing days?
Is this the end of the world as we know it? Maybe, but we have been down that road, well at least a thousand times. Where it will end up? Well, that’s a different matter, one beyond the abilities of even the most acute sports trivia mind. But that doesn’t stop us bleacher bums from having opinions or trying to get out of buying the next round of snacks.
Millerton resident Theodore Kneeland is a former teacher and coach — and athlete.
Madeline Hartwell, left, visits Tom Hall’s vendor tent along the Harlem Valley Rail Trail during The Voice of Art’s Fine Art Festival in Millerton.Photo by Nathan Miller
