WINNING NOW: PHIL KNIGHT vs JERRY JONES

Winning now, right now, is more important the older you get.

It’s like that when you have more seasons behind you than you do ahead.

Phil Knight is eighty-five; Jerry Jones is eighty-one.

Would it be too much to ask that they go out winners?

First for the Ducks:

Too many hear the name University of Oregon and automatically think Nike.

And they’re not wrong.

But there are others who work to make Oregon great:

 

From a total of 45,943 gifts from 32,982 donors, the UO raised more than $172 million for student support, $235 million for faculty programs, and $138 million for capital projects.

The number of people making first-time gifts increased by more than 41 percent while total gifts increased by 33 percent, according to Patrick Phillips, interim president and professor of biology.

 

But what do the numbers mean?

 

Fundraising highlights from the 2022 fiscal year included:

• $425 million gift from Connie and Steve Ballmer and the Ballmer Group to launch the Ballmer Institute for Children’s Behavioral Health in Portland.

• $5 million gift from the Papé Family for the Papé Family Innovation Center, which will include incubator spaces in Knight Campus.

• More than $172 million in student support including scholarships, academic supports and student emergency funding.

• $235 million for faculty programs.

• Over $5.7 million toward diversity-related funding, including more than $1 million for LGBTQA+ support.

 

Oregon is not all football all of the time, but that is the sport the big dogs hang their leash to show they’re winning now.

So do the rest of us.

I’ve got a friend who watches college games and says, “That’s not how it was when I played.”

They watch a pro game and say the same thing.

The funny part is that they peaked playing high school football, but leave the impression of college and pro ball if no one asks, “Who did you play for?”

Now I’m doing the same thing.

I’m also a doctor after going to Army medic school.

 

The Money Game, College Football, Winning Now

If you buy the best talent, you ought to get the best results?

It works better on paper since paper doesn’t pull a hammy, tear a tendon, or leave the program for personal reasons.

In the olden days money wasn’t an issue. At least that’s what fans were supposed to believe.

Johnny Touchdown came to Oregon because they loved the school, loved football, and would love for fans to donate to the team.

The players were amateurs untouched by the lure of filthy lucre, yet somehow drove new cars.

Great teams draw great players, who are few and far between, so schools created an environment that was exposed.

Now, with the advent of ‘Name, Image, and Likeness’ rules, it’s a different game.

Now it’s a game with set price tags.

 

(Nebraska Coach) Matt Ruhle says that a good college QB costs at least $1 to 2 milion. Some are making $5 or $6 million. I read that Caleb Williams is making $6 million. Shadeur $4.9 million.

By comparison, Brock Purdy’s current 4 year contract with the 49ers has an average annual value of $934,252.

How are we going to pay quarterbacks $2 million? Sure it’s NIL not the AA. But ultimately . . . it’s ALL boosters. We just don’t have the deep pocket boosters of a USC, a Bama, Oregon, dwagville, TA&M, Tejas, The O$U, UMich, etc.

Some of those schools have been paying athletes under the table for years. But they haven’t been paying them millions and then they’re literally off to the highest bidder at the end of the year.

 

They say money talks in the business world and college football is nothing if not big business for education.

 

The UO football program paid out $32,734,040 in expenses while making $77,569,503 in total revenue. So, the program was a moneymaker for the school, bringing in $44,835,463 in net profit. Mark this down as a good thing.

 

Phil Knight loves Oregon Duck Football and, as a most astute businessman, would like to see results from his investments.

I imagine he has rich guy friends tell him, “Once you’ve stood in the light of a National Championship, nothing else compares.”

My moment of sports ascendance came after the Oregon State Greco-Roman State Championship in the Marshfield High School gym in Coos Bay.

In 1973.

I’ll bet honest, I hope Phil Knight gets some of that.

Nothing else compares, but having kids get after it might be better.

 

How ‘Bout Them Cowboys

Jerry Jones ascendancy as an NFL team owner came in the early 1990’s winning three Super Bowls in four years.

He’s been scrapping to get back ever since.

From the looks of it, he’s closer than he thinks.

Not one edge rusher away, not a downfield threat away, not a left tackle away, this team had been compared to those in the early 90’s.

Jerry Jones bought the team when it was in the shithouse and took them all the way to the penthouse.

Now he’s locked out.

 

The older Jones gets, the more he does nothing to tamp down this idea that he desires to win another Super Bowl as a kind of final act.

It’s quixotic and, sure, a little beautiful, but it’s also wholly unrealistic and it produces this strange alternate universe where we judge someone on their ability or inability to please an 81-year-old and not on an actual body of work.

 

Two famous businessmen are learning what they already know, what we all know: you can’t buy happainess if the top titles in all of college and professional football makes you happy.

You may share the happiness of others, remember how happy you once were, hear winners talk about what it feels like to win it all.

Would you be as happy as Mr. Jones and his $14 billion net worth?

As happy as Phil Knight and his $45 billion net worth?

That two rich guys put their goals in line with winning now is a credit to both.

I get no joy of watching their walk of shame after the last loss of the season.

The Oregon Ducks have a current coach who was able to dodge the enticement of Alabama.

His goal is winning now in Eugene.

When that happens I’ll write a blog post about playing high school football in the same stadium.

The Dallas Cowboys will be closer to winning now once they decide to fire their General Manager and bring in a fresh football guy.

PS: The general manager of the Cowboys is Jerry Jones.

How close are they?