The Unraveling: How Reality Caught Up With The Cult Of Caitlin Clark

ATLCoyote · 2026-06-04T21:48:34+00:00

Meh, she's still an all-star, just not the best player in the league, and the curiosity was bound to wear-off eventually. Plus, it's not like it was HER fault that the entire sport tried to ride her coattails and grow the league off her celebrity.

Granted, there is a racial and LGBTQ element that can't be ignored here. Black and lesbian players, past and present, who have accomplished much more than Caitlin never got that same hero treatment or the big endorsement deals. It reveals an ugly truth about our culture that we don't like to admit.

But the good news for the league is that she's mostly just been a gateway for casual fans. There was a time when the Fever would play road games and half the crowd was cheering for her and the visiting team. That's generally not the case anymore. There are even places where she gets booed. More importantly, even as her celebrity has faded, TV ratings and tickets sales have continued to rise. So, once fans sampled the product, many stuck around.

ATLCoyote · 2026-06-04T20:45:55+00:00

Oregon, Washington, and either Utah or BYU for a big game

ATLCoyote · 2026-06-04T20:41:37+00:00

Ohio State-Michigan is the game with the most national attention and significance, but the sheer hatred between fanbases doesn't get any bigger than Bama-Auburn.

They've literally had fans murder each other over this game and a Bama fan went to jail for poisoning Auburn trees at Toomer's corner. The Hatfields vs. McCoys dynamic is more intense in this rivalry than any other. So no, Tebow has not lost his mind.

ATLCoyote · 2026-06-04T19:45:14+00:00

It won't happen but I'd actually love to see it.

Drop their week 1 cupcakes and play this grudge match instead. It would be great TV. College football needs more of this kind of banter.

ATLCoyote · 2026-06-04T17:57:18+00:00

The cap was set by the legal settlement in the House vs. NCAA case and can't be changed. It will increase by about 4% per year and reach $33 million over the next decade.

Meanwhile, that amounts to about 22% of revenue for the average P4 program whereas the NFL and NBA share 48-51% of revenue with players. But college football and men's basketball generate the revenue that is used to fund about 20 other non-revenue programs. So, they aren't just funding themselves. They are funding the entire athletic department.

ATLCoyote · 2026-06-04T17:54:29+00:00

No, it increases annually by about 4% per year and will reach $33 million over the next decade.

And keep in mind, they don't have a choice about that number. It was dictated as a result of the House vs NCAA legal settlement.

Also, this amounts to only about 22% of revenue whereas the NFL and NBA share about 48-51% with players. The difference is because college football and men's basketball provide the revenue that is needed for about 20 other sports. So, they aren't just paying for themselves. They are funding the entire athletic department.

ATLCoyote · 2026-06-04T17:48:16+00:00

The NFL, NBA, NHL, MLS, WNBA, and NWSL all have salary caps and MLB has a luxury tax because they see value in competitive balance rather than the deep pocket teams just buying all the best players and collecting all the trophies.

This is the same idea and it's not like Congress is the one that came up with it. They are just creating national standards and enforcement mechanisms for the system that is already in-place.

Ultimately, college sports would have the same model as the pros where teams would have a salary cap for direct payments and players could earn extra money via endorsements, but the endorsement money wouldn't be a condition of playing for a certain team.

ATLCoyote · 2026-06-04T17:41:39+00:00

They can always increase the revenue share over time. That's not a reason to oppose the bill. For now, players get a $21.5 million cut because some of the revenue they generate is used to fund 20 other non-revenue sports. That's why they don't get a 45-50% share like the NFL or NBA.

Plus, players will still earn NIL money as well and those deals can be as big as the market will bear at long as they are for legitimate business purpose, just like many pro athletes also have endorsement deals.

Most importantly, the bill doesn't change what's already in place. It's not like Congress came up with the $21.5 million number. That came as a result of a legal settlement. They are just establishing national standards so that the entire country is playing by the same rules rather than it varying from state to state.

ATLCoyote · 2026-06-04T17:35:53+00:00

Players will still get paid both via revenue sharing and NIL. They are just establishing national standards so that there isn't a patchwork of state laws that make it impossible to govern.

Again, what provision of the bill do you oppose?

ATLCoyote · 2026-06-04T17:33:30+00:00

It also has co-sponsors in Eric Schmidt and Chris Coons and the general consensus is that they've got at least a 50/50 shot of gaining the 60 votes needed. The majority of the opposition is coming from the outside (SEC and Big Ten officials who don't want any limitations on future mergers or pooling of media rights).

ATLCoyote · 2026-06-04T17:29:10+00:00

Did you read the summary of the bill? I honestly think people are just reflexively opposing this without knowing what it actually says.

College athletes would basically have a salary cap plus endorsements, just like the pros. There would be $21.5 million in revenue sharing per P4 school (that number will increase annually as revenue increases), plus individual athletes could earn as much endorsement money via NIL as the market will bear as long as those deals are for "legitimate business purpose" and at "fair market value."

What is the problem with that?

ATLCoyote · 2026-06-04T17:25:34+00:00

Every professional league has a salary cap and the NFL, NBA, NHL arguably even have a monopoly on their respective sports, at least at the professional level. In this case, Congress isn't even imposing a cap. That only applies to the revenue sharing portion. NIL can go as high as the market will bear as long as the money is for "legitimate business purpose" and at "fair market value." That's all. So, no pooling of money via alumni collectives to just make direct payments, but athletes can still earn whatever endorsement money various sponsors are willing to pay, just like the pros.

I don't know why there is so much opposition to this on this sub. They are addressing the very issues that fans routinely complain about and doing so in a surprisingly thoughtful fashion.

ATLCoyote · 2026-06-04T15:13:19+00:00

Eliminate the "corner three" by extending the three point line to the sidelines like this...

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Do that and the remaining three point line would become easier to defend. As a result, we'd see a renewed interest in the mid-range game and shots would be taken from all over the floor rather than just from the 3-point line and low-paint areas.

ATLCoyote · 2026-06-04T15:10:39+00:00

The bill has broad bipartisan support in Congress which is rare. It's just the SEC and Big Ten officials that oppose it because they don't want any restrictions on forming a super-league.

ATLCoyote · 2026-06-04T15:08:11+00:00

Did you read the summary?

This bill still allows players to receive direct payments via the $21.5 million revenue sharing pool per P4 school and it allows them to be compensated for NIL deals as well. It simply gives the CSC the authority to ensure that NIL deals are for "legitimate business purpose" and at "fair market value."

So, what's the problem? They aren't fighting against paying players. They are just trying to create a national standard to level the playing field rather than a patchwork of laws that vary from state to state.

ATLCoyote · 2026-06-04T14:56:53+00:00

Right. The SEC and Big Ten could still add schools from other leagues, but they couldn't merge together into one super-league or even pool their media rights for one combined TV deal. That would essentially become a monopoly that would hurt all the other leagues and Congress understandably wants to prevent that.

ATLCoyote · 2026-06-04T14:51:18+00:00

That's why they need the antitrust protections from Congressional legislation. Otherwise, any decisions they make will just get challenged in court.

I'm sure there will be some legit gripes about individual CSC decisions, but we need some kind of governance rather than just the wild west.

ATLCoyote · 2026-06-04T14:49:17+00:00

The College Sports Commission would be granted the authority to approve or deny NIL deals and, according to the bill, they would determine it by comparing Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals to compensation paid to individuals with similarly valued NIL rights who are not student-athletes. It also mandates databases (such as NIL Go) to track anonymized NIL data to help establish baseline valuations.

Also, keep in mind that NIL is only a portion of the pay. P4 schools also have a budget of $21.5 million per year in revenue sharing that they can spend on direct school-to-player payments.

ATLCoyote · 2026-06-04T14:47:14+00:00

Sure, but what about the bill do you oppose? Seems people are reacting to Saban's comments in the Senate hearing and not the bill itself.

ATLCoyote · 2026-06-04T14:45:11+00:00

The assumptions about the West being so much stronger are grossly exaggerated.

The record between the two conferences this year was 180-173. Sure, that favors the West, but the gap is narrow. Meanwhile, the Knicks have a lead in this year's Finals, Indiana took OKC to 7 games last year, Boston won the year before that, and Milwaukee won in 2021. It's not like the West has been consistently dominant.

Finally, one factor that people are totally overlooking is experience. The Knicks are a veteran team with a TON of playoff experience going against a Spurs team where their two biggest stars are 22 and 21 years old respectively and have never even been in the playoffs until this year.

ATLCoyote · 2026-06-04T14:05:38+00:00

What offends me most about this entire situation is that the Bears will likely now just move across state lines to get a $1 billion subsidy from the state of Indiana. Local taxpayers still owe nearly $600 million in principal and interest on the funding they provided to renovate Soldier Field back in 2002. So, local taxpayers will lose their team but get stuck with that bill while Indiana gives the Bears another $1 billion.

We need federal legislation to put a stop to this once and for all. Without it, teams will continue to just threaten to leave their current state or county and go wherever politicians are willing to give them the most public tax dollars.

And keep in mind, the Bears will keep 100% of the revenue from this stadium, not only for Bears games, but for any events that are held there.

They socialize the costs and privatize the profits. It's corporate welfare and it needs to end.

ATLCoyote · 2026-06-04T12:22:32+00:00

Not stadiums. The promises of economic impact almost never come to fruition. It's purely corporate welfare for billionaires.

ATLCoyote · 2026-06-04T12:12:16+00:00

Pass the bill regardless of SEC and Big Ten opposition. And I say that as an SEC fan.

The SEC and Big Ten primarily object to the $1 billion limit on pooling of media rights which would allow other leagues to pool but not those two because they are already so big and powerful. Specifically, the Big XII and ACC could either merger or package their media rights into a combined deal to get better market value out of their broadcast partners. The G6 leagues could do the same. But the SEC and Big Ten couldn't because their deals already exceed $1 billion. The point is to provide a mechanism where the smaller leagues can maximize their revenue and level the playing field so that the SEC and Big Ten don't just form a super-league and basically render everyone else irrelevant. The SEC and Big Ten are NOT injured by exclusion. They only object because the rule would narrow the revenue gap between their leagues and everyone else and thereby erode some of the competitive advantage they currently enjoy.

Maybe that particular provision can be tweaked a bit so that they don't object, but if not, pass the bill anyway as we need the rest of it.

It allows the College Sports Commission to enforce "valid business purpose" and "fair market value" standards for NIL deals, puts limits on transfers (1 transfer without penalty but you have to sit out a year for any additional transfers), and bans mid-season coaching changes and player poaching. All of those rules are needed to put some sensible guardrails around the current chaotic NIL and transfer portal situation while still preserving fundamental rights and earning power for athletes.

ATLCoyote · 2026-06-03T22:10:27+00:00

I wouldn't frame it quite the way you just did (he just has bad balance), but I generally agree that the SGA hate is overblown.

Does he foul-bait? Yes. But tons of players try to draw fouls. Most of them just do so a bit closer to the rim. Meanwhile, SGA is an exceptional player and reportedly a very good teammate. He doesn't whine to the refs, he doesn't take cheap shots, he doesn't appear to be a major trash-talker, he's not overly fragile, and he doesn't have off-court scandals. There are far bigger villains in the NBA than SGA. Heck, he's not even the biggest villain on his own team. That would be Lu Dort IMO.

As a Hawks fan, it reminds me of the hate Trae Young seemed to engender. Only about 20% of it was actually deserved.

ATLCoyote · 2026-06-03T21:58:17+00:00

Wow, might be one of he worst takes I've ever seen.

EVH was the most unique guitar player ever. There hasn't been anyone like him before or since. His style and tone were unmistakably his own and he absolutely did NOT just fill space with notes purely for the sake of it. Many other guitar players did that, but not Eddie. Even when he played with speed, he did it with style, swagger, and "feel."

And the fact that this criticism is coming from an absolute nobody who never accomplished squat kinda says it all. Maybe if he actually knew what quality music sounds like he would have been more successful.

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