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Pat McAfee’s latest viral rant has a tangential connection to the Wisconsin Badgers.
The rant was in support of walk-ons — a key pillar to the foundation of the Wisconsin football program.
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The timing is relevant because recent court proceedings and industry chatter point toward college football moving to a revenue-sharing model with its athletes. That, in essence, would create a pseudo-professional sporting entity with every player under contract.
One side effect of that inevitable change is the elimination of the concept of a university student joining the football team in a walk-on capacity. For Wisconsin, that would mean the career paths of program legends including Jim Leonhard and Jared Abbrederis would no longer be possible.
It must be acknowledged that changes are necessary in the sport. The current model is unsustainable, especially with booster organizations still funding the teams. But any future model will come with side effects. The elimination of walk-ons appears to be an inevitable one.
The sport will go on and succeed without a hitch once revenue-sharing is introduced. But anybody in or around a program like Wisconsin understands the impact of a strong walk-on culture, and what those players can sometimes bring to the team.
That was the basis of McAfee’s extensive rant on Friday.
“The fact that there’s a thought that we need to eliminate walk-ons from big-time college football is so stupid,” McAfee said. “And it also makes me believe that a lot of the people making these decisions don’t know ball.”
Here are his full thoughts, which I’m sure Wisconsin fans will mostly agree with:
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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/watch-pat-mcafee-sounds-off-111036826.html
Author : Badgers Wire
Publish date : 2024-06-22 11:10:36
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