In 1978, Kenny Rogers popularized the song THE GAMBLER. A line in the song went, “You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em.”
That is a key thing to know when you are gambling, and the National Football League IS gambling! They are gambling their future with America’s football fans and I don’t think they know whether to “hold ‘em or fold ‘em.”
There is NO WAY the NFL comes out a winner here. It IS NOT President Donald Trump they are up against — though the owners and some of the players would like you to think that — but, rather, mainstream America.
The NFL’s fan base. The folks who buy the tickets, buy the ball caps, buy the jerseys and have tailgating parties.
The owners and players blame Trump for being “divisive.”
Excuse me? I haven’t seen the President taking a knee in front of our flag. “Anger?” The vitriol, the near foaming at the mouth is coming from not Trump and the fans, it is coming from the players, the owners and, yes indeed, the media once again.
The owners have been gutless here. They’ve guessed wrong and put their money on the wrong horse. They didn’t know who to bet on, the players or their fans. They’ve made the wrong choice. Will the inevitable results be lasting is the only question. Fans will give up on the NFL, the NBA and any other professional sport that shows that amount of disrespect.
Will they stay away permanently? That’s the only question here. For now, the NFL is going to be the Big Loser. Hey, that sounds like a good name for a new Donald Trump television show!
Sing it Kenny! “You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em.”
The Kansas State High School Activities Association released their new school classifications for 2017-18 and also football classifications for 2018-19. As predicted, the 6A and 5A schools got their wish to the detriment of the smaller classifications.
The 6A and 5A classifications were cut off at only 32 each. Ditto for a new 4A class. 3A and 2A jumps to 48 members while 1A has 31 and 8-Man Div I has 48 and the remaining 52 are in Div. II.
That is eight classes for football. Eight playoffs. Eight champions. That’s too many.
It would be better to eliminate two classes and increase the size of the classes, especially at the top.
Thirty-two schools is simply too few to put together a real championship. If one continued this line of reasoning and Kansas would somehow double their population, we would end up with a dozen classes of competition.
It’s nice for everyone to get a ribbon, but championships should be difficult to obtain, not easy.
CHALK TALK
• In case Wildcat fans didn’t notice, the Vanderbilt team that beat K-State got destroyed by Alabama. Quite a gap between the top and the rest of us!
• Wichita West comes to Great Bend Friday looking quite a bit like the Panthers, 2-2, with wins and losses against common opponents. Home field a big deal. Panthers 32-21.
• The key game in the CKL is at Hoisington with Pratt in town. Greenback’s speed too much. Pratt 34-19.
• Key game number two is Larned at Nickerson. Larned’s quickness versus Nickerson’s power. Larned’s defense improving, I like the Indians in an upset 28-21.
• Ellinwood over St.John and Central Plains over Canton-Galva.
• ”Wait ‘til next year” is the battle cry of the Royals!
• The easiest way to save face is to keep the lower half shut!
Buddy Tabler is a guest columnist for the Great Bend Tribune and his views don’t necessarily reflect those of the paper. He can be reached at budtabler@gmail.com.
