Nearly six decades of rambling around has taught me that things are rarely as good as they seem, or as bad as they seem, when are stuck in the midst of it.
Twenty years ago this summer, I climbed along this craggy ridge of shattered rock to reach the summit of Quandary Peak. It looks horrible, but it was nothing of the sort. The memorable thing about that day was the cloud cover. It was completely socked in--no rain, just a thick cloud layer all around the ridge that concealed the cliffs and valley below. All I saw was the rock in front of me, and the ridge line snaking ahead. And I knew the summit was not far off.
Now, we cannot unsee what we saw yesterday. That was ugly.
But there are some thing you can chose to see. Wander over to Central Street by Ashland. You will see a massive construction site with the foundational imprint of a massive structure devoted to Wildcat football. That edifice represents an $800M commitment to football. Big Ten football.
If you research a bit, you will also see news items that describe the B1G's ever-growing share of revenue from TV rights sales. The B1G is the most lucrative conference. The other thing you might discern is that direct payments to players is coming, and that we are in the most lucrative conference. This has the potential to dwarf NIL (which I still maintain is largely a bubble).
Finally, I climbed that mountain 20 years ago. Maybe I will get back there with my son, now that he has taken to rock climbing and has expressed interest in mountaineering. But I won't be around forever, and that mountain will be. Schill, NU Admissions and those old board farts are not the mountain. They are the hikers on the mountain. The hikers move on. The mountain stays.
Twenty years ago this summer, I climbed along this craggy ridge of shattered rock to reach the summit of Quandary Peak. It looks horrible, but it was nothing of the sort. The memorable thing about that day was the cloud cover. It was completely socked in--no rain, just a thick cloud layer all around the ridge that concealed the cliffs and valley below. All I saw was the rock in front of me, and the ridge line snaking ahead. And I knew the summit was not far off.
Now, we cannot unsee what we saw yesterday. That was ugly.
But there are some thing you can chose to see. Wander over to Central Street by Ashland. You will see a massive construction site with the foundational imprint of a massive structure devoted to Wildcat football. That edifice represents an $800M commitment to football. Big Ten football.
If you research a bit, you will also see news items that describe the B1G's ever-growing share of revenue from TV rights sales. The B1G is the most lucrative conference. The other thing you might discern is that direct payments to players is coming, and that we are in the most lucrative conference. This has the potential to dwarf NIL (which I still maintain is largely a bubble).
Finally, I climbed that mountain 20 years ago. Maybe I will get back there with my son, now that he has taken to rock climbing and has expressed interest in mountaineering. But I won't be around forever, and that mountain will be. Schill, NU Admissions and those old board farts are not the mountain. They are the hikers on the mountain. The hikers move on. The mountain stays.
