GeneTherapy

• Gene Therapy: Then You Don't Love Football

  Jul 4, 2022 Gene Clemons 0 Comments

  

   

  by: Gene Clemons

   

   

  While most media members ignored it or tried to paint a narrative that nobody was paying attention, the USFL just completed their first season. That culminated over July 4th weekend when the Birmingham Stallions defeated the Philadelphia Stars in the USFL Championship held in Canton Ohio. Fox Sports president Eric Shanks did not allow any speculation to begin when he announced last week that the USFL will return next season. The ratings have been steady throughout the season. Games averaged over a million viewers on Fox and NBC. Even when you add in the cable network games on USA Network and FS1 the averages were still 715,000. Those numbers were better than the NHL, Premier League and MLS in this country. All three of those entities people will argue with you that there is an appetite for those sports but not for Spring football.

   

  The question is why? Why are so many in the media lying to sports fans; pretending as if there is no appetite for football in the spring? The answer may actually shock you. Too many people who work in football don't love football! 

   

  The idea might be difficult to understand as a sports fan, but the truth is like every other job, writers, broadcasters, and content creators get burned out and they are accustomed to the offseason to provide them with the necessary time to recharge the batteries. Interesting enough, most people who love their jobs don't need months away from it to feel rejuvenated. Usually all I need is a few days off from writing or creating content and I am right back ready to work. So, the idea of Spring football was fantastic for me. When the FCS decided to move their 2020 season to Spring 2021, I seemed to be the only journalist in the country excited about it and who truly believed that could be a permanent decision for them. Everyone else thought it would be a disaster. Nobody really pointed to anything significant except logistics.

   

  I love sports and more specifically I love football. One of the reasons I believe I don't get burned out on the game is because I love the game. I have heard many people including those in the business say things like "I love the NFL" or "I love college football" but I like it all. Youth league, high school, college, flag, women's, and every professional league out there, including foreign leagues, offer something to learn or study about the game. Many journalists don't invest in the intricacies of the game, they invest in storylines that can be regurgitated. But, like anything you have grown to truly love, you are always finding new things to love about it. That is what sustains you when you can't lean on the things that normally fuel your attraction. How can you ever love something you don't truly understand? How can you remain in love with something you only know at a superficial level?

   

  Another thing that shows up when people who cover the sport for a living don't want to invest in new leagues is that the grind to build up the sports fan's sustained attention is real. Football fans have been burned so many times before with leagues that did not last for many reasons but ultimately because the investment was not there for the ownership, sponsors and of course the media. Fans need the investment from the other stakeholders before they will truly invest. That means if media entities and journalists don't regularly produce content on the league, if they don't tweet or post about it, then how will the football fan who doesn't know much about the league find information about it. Most fans have their trusted outlet, journalists or creator that they follow for their sport's information. So, if those people or entities do not spread the word, how can the interest spread.

   

  The social media buzz began to rise over the past few weeks as more people happened upon the games. The response seemed to be pretty universal "These are some fun games." Watching as various football writers or creatives woke up and remembered that football was being played once they were not focused on NFL non-padded OTA and voluntary minicamps was funny. But the built-in attention that NFL content gets makes them want to grab the low hanging fruit. But the chance to expand the game of football is one that should never be overlooked or avoided because it may not get as many clicks, initially. As a football fan more football is never a bad thing, especially if it is fun. Ultimately, that's all you can ask for; right? Entertainment is the purpose, so as long as a league can be entertaining, then football fans will definitely invest in it. 

   

  There's value in being a pioneer. People always remember the "day one's" those that invested before it was fashionable. The fact that so many media coverage outlets didn't even bother to try and cover the USFL is sad. In days long past now, the media was charged with exposing the community at large to new endeavors and once the information was properly disseminated, the people could make an informed decision about whether they wanted to continue to consume it.

   

  I was excited to see the USFL accomplish something the XFL was not able to in its initial return or the AAF in their failed attempt at a league. I was willing to be critical about the areas where the league came up short and I gave them their props on the things they hit out of the park. I was even willing to admit I was wrong about the things I did not believe would work. That's all a part of loving this game and wanting to see it consistently expand and improve. There is more to football than the NFL and major college programs. More athletes deserve to be highlighted and more have earned the right to play the game we love professionally and be paid a good living wage to do so. The debate about the appetite for Spring football is over. A hunger was fulfilled and there will only be more to eat next year. It is time for sport's media to do their part. Start cooking.

   

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  Gene Clemons is a Sports Analyst and Contributor to CWN Sports. His weekly column and podcast - Gene Therapy focuses on Sports, Politics and Social/Urban issues.

   

   

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• Gene Therapy: No Time to "Stick to Sports"

  May 31, 2022 Gene Clemons 0 Comments

  

   

  by Gene Clemons

   

  “Stick to sports!”

   

  If you have played, coached, or covered sports you know this phrase all too well. The familiar refrain of those who believe that if you are involved in athletics, then all you should ever care about or talk about is athletics. The assumption is that all you know about is sports and therefore you are unqualified to speak about anything else intelligently. The hypocrisy is maddening. Most fans don’t really understand the sports they follow but it has never kept any of them from discussing it ad nauseum. Doctors are not told to “stick to medicine,” carpenters are not asked to “stick to building things” and people who work at a supermarket are not told to “stick to groceries.” Why is there a double standard for people who participate in and cover sports? 

   

  The tragedy in Uvalde Texas once again put America in the crosshairs of domestic terrorism and sports media members in a position where we are left to ponder if it is time for social commentary or the escapism that comes along with tuning into your favorite sports television show, radio broadcast, podcast, or column. In many cases it can be a delicate balance. There are so many other media outlets and sources that someone can turn to which don’t offer the opportunities to escape into the sports world. So, when the sports world decides, it is going to switch up normal programming to illuminate a particular story, when they decide that their commentary on an event, topic, or issues supersedes that of the sports climate that they normally indulge in, there are times where there is push back. That resistance normally comes in the form of the phrase “Stick to Sports!”

   

  What many fans who feel this way fail to understand is that sometimes there are topics that media members do not feel comfortable with letting go by without addressing them. At the end of the day humanity should win out over a bottom line or an inconvenience to one’s normal escapism. It is impossible to escape for people who have immersed their lives in mass media. How do you come into a local radio show, think about the issues that trouble our country, know you have a platform to address those issues, however big, and say nothing? It is incumbent on those who can help to do so. 

   

  This was no more evident in how the “Worldwide Leader” handled its sports personalities. Jemele Hill and Dan Lebatard were both suspended for their social/political commentary while working at ESPN. In Hill’s case she was suspended for political tweets that she made on her personal profile. Both incidents soured the relationship with the popular personalities and ultimately ended their relationship. Both have gone on to find the freedom they sought while at ESPN. The interesting thing is that after their departures (Hill’s especially) and in the wake of the senseless murders of multiple black and brown people at the hands of the police force, ESPN allowed their personalities to open up and share strong commentary on the subject which included many heartfelt, teary-eyed, strongly defiant admonishments of the police force and hoe they have treated people of color. Even in those cases, the “stick to sports” regulars came out to admonish the efforts to bring about change on the airwaves of their favorite sports talk debate show platform. 

   

  The hypocrisy is almost laughable if the subject matter was not so serious. Many of the same people who will tell athletes and the media members who cover them to stick to sports, are the same people who talk about athletes and media members having the power to make changes and influence people. How they feel seems to only depend on if they are personally affected by the issue. If so, then it is ok to address it and in fact, it is our duty to do so. If not, then media and athletes alike should just engage in the sports rhetoric that pleases them. You wonder if these people truly believe that athletes and sports media members really want to talk about these difficult subjects. There would be no reason to talk about police forces using excessive force if police did not use excessive force. There would be no reason to write monologues about racial inequality if that inequality did not exist. And the last thing anyone ever wants to discuss is mass murder and murdering children. These are not topics that many look to tackle or discuss but when they happen, what other choice are we left with? 

   

  We should never have to address children being massacred in a school while police forces sit outside and detain parents who are only trying to help their kids. There should be no reason to address unarmed black men and women being killed by police officers while heavily armed white terrorist are apprehended unharmed. The truth is that most members of the media do the very best they can to stick to sports or to create a sports angle in their commentary. If they truly addressed all of the horrible things that happened in this country there would be no time for sports and eventually they would depress themselves but again, there are some things that no matter how you try, you can not and should not ignore.  Sports and sports media should never have to be the vehicle for escape because you don’t want to deal with the heartbreak associated with these events. We should all do a better job of making sure these events do not continue, and how else do you make that happen, if everyone doesn't talk about it ..

   

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  Gene Clemons is a Sports Analyst and Contributor to CWN Sports. His weekly column and podcast - Gene Therapy focuses on Sports, Politics and Social/Urban issues.

   

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• Gene Therapy: You Gotta Travel!

  May 17, 2022 Gene Clemons 0 Comments

  

   

  by: Gene Clemons

   

  The high school basketball season is interesting. You go to offseason workouts, play in summer leagues, and train; all for the opportunity to try and win a region, conference, district state title. A high school basketball player will average getting home at around seven at night if they are lucky and get the early after school gym time. If they are unlucky, they either wait until later to practice and don’t get home until around nine or they must wake up at five in the morning to practice before school begins. They travel sometimes over an hour away for games during the school week and don’t crash into bed until midnight or later. Many of these student athletes do this because they want to earn an opportunity to play in college. But, for all the hard work they do, most college basketball coaches are not even paying them any attention. The college basketball season starts before the high schoolers get started and ends after high schools have already crowned a state champion. So, when would a college coach have time to leave their program in the middle of a season to go see about any players that are not local? The answer is almost never. I am sure college coaches try to slip in some time when they are on the road or maybe have a few days in between games but the majority of that time is being spent on getting the current team better. So, for all of that sweat and effort most high school seasons go relatively unnoticed by the decision makers in college basketball. So how are these young men getting recruited?

   

  If you are a basketball player and you are not traveling in the offseason with a team, then there is a good chance you will fly under the radar and be missed by potential programs who may be interested in you. Travel ball has become so popular because it is where the college coaches can actually get out and evaluate players in real game situations. Unlike football where all of the camps, combines, clinics, workshops, and 7 on 7 tournaments can’t really give a coach the understanding of what a player can do in-game, travel basketball tournaments provide a live evaluation of players participating in the same game they will play when they go to college. Football mega camps have become popular because of how many college coaches attend but in many cases, you never  see the head coaches of the bigger programs there. When you go to the sites of elite travel basketball camps, it is not shocking to see Bill Self sitting next to Juwan Howard waving at (insert famous coach’s name here). That is the normal; and it is not just a couple there, they are there in droves. Hundreds of decision makers decked out in their polo and khaki shorts or their athletics warmups with the various logos of their universities prominently displayed for everyone to see.

   

  Another reason why the travel circuit has completely replaced the high school season as the major recruiting ground is that you get to see talented players go against similarly talented competition. Everyone knows that high school is broken into the haves and have nots. Teams that are stacked with talent going up against teams who are simply fielding a team for recreational purposes. If you remember what the opposition Zion Williamson’s high school team looked like, those games were a joke most of the time. That is simply not the case in travel ball. Whether you play on a team at a specific age group or you are playing on an elite team. You are placed in groups where you are competing against teams with similar talent. This gives evaluators an even better chance to see how you compare to your contemporaries. It is something that high schools simply can not compete with. Even at tournaments that are meant to bring some of the best high school teams together, there is usually someone on the court who is not at the level of others or the teams are brought in because they have one or two elite players on them.

   

  The result is that the high school season has a true duality to it. It is the opportunity to play basketball for those who may not be at the elite level in the state or nationally. A way to represent your school, stay active during the football offseason or take a break from baseball. That’s a valuable thing. After all, high school is still about creating lifelong memories and forming bonds that could never be broken. The high school season still serves that purpose. But for the players who have aspirations of hooping in college, the high school season is nothing more than live practice reps. It is the place where you work on your game and get it polished up to showcase when the basketball live periods occur in the spring and summertime. You see big men work on their jump shot and handles. You see guards try to finish better at the rim and polish their step back three pointer. The high school season is where you see them incorporate new moves and develop different skills. That used to be reserved for AAU or YBOA 20 years ago. But now big travel ball circuits are the real season for these elite hoopers.

   

  It is a reality that most high school coaches have either embraced, or are trying to fight a losing battle. The toothpaste is out of the tube and there is no way to ever get it back. The fact that most states have still not instituted a shot clock or a college three point line means that they can’t even properly prepare these young men and women for the type of world they are going to experience when they go to college. The college game is night and day from the high school game and until they begin to make the changes necessary to implement college rules and gameplay in high school, you will never see it regain the luster it once had. The best thing for high school coaches to do is to work on developing the best student athletes possible so that they will have a chance to showcase their skills to college coaches when they start traveling.

   

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  Gene Clemons is a Sports Analyst and Contributor to CWN Sports. His weekly column and podcast - Gene Therapy focuses on Sports, Politics and Social/Urban issues.

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• Gene Therapy: USFL, Adapt or Die!

  May 10, 2022 Gene Clemons 0 Comments

  

   

  by Gene Clemons

   

  The USFL is weeks into their return to action after 37 years of inactivity. Through the first few weeks the USFL has shown video technology and camera angles not seen on an NFL broadcast. That innovation is nice but it's adding questionable tech to a product that everybody else already enjoys. The real innovations that could separate them from the established game have not really been taken advantage of so far in the young season. Only one three-point conversion has been made this season. Nobody has tried the new onside kick and there are other little gameplay innovations that we have not seen used.

   

  Outside of the players there are so many people who want the USFL to succeed. They know that there is room for football that is not the NFL that football fans will consume. But there is a quote from the movie Moneyball that applies perfectly to the USFL, the XFL and every other league that decides it wants to dip its toe in the water. Billy Beane is talking to his scouting department as they try to put a game plan in place to replace their three most influential players and he knows they can't keep doing things the way they have always done it. He announces their new direction, and all of the scouts think he's crazy. After dropping an expletive in response to Grady Fuson's answer, he bangs his fist on the table and says:

   

  "If we try to play like the Yankees in here, we will lose to the Yankees out there."

   

  If these leagues try to do what the NFL does or even try to garner affiliation with the NFL, their product will without a doubt flounder and fail. In other words, "lose" to the NFL. So the innovation can't simply be in the first down technology, these leagues can't be afraid to embrace playing offense and defense differently. The rules can't be afraid to go completely away from formatting that we have become accustomed to with the NFL and college football. One of the reasons Canadian football has been able to survive is that the game is played differently than the American game. 12 men, forward motion, three downs, and many other smaller modifications allows them to create a lane all their own. So much that success in the NFL does not automatically mean success in Canada.

   

  In the first week of the USFL season, kickers blamed the new ball that was being used for all the missed kicks. The real question was why were there so many kicks attempted? Why were the offenses so conservative? Yes there is a new three-point conversion but why not promote scoring by making field goals more difficult? Reduce the field goal width to the size of an arena league field goal. That may make teams think three times about playing for a field goal. Back up the extra point to 35 yards so that teams understand the added value of the two and three-point conversions. Nobody comes to a football game to watch the four or five field goal performances seen regularly in the NFL. They want to see scoring or they want to see teams die trying. 

   

  The offensive end is where it is easiest to put in stipulations that reward aggressive offenses. Possibly changing the hash marks or even widening the field could encourage more offensive innovation. You can give an offense an extra 10 yards if they get a first down on a first down play. This would encourage offenses to abandon conservative play calling on third down. If the offense decides to punt beyond the 50 yard line or kick a field goal, the team should be penalized 10 yards. This would also encourage more people to go for it on fourth down once they get beyond midfield. Penalizing the conservative forces these coaches to innovate and adapt to a modernized game.

   

  Another innovation that the USFL needs to make is to speed the game up. Traditional play clocks allow for slower play from teams which in turn bores fans who have the attention span of a garden fly. If the play clock was set at 20 seconds, it would force all teams into up-tempo play which means that teams have a better chance of making mistakes that lead to more scoring. A faster game also keeps the fan engaged because things are moving quickly. Football is a game of mistakes and the team who makes the least mistakes usually wins the game. Force the teams into a situation where mistakes are critical. Don’t pause the game to allow defenses to substitute when offenses substitute. The pace of the game would ultimately result in the clock running consistently and a faster overall game time.

   

  Fans love scoring! The Arena League was one of the most popular professional football entities because they were a fast-paced league built on scoring. The USFL would be wise to bottle some of that excitement as they transition from Birmingham where all of the teams are currently playing, to their actual cities in year two of the league. That is when they can really make the league more personal like the AFL was able to do for years. The USFL has been consistently pulling ratings that rival or beat other professional leagues and with that it has proven it is a viable business. To grow in the right direction it will take foresight. The Arena League was able to tap into the community by offering an affordable experience for the family to come and attend. Many minor league baseball teams use similar models to draw in fans. The fan experience needs to be personal, much more personal than they get from the NFL and even big time college football. 

   

  The ability to innovate is there for the USFL, not just in technology used to broadcast the game, but on social media, in their game play and in their fan interaction. They need to adapt, to be open to constantly evolving as they explore various avenues. That willingness makes them unique and can make this league unique if they really want to be around forever.

   

   

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  Gene Clemons is a Sports Analyst and Contributor to CWN Sports. His weekly column and podcast - Gene Therapy focuses on Sports, Politics and Social/Urban issues.

   

   

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• Gene Therapy - NFL Draft 2022 Thoughts | Everybody's a GM

  May 3, 2022 Gene Clemons 0 Comments

  

   

  by Gene Clemons

   

  The 2022 NFL Draft is officially in the books and, as always, it was great to watch so many young men realize their dream. They got to hear their name called and see their faces flash in front of the shield and a team logo. Then they quickly introduced to their new reality, scrutiny at every turn. Draft pundits either rifling through papers or scrolling through iPads to check their evaluations on the paper and make snap judgements on whether that young man was a good or bad selection. The players learn that fans are only fans if they believe in what you can do for their team, not because they believe in you. They get poked, prodded, and evaluated for what they did in games, only to have those performances usurped by what they do in t-shirts and shorts, then have the things they accomplished in both pushed aside because of where they played, the position the played, or the unrealized potential of another. The draft is wild, and we are here for it all. But why? Well, the answer is fairly simple, we all believe we could be the general manager of our favorite teams.

   

  The truth is that there are so many variables that go into doing the job of a GM that drafting talent is probably not the top priority. Between managing the players that are on the team and dealing with their personal expectations, trying to fulfill the needs of the coaching staff and what they feel is necessary to put a winning product on the field the job is difficult enough. That is before you have to deal with the owner and their agenda, which could be completely different than that of the players and the coaching staff. Mix that with your own professional desires and philosophies that you believe in and the gumbo that most general managers have to mix is almost impossible for everyone to find tasty. Despite all of that, the most public job of the general manager is the draft. Even more than free agency, the draft is where GMs are asked to explain the vision without giving up any legitimate details about the plan. They have to address the issues that the fan base feels exist while also stating a purpose that they cannot fully reveal. Most people would crumble underneath so much pressure and scrutiny and still it does not stop the average fan from believing they could do a better job. We have to blame someone for these reckless assumptions, but who?

   

  Start with Mel Kiper Jr. The oldest and most recognizable draft analyst in the game, created this space that so many others live in. He birthed a nation of draft followers and future draft analysts and writers because he is the “every man.” A guy who does not come from a legit football background who was able to turn his obsession with player evaluations and rankings into a lucrative sports career. Well, we all know that imitation is the greatest form of flattery, and with the explosion of digital media, and the easy access it provided, everybody, it was simple for others to follow Kiper's footsteps. The results are what we see today. Countless amounts of sites dedicated to the draft. Hundreds of draft guides produced and distributed, and millions of dollars pumped into draft content in order to make billions. By the way, many of us should thank Mel Kiper for his contribution to the culture. He was the north star.

   

  You can also blame these NFL front offices. If you are given millions of dollars and a team of 50 to scout, analyze, and draft players, your hit percentage has to be higher than 50-60% or the average Joe at home watching the team every Sunday is going to believe they can do your job. After all, how can you get it wrong when you have had at least three seasons to build a file on these prospects? Why would you need a combine for anything other than medical evaluations? Why would you ever reach for unproven talent? Why would you need to project out talent when there are so many proven commodities? 

   

  Many times, people don’t understand that this is an inexact science, but it is a science. There are markers that usually point to success. Sometimes the players that a fan or a recruiting publication likes, is not even placed on the board for an NFL team. Those reasons can be as simple as a player’s medical history or as complicated as a size/athleticism ratio that the scouting department came up with those points to previous NFL success. We don’t account for the fact that sometimes the players we believe are good, an NFL team sees them as average players at best. Sometimes both sides believe a player is a quality football player, but the team does not see the player as an immediate need on the team and devalues them in the draft. Whatever the reason, these inconsistencies and unknown variables further open up the possibility for question by those who patronize a team and the NFL at large.

   

  And once the draft is over, before a player has a chance to prove a GM right or wrong, fans and media outlets are already on to the next year. The draft and all of its tentacles have for better or worse become its own competition. Every year we award grades to the winners and losers of the draft. We give them imaginary accolades and before they have the chance to bask in their success, there is always a mock draft released pinpointing another need for the team next season. Someone equated giving a draft a grade is the equivalent of grading someone on a test before they ever take it. As ridiculous as it sounds when explained so simply, words could never be truer. That is a part of the intrigue, that is the reason why so many people feel they can do the job. Not only does it not take skill to guess, but what is the backlash when they get their choices wrong. fans never have to assume any of the responsibility when they choose a player that is a bust. 

   

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  Gene Clemons is a Sports Analyst and Contributor to CWN Sports. His weekly column and podcast - Gene Therapy focuses on Sports, Politics and Social/Urban issues.

   

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