The NCAA and MLB were two hidebound organizations that were losing relevance quickly. MLB reacted positively with pitch clocks and shift restrictions to improve its entertainment product significantly. It took a significant loss in a courtroom for the NCAA to rouse itself from its slumber but – – contrary to previous behavior – – the NCAA saw a cumbersome and chaotic situation and acted to try to make it more orderly instead of adding more restrictions/regulations on top of the chaos.
The “Transfer Portal” is a necessary evil. It completely changes the college football environment, and not all the changes are for the better. Nonetheless, the NCAA is powerless to close the portal and go back to its previous hyper-restrictive ways. The way it was working was a mess and the powers-that-be have tried to make it better. Obviously, we will have to wait to see if it works as intended, but there is a glimmer of hope.
Instead of having the Transfer Portal open and operating almost universally, the NCAA will allow a single transfer time for college football players. The original idea was to have a 10-day open portal between January 2nd and January 11th; that would establish the universe of players available for transfer and signings could proceed from there. Critics said that it was too short a period of time and that it would disadvantage players who were on teams in the CFP where those current teams might have a game or games after the January 11th deadline.
Twenty years ago – – maybe even ten years ago – – the NCAA would have told the critics to quit their whining and follow the rules. But the kinder and gentler – – and seemingly smarter – – NCAA of 2025 decided to keep the single portal period concept and adapt to the criticisms. The latest Transfer Portal rules are:
- January 2nd to January 16th: There is an extra five days of open portal allowing athletes more time to make their decision(s) about transferring or staying put. Five days may not sound like much at first, but it represents about a 50% increase in decision making time for athletes.
- Special portal opening for players on CFP teams: If a player is on a team that has a CFP game scheduled for January 12th or later and that player wants to transfer for the next season, there will be a 5-day open portal period for such players starting the day after their final CFP game.
The modification has a hurdle to cross; it needs the approval of the “Division 1 Administrative Committee” which next meets in mid-October. Let us hope that the members of that committee have shaken off the scales from their eyes and approve of something as simple as this.
Moving on … The MLB regular season is over, and the playoffs are set. So, let me do a small postmortem on my season predictions from back in March.
- AL East: I took the Red Sox to win the division; they finished third but made the playoffs. I had the Orioles finishing second and said the Blue Jays would not “contend for long”. Grade that set of prognostications as an F.
- AL Central: I had it as Tigers, Twins, Guardians; it finished as Guardians, Tigers, Royals. I had the White Sox finishing last – – big deal. Grade these predictions as another F.
- AL West: I had this one as the Rangers, Mariners, Astros. It wound up Mariners, Astros, Rangers. Grade that one as C.
- NL East: I had this as Phillies/Braves. Indeed, the Phillies won the division handily, but the Braves suffered a ton of injuries and limped home fourth. I thought the Nationals would finish ahead of the Marlins, but they finished 13 games behind the Marlins. Grade this one as a D.
- NL Central: I had the Cubs eking out the division title here over the Brewers; it finished in the reverse order. Grade this one as a C.
- NL West: I had the Dodgers winning the division and the Rockies finishing last. That was perfect; the rest of the division prediction was far less than perfect. Grade this one as a C.
That does not yield much of a Grade Point Average, but at least I avoided a “Blutarsky” – – zero-point-zero-zero.
I also suggested 5 win total bets for the regular season:
- Red Sox OVER 86.5 wins. Winner!
- Yankees UNDER 90 wins. Loser!
- Mariners OVER 84.5 wins. Winner!
- Cubs OVER 85.5 wins. Winner!
- Rangers OVER 85.5 wins. Loser!
At least those predictions showed a “profit” …
Finally, these words from Henry Ford:
“We don’t want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker’s dam is the history we make today.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………