OPINION: Opt-outs strip the shine off bowl games but remain a net good
It wasn’t that long ago that bowl games were some of the best games to watch.
You’d get matchups between teams that would never play each other in the regular season. You’d get to watch some players play their last college game as they laid it all on the line one last time for their school.
Now, times have changed.
You still get the fun matchups and bowl games are still fairly enjoyable, but we don’t get to see some of the best players take on another team’s best players. With the transfer portal and opt-out rates at an all-time high, a bowl game feels like a mock spring game.
You get a chance to see the younger guys test their talent at the college level.
I mean this is no form of anger at the kids who do opt-out or transfer. A lot of them had to make a business decision. If you are a projected first-round draft pick and you play in your bowl game and tear your ACL, you would fall out of the first round and lose A LOT of money.
It’s a business decision for the betterment of their future. I understand that these kids have played for a school that has paid for their tuition, housing, and books. I understand the angry fans that say, “Those kids are walking out on their teammates.”
To each their own. From my point of view, some of these kids who opt-out to become early draft picks have to take a step back and look at how their decision would affect them in the long run. Some of these guys don’t come from happy homes or safe neighborhoods.
They have had to work their tail off for everything they’ve gotten in life. They had nights when they couldn’t eat cause their family didn’t have any money. Put yourself in their shoes.
A first-round pick gets signed for enough money to get their parents out of a rough situation. It could pay off debts that they have taken on over the years. It is a hard decision to make, but we should not hold any malice towards the kids that decide to choose what they think is best for them and their families.
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