That’s the thing about change

“That’s the thing about change. It’s never good or bad. It’s just different – sometimes fun, sometimes frustrating, and always just another step on an ever-evolving ride.”

Maybe that’s a pretty good description of change, well, most of the time. But the above quote is actually from a recent article on the ESPN website by David Hale about all the changes in the landscape of college football. And it sure has changed a lot.

One of the things I have enjoyed about college sports are watching the rivalry games. Games like UNC and Duke in basketball and Michigan and Ohio State in football are always fun because of the intense emotion between longtime rivals within their conferences. Conference games seem to always bring out those feelings.

Well, they used to. Last Saturday, the NC State Wolfpack flew out west to Berkeley to play the California Bears in an Atlantic Coast Conference football showdown. In a comeback win, the Wolfpack defeated the Cal Bears, 24 to 23. But the idea that the University of California, along with Stanford, are both now in the Atlantic Coast Conference really tells you something about the state of college sports today. It’s over 2700 miles from Cal and Stanford, which both are located near San Francisco, to the Atlantic Ocean!

But it’s the same for other conferences and universities as they scramble to try to remain relevant and to get their part of the money that TV networks pay to televise their games. (Remember, when they say it’s not about the money, well, you know.)

And it’s definitely about the money. Because now, due to court (legal, not basketball) cases, college student/athletes can be paid for their services. And some are being paid in the millions. They also can now transfer from one college to another from year to year. Instead of being called student/athletes, they probably should be called contract employees, who happen to work for the entertainment and marketing departments of the universities.

Back to the quote from the beginning of this article. I’m sure the change has been good for the college athletes who are now getting well paid. And some of the more prominent universities, with mega donors, are doing quite well.

But others see trouble ahead. Tony Bennett, the very successful basketball coach at the University of Virginia, resigned last week. It seems like, as we say here in Sampson County, he has had a bait. In his press conference, he pretty much said that, but in a more polite way. He warned of trouble ahead, saying, “College athletics is not at a healthy spot.”

Change. Hale’s above description of the change in relation to college sports may seem correct, but it doesn’t in relation to real life. Some changes can be good, but some can be bad. That job promotion, new relationship, or new hobby can be a welcome change. But a job loss, the loss of a loved one, or a physical setback can be a change for the worst.

But Hale is correct about one aspect of change, whether it be in college football or life. As he wrote, it’s just different. And how you handle that difference, whether good or bad, will often determine your future. As for college football, how the universities adapt to the changing landscape will, in many ways, determine their success in the future.

Thank goodness, in a couple of weeks, the election season will hopefully be over. No matter which presidential candidate wins, I feel there will be some substantial changes on

the horizon. It’s going to be different, and some of those changes likely will be difficult. And truthfully, whoever ends up being President will often have little influence on the impact of most of those changes, except maybe to make them worse. How we individually, and as a people, adapt and handle those changes will go a long way in determining our future, as individuals and as a country.