4 Hard Downs: The 105, Gluttony vs Being Lazy

Eating more so you don't have to share, schollies plus am I lazy?

I don’t even think this is a down, so I will just hit it now. I was called lazy most of my life. My parents, great parents, would call me lazy. My coaches would call me lazy, even though I stayed after practice to get extra work in to get better. Sleeping in was not a thing at my grandparents house; he legit got us up to do gardening or go for a walk or do calisthenics.

So in my mind, I’m a lazy person and which is not what I want to be viewed as.

I don’t want to be a couch potato.

I hardly ever sit down. I keep trying to figure out tasks to do over the course of the day. I love checking boxes. I’m a busy body, like my dad and grandpa. My mom calls me a meddler . My wife and my dad say I, “do too much,” but what I have done is lose 100 pounds, make dinner every night and become a pretty freaking good baker.

So let’s get into it and…SPOT THE BALL!!!!

1st Down: Officially Down A Benjamin

When I put foot to pedal to leave for Chicago in 2018, with a 4 month old kid and my wife, I was 306lbs. Heaviest I’ve ever been. In the words of another UNC player, “damn, who did Felder eat.”

And that was fine because I was happy.

I had a kid. I was on my dad shit. I truly didn’t care about myself, was just trying to make sure the wife and kid were good to go. As for my friends being mean about my weight, no big deal that’s how we’ve all talked to each other for our entire history.

When you’re making sure your kid is doing well and your partner is doing well, you neglect yourself.

And that is fine.

Now, I have a fully functioning kid and I realized it is ok for me to do a thing for me after 5 years. So, I’m on day 381 of just trying to walk or run a mile.

We’ll do another post but I like that at least 1 mile a day I get to just be Michael Felder; not daddy or Felder or Kristen’s husband.

2nd Down: Greed & Gluttony

That was a quick story of curbing my greed and gluttony, a thing we will never see CFB do and I think we have to frame things that way. The consolidation of power is not a money grab; it is a money snatch.

This is Halloween candy and the 2 oldest siblings taking the youngest’s Starbursts and Snickers so they can’t have them. Not because they need or want them. Just so the third doesn’t have them. Like when you order a pizza and it is 8 slices, and you don’t want anyone to get the last slice so you shovel it into your mouth to make sure they don’t get it.

That is the SEC and Big Ten.

Yes, they want money. Just like yes, you want Snickers or Starbursts. Yes, you want pizza. But mostly you just don’t want the little kids to have candy or pizza or in real terms, money.

It is hoarding. The goal, in the new 12 team format, is, “if we can both get 3 teams in, that only leaves 6 spots.” That’s 6 spots that conference champs and ND are fighting over. Then they get 7 in and ND isn’t a factor now, just 5.

Control is the key.

Money is great. First you get the money. Then you get the power.

They have the money and now they’re wielding their power.

I guess the whole point here is we spend way too much time talking about the money and not enough time talking about the power. It is like, “look left at this billion dollar TV deal,” but look right, “the networks can’t afford to pay these other leagues anything because their money is tied up in the SEC and Big Ten.” They literally forced a network to shut down (Pac-12) which eliminated competition.

3rd Down: The 105 Scholarship Dilemma

I think this is a good thing.

If you can’t run a CFB practice with 105 guys, you’re not a good coach.

For those that don’t know, new legislation came out where FBS programs can carry max 105 guys, all on scholarships.

Coaches are upset that the walk-on program goes away. The current number is 85. They get 20 more scholarships. They lose somewhere between 15-25 additional players with the new rule.

Those 15-25 guys are never getting in the game. They might be practice bodies. Maybe, but as someone who was a practice body, if you were worse than me, you were just a hazard.

To put it in real terms, I was probably anywhere from 86th to 95th on our roster. I was never the worst, but never close to the best. However, the gap between me and the worst players, players who wouldn’t make the 105 scholarship situation, was wider than the gap between me and the two-deep.

I hated having to roll in with guys who had no clue what they were doing, were going to get someone hurt because they couldn’t stay off the ground. I was a lot closer, slower but closer, to Gerald Sensabaugh, Tremaine Goddard and Kareen Taylor than I was to these bumbling idiots. Same holds for Tom O’Leary and John DeShields; we would have all just been on scholarship, which would have been nice.

If the NFL can practice with their roster restrictions and play better football than CFB, surely you can figure it out.

Those last 25 guys aren’t your key to success. They are great stories when you film a human interest piece and miss on a recruit and give them a scholly, but you’re not winning a title on them.

4th Down: Merch Is Official

We are doing merch for the live show. T-Shirts and Coozies. Links will be up soon. T-Shirts from Homefield and Coozies TBA. Get your tickets for 8/24 and we are still figuring out our walk out music, so hit us up 336-448-3607, if you’ve got a suggestion.

Cheers!!!