🏅This Iamaleava situation has me fed up.

Hey there,

Today we break character a little bit and get into the opinion-sphere. What better topic to do that with at than the Nico Iamaleava drama that’s been taking place over the last week?

If you aren’t familiar with what’s happened, don’t worry — we’re giving the full backstory before letting you know what we think. Then we’re talking about the problems surrounding the situation, and who’s to blame for this entire thing.

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— Cole and Collin

A week has gone by, and I finally feel ready to talk about the Nico Iamaleava drama. I try not to go into the “opinion”-sphere very often – I much prefer analysis to hot takes. But… well, sometimes you guys seem to want to hear my opinion. This is one thing that I think is worth sharing my opinion on, because I’m not sure I’ve felt so conflicted about a story since starting this newsletter.

I say that because, really from the get-go, I’ve been… sympathetic, I suppose, to the plight of student-athletes in the college sports sphere. In fact, if I had to label myself, I’d summarize my position as more-or-less pro-athlete. I suppose I swing that way because I think the college sports media industry really loves hating on the athletes for making money. Meanwhile the coaches, the conferences, and of course the NCAA have no problem making money off these athletes. To me, most of the criticism falls flat for those very reasons.

But this whole Nico Iamaleava situation is quite different, and I think it frustrates me to a much larger degree than others precisely because I’ve supported the student-athletes. In many ways the saga simply confirms the fears of many college sports traditionalists. Let me explain.

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