This is the online version of our daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning. Charles Curtis is filling in for Andy Nesbitt.
It’s May, but the biggest story of Thursday was Nick Saban stirring up the pot by accusing Texas A&M of using Name, Image and Likeness payments to “[buy] every player on their team” and Deion Sanders’ Jackson State paying Travis Hunter $1 million to play for Coach Prime.
That led to A&M coach Jimbo Fisher to go hard back at Saban with gems like, “I don’t cheat and I don’t lie. I learned that as a kid … old man would slap you upside the head. Maybe somebody should have slapped him.” The memes that emerged were gold.
Whew.
But as someone who doesn’t follow college football that much, my eyebrows went up at the response from Sanders.
“Coach Saban wasn’t talking to me. Coach Saban wasn’t talking to Jimbo Fisher,” he told Andscape. “He was talking to his boosters. He was talking to his alumni. He was talking to his givers. He was trying to get money.”
If that was Saban’s strategy — one that others around the internet noted could be the case — it worked. This took any and all attention away from the NBA and NHL playoffs and the PGA Championship.
And if it wasn’t money he was going after and some kind of rule change to regulate NIL payments? Again, evil genius stuff. He’s not an all-time legend for nothing.
Again, my knowledge here is limited. I don’t know if rule changes are coming, which is bad news for Saban, who might be scared money can beat out his recruiting pitch of “Come compete for a national title at Bama and then we’ll get you right to the NFL.”
But if it’s a money fight he’s hoping for, his public plea was evil … but brilliant.
Quick hits: The PGA Championship is good so far … Payton Pritchard’s “too small” gesture … An MLB hoops celebration … and more.
— Tiger Woods didn’t do so great on Thursday despite eating a sandwich mid-round at the PGA Championship. But Rory McIlroy did very well. And a bettor who could win $100K if John Daly wins would be well off if that unlikely scenario happened.
— Payton Pritchard — at 6-foot-1 — hit the Heat with a “too small” taunt.
— This Pete Alonso hoops celebration after a walk-off homer was so good.
— Brady Tkachuk cheering on his brother Matthew is the best story of the NHL playoffs.