Sunday, March 21, 2021

Image of Isaiah Livers

Yes, Adrien Nunez should be paid.  Jace Howard too.  How about Austin Davis, he deserves something for enduring that fifth year?

By whom?  Maybe the answer is more commercials during the games.


There is little question the NCAA is an illegal monopoly and idiots like Kenny Smith and Charlie Barkley make out like bandits.  Change is underway, but it is a complicated process involving the whole country.  For young Mr. Livers, it smacks of selfishness and desperation, and make no mistake, it has nothing to do with whether he plays tomorrow or not.  It is not metoo, it is me now.

I will not be shopping for Zavier Simpson memorabilia.  I doubt they are big sellers, but it is fine if you want to do it and there may be wounded souls who buy them or worse yet, consider them payment for memories.  You are not going to make any money, or provide for a family, or launch a sustainable career by selling $25 pictures of yourself.  It is perhaps a side benefit if you have whopping name and image recognition, but you have to get there first.  Is a couple three years in the NCAA system going to hurt you that much?

If I needed a soundbite from the past I would probably google it, download a picture, and maybe write something about why it is relevant now.  I can see why a super fan, like those residing in an Ohio bar, might want to buy a picture and hang it on the wall.  One of Simpson getting snuffed on a layup or hook shot would be a conversation piece.  Anyway, a Michigan fan would only do it as part of an obsession or chronology.  Those of us who follow closely know that the college game is nothing but a few years and then it is on to the next.  It does not mean any individual is being picked-on because that is how it works for players, coaches, and whole teams.  Cliches about winning are not needed. 

The only thing that stays constant is the logo and the institution behind it.  It is a failure in many ways but it has been around for 160 years and, in an extreme rarity these days, because it survives through education, it is well equipped for the future.  That is what is so god damn selfish.  Everyone there is doing the best they can for the biggest universe possible.

It makes for good news, just ask mgoblog.com.  Maybe not good, but lots of it.  The sports teams are "transitional."

To quote Piers Morgan, these are the days of "whine-athons" and "bilge water."  Everyone is doing it, and for the right reasons and sometimes better done in private than on TV, it is a step forward.  But be careful, you may just get what you wanted...  an image for all the wrong reasons.

For Livers it hit him, or rather, he realized the transition.  There is more on the record and findable in terms of interviews.  There may also be a little second-guessing in terms of when the injury started, the treatment or lack thereof, and the 23-day covid layoff.  It is also a reminder that he missed 10 of 27 games last year too and...  The team will still play, but those are not pluses on a professional basketball player's resume.

I have already moved on.  Anxious for the tournament, I was looking for injury updates and hoping for a return because the team can be electric with Livers as a part of it, but the T-shirt put an end to that.  Michigan is still in it and I'll be watching and probably blogging on Monday, even though they did play like Big Ten thugs against Texas Southern.

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