the BigAmateurism monologues

Following an assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan in 1981 and the vice-president’s (George HW Bush) unavailability, Reagan’s Secretary of State, Al Haig, boldly declared in a press conference, “I am in control here in the White House.” Lost on Haig—never short on ego—was that the House Speaker and the Senate President pro tem outranked him in the constitutional chain of command. Following Haig’s example, NCAA President Mark Emmert declared in a June 18th letter to all 1,100 NCAA member institutions that he was in control of both the NCAA executive and legislative processes, turning the NCAA Constitution on its head. Emmert boldly stated that if “NCAA rules changes are not in place by July, please know that I will work with our governance bodies to develop temporary policies that assure student-athletes that they will not become trapped in such circumstances and that all will have NIL opportunities. I have directed my staff to create proposals by the end of the week.” As with Myles Brand before him, Emmert has steadfastly denied that he or the office of NCAA president has any independent authorities that would permit unilateral presidential action. Now, after losing control of the preemption narrative in the Senate, the NCAA national office has pivoted to dictatorial edicts only twelve days before the Y2k-like July 1st deadline. Will the six state laws set to go into effect on July 1st bring the college sports world to an immediate and fatal collapse? Stay tuned.