Rooting for tourists in home state clothes

There’s a well-known Jerry Seinfeld bit where the comedian says it’s hard to justify loyalty to a particular sports team because players constantly change. In a monologue included in his television show, he said, “You’re actually rooting for the clothes. … You are standing and cheering and yelling for your clothes to beat the clothes from another city.”

Seinfeld noted that fans will boo the same person they once cheered because he now wears a different uniform.

And that brings us to the recent announcement that former Arkansas Razorbacks point guard Boogie Fland, after playing 21 games in Fayetteville last season, is transferring to fellow Southeastern Conference school Florida.

We probably will never know exactly what motivated Fland to transfer, but we can guess. It probably had something to do with the fact that Florida is the defending national champion. Arkansas having two fivestar freshman guards coming to campus next year was probably another factor. It also probably helped that Fland’s agent once played for Florida.

And of course, there’s the money. Terms of Fland’s contract haven’t been officially revealed, but CBS Sports, relying on “sources,” said the Florida deal would be worth more than $2 million.

That’s for a college sophomore who came to Arkansas last year to play for Coach John Calipari. He did that after initially committing to play for Calipari when he coached the year before at Kentucky. No one should blame Fland for going to the program that presumably gave him the most money and gave him the best chance to make it to the NBA. Perhaps his role as a starter was going to be less secure next year when the two five-star recruits arrive. Professional sports — and that’s what the NCAA is now — is a cutthroat business. A player’s future wealth can evaporate with a series of bad games or an injury. You’ve got to get when and where the getting’s good.

At the same time, college sports fans can’t be blamed if they become less loyal to sports programs where loyalty is in increasingly short supply. Players now are free agents able to be paid openly and able to transfer easily from team to team. Previously they had to sit out a year if they transferred.

The NCAA has long served as the minor leagues in the two sports that attract the most attention, football and basketball. But it was not like the minor leagues of professional baseball. Teams like the Arkansas Travelers and Northwest Arkansas Naturals are supposed to be short-term developmental organizations where players come and go.

Traditionally, Razorbacks sports fans identified not only with the programs but also with the players — many of whom they expected to be from Arkansas. That was particularly the case with football. We were rooting for young men who grew up wanting to be Razorbacks. Certainly, fans welcomed good players from other states. The football team often has had a number of recruits from Texas and elsewhere. The basketball team in recent years had been composed largely of out-of-staters and even foreign players. But that was OK. For four years, they were ours, and they were welcome to stay afterward.

Over time, we became familiar with those players. We watched Russellville’s Corliss Williamson and central Arkansas’ Darren McFadden blossom into two of the biggest stars of their respective college sports.

Those things increasingly aren’t happening. Thanks to the transfer portal and the enticement of bigger dollars elsewhere, each year’s roster looks very different than the last. The upcoming season’s Razorback football team will feature few recognizable returning players other than the quarterback, Taylen Green. He played for Arkansas last year after transferring from Boise State.

The two big changes — paying players and letting them transfer — both needed to happen. The players are the ones sacrificing their bodies to generate the money. Unfortunately, what’s been missing are some of the elements in other professional sports that produce stability, like meaningful contracts. The University of Arkansas has actually tried to enforce one of those recently.

Major college sports will continue to be big business. It probably will get even bigger for a while. But it’s lost the sense of tradition and school pride that defined it and separated it from the “pros.”

Now it’s just minor league professional sports played by players who come and go. They’re tourists playing in home state clothes, playing against tourists wearing the other schools’ home state clothes. And, I guess, we’re supposed to keep rooting for them.

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Steve Brawner’s column is syndicated to 19 outlets in Arkansas. Email him at brawnersteve@ mac.com.