Flag football can save spring football, plus CFB rivalries raise big charity money

New York Times

17-04-2025

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First, the breaking news of the morning: Lee Corso, 89, is retiring from 'College GameDay' following the upcoming Week 1. To the universal football grandpa, thank you for 38 years. Above all else, I will always cherish this cuss word.
There should be some sort of spring football. Let's start by agreeing on that. Americans love football more than we love quite possibly anything else, and there's obviously a massive appetite for football this time of year — see April media coverage of the transfer portal, NFL Draft and Jerry Jones.
But no matter how many times the money people have tried to establish spring football itself as appointment TV, it's yet to stick.
Glorified CFB practice was never good enough to scratch the itch, even though it came close for a while …
… and as for professional startup leagues, only the most extreme football deviants want to chase the Super Bowl with a vastly lesser version of the exact same sport.
There should be spring football. Despite those two bullet points above, we still agree on that. But there's no reason it needs to be tackle football.
Thanks in part to upcoming inclusion in Los Angeles' 2028 Olympics, flag football is soaring — among women and girls in particular. It's a varsity sport in nine states from California to Florida, with 17 more in the works, per the NFHS. Dozens of colleges have programs, and some recent subcommittee thing made it more likely to become an NCAA championship sport.
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As more and more power brokers realize women's sports are attention magnets, the NFL heavily supports flag. Serena Williams wants to own a team, which sounds like more of a crowd-pleaser than Bill Belichick watching UNC's turf grow.
There's also plenty of precedent for college flag football as a spring sport. The NAIA's teams play from February through May. Weeks after March Madness, you're telling me TV networks would rather show Skip Holtz than Michigan battling Ohio State for a women's football playoff spot?
Anyway, my point is: We can let go of all these other attempts at making spring ball happen. Flag football's got this.
🌀 The spring transfer portal is now open until April 25. Sam Khan Jr. has the 20 names to know, including several already committed.
🏀 Heisman winner Charlie Ward is expected to become Florida A&M's hoops coach. Great time to watch his two-sport FSU highlights.
⚡️ Update: When Kent State fired coach Kenni Burns last week, it was for cause, after an investigation into a six-figure loan he received from (and repaid to) a booster. Other messy details here. His record was 1-23.
⏰ Scott Dochterman reports on an NFL Draft question that goes far beyond just next week's event: Do pro GMs care about college players opting out?
🧑‍⚖️ Pretty big news: CFB has new rules, like a timeout penalty meant to curb theatrical injuries, fewer timeouts during OT (in memory of a game we're about to mention) and more.
My favorite moment from this past season: when archrivals Kirby Smart and Brent Key embraced like long-lost brothers once Georgia beat Georgia Tech after eight grueling overtimes. The name of their 132-year-old feud: Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate.
We say we despise our rivals. It sure feels like we do. But think about how empty and lonely we feel when conference realignment dictates we'll go a decade without seeing our disgusting nemeses. If, per the popular quote, indifference is the opposite of love, what's the opposite of hate?
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This week, for the 19th year in a row, the EDSBS* Charity Bowl by Holly Anderson and Spencer Hall — co-creators of the CFB-adjacent newsletter Channel 6 and podcast 'Shutdown Fullcast'** — is using CFB rivalries to raise money for New American Pathways, an Atlanta-based refugee resettlement non-profit.
Last year alone, the Charity Bowl raised over $1.1 million by pitting fan bases against each other. This week on CFB Bluesky, my timeline has been a cascade of creative donation amounts designed to troll various universities — take that, Cumberland!! — and tallies of which schools are out-donating their rivals.
Yep, each year, there's a leaderboard by college. Because Florida alum Spencer has multiple Michigan-themed tattoos, acquired in honor of the fan base that has won this competition throughout almost its entire history, I asked him why the Wolverines dominate this thing as if they're Skip Holtz and it's a spring league:
'Because they are better people. MGoBlog getting on board very early and enthusiastically helped. Regardless, they give more money to the charity of my choice, so it's definitely the first more than the second.'
You gonna take that, Buckeyes? Spartans? Fighting Irishpersons, who are being led this week by Mike Golic Jr.?
still have a few days to shame your rivals with charitable giving by donating to @newap-georgia.bsky.social for the EDSBS Charity Bowl.
Head to EDSBSCharityBowl.com!
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— Mike Golic Jr (@mikegolicjr.bsky.social) April 16, 2025 at 6:01 PM
But it's not just about the powers. I asked Holly to share an impressive performance by a small fan base:
'Thanks mostly to one very generous maniac, Washington & Lee (enrollment: 2,243) almost always wins the War of the Washingtons, beating out the University of Washington, Washington State and better-known smaller schools like Washington University in St. Louis.'
This week's current total: well over $550,000 and counting. Can't spell hatred without heart, now can you?
* OGs recognize EDSBS as Every Day Should Be Saturday, the 2005-2019 blog by Spencer and Holly that was the molten core of CFB internet culture.
** Full disclosure: I am also a co-creator of that podcast.
Up next, here's a portion of Stewart Mandel's latest mailbag, and then I'll see you next week. As always, hit me up at [e-mail] with thoughts on this newsletter. (To be clear, if you try to email Stewart via that address, you will be disappointed. I am not him.)
America's favorite draft is right around the corner. What is your mock draft for the top 10 game picks for the Big Ten's TV networks draft? *Yes, the networks technically draft by week and pick priority for that week, but for this question, it is easier to go by specific games. — Reggie C., San Diego
My list:
Fox has the top three picks on the season, and it's a no-brainer that it will use them to put those three games at 'Big Noon,' much to the chagrin of Buckeyes fans. I don't know the network order from there, but …
You might be surprised to see Nebraska included, but the Cornhuskers remain a big TV brand, at least early in the season, before they lose half their games.
More from Stew here.
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