As the saying goes, tradition in sports is not what it used to be.
Well, okay, maybe that’s not really an old saying. But the way the sports world is changing these days, all seemingly driven by the need for a few extra dollars, the concept of sticking to sports traditions is about as old-fashioned as a mid-range jumper in the NBA.
The latest example of money over tradition is the relocation of USC and UCLA, two longtime anchors of West Coast college sports, to the more lucrative Big Ten. It’s not just a blow to what’s left of the Pac-12, it’s turning its back on traditional matchups like USC-Stanford and UCLA-Cal.
It’s easy to see why (the rest of this is best read with a grumpy old man’s voice in your head) many sports fans wonder why the traditions they love most in sports are sold to the highest bidder. Just a few examples are:
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It’s all enough to make die-hard sports fans shake their heads and turn off the television. Except, none of this is actually that new.
For example, the Pac-12 was the Pac 8 until 1978, when Arizona and the state of Arizona joined the Western Athletic Conference to make it the Pac 10. Colorado and Utah joined in 2011. Money and television, of course, were behind those expansions.
The PGA Tour may defend itself against the LIV today, but it was in the 1960s that the touring players of the PGA of America separated to form the PGA Tour. It seems that the touring players wanted to keep the TV money from their events rather than see that money pouring into a common pot to share with the rest of the PGA of America membership.
Boston Red Sox Hall of Famer Ted Williams batted against a shift for much of his career, hitting .388 in 1957 with 38 home runs and 119 runs batted in at age 38. The LPGA has only had two major championships in a year and now has five, so it has always been willing to tinker with its biggest tournaments. And since the deprivation rule was invented for basketball player Spencer Haywood in 1969 — that was 53 years ago — elite athletes leave college early for the lure of big money with the pros.
Change is never easy, and it’s especially hard when it kicks our sporting tradition to the curb for an extra zero at the end of a check. But change has always been true in sports. It can come at a faster pace these days and the money can be terrifyingly large, but change has always existed.
Imagine what the sports world will look like a year from now.
Larry Bohannan is a golf writer for The Desert Sun. He can be reached at larry.bohannan@desertsun.com or (760) 778-4633. Follow him on Facebook or on Twitter at @larry_bohannan. Support local journalism. Subscribe to The Desert Sun.
