In America, the winner takes all.

Chapter 156: A glance at the small mountains; NCAA: the cornerstone of American sports

Coach Ladouceur's sudden coma caused a certain commotion in the field, but it was limited to the Spartans. This was the same as the Normans... They were celebrating their victory.

Many supporters who came from afar rushed down to the stands and surrounded Ethan and other players.

Ethan had taken off his helmet at this time, smiling and looking at the teammates cheering around him.But it didn't seem as exciting as the previous times - even if he defeated the strongest team in the country, even if Norman would become the top football high school in the country in one fell swoop, even if he would undoubtedly win the MVP of this game.

However, compared to the previous Ethan, Ethan's "championship threshold" at this time is obviously somewhat higher.

He didn't even let his family come to watch the game before the game. The model is now busy with catwalks, endorsements, and cover shoots, not to mention Jennifer, who is even busier now.

Of course, it wasn't too frustrating, so Ethan had a faint smile on his face.But this scene, in the eyes of others, seemed to be a matter of honor and disgrace.

"We saw Ethan in front of the camera showing a true kingly demeanor. He obviously knew that he still had a long way to go, and that waiting for him ahead would be countless more powerful enemies. Before he truly reached the top, he Will continue to work hard!" Matt Millen's voice penetrated the cheers of the crowd.

Next, the teammates spontaneously fell to their knees. This was a kind of imitation, and the object of imitation was the Spartans.They all have a lengthy prayer process before taking the field.

But the Spartans were praying to God.And the Norman team members were praying to Ethan.

Not only the players, but even the audience began to kneel down. Thousands of people gathered in the venue knelt on one knee and bowed their heads in worship, joining together as if in a pilgrimage ceremony.This picture is undoubtedly quite visually striking.

Reporters and cameramen present immediately recorded the scene.

"This is the praise that mortals give to 'gods'. I know it is an excessive praise for a high school player, but...Ethan O'Connor deserves this kind of praise, and I cannot praise him enough." Matt Mirren continued.

The commentator who knows Ethan best is naturally Matt Millen. He has personally witnessed Ethan's growth step by step until now.

This kind of "nurturing" witness will increase the sense of belonging. Why does the NCAA's game atmosphere surpass the other four major professional leagues? Why does each university team have so many die-hard fans? Why do the two schools have such a bad relationship? Are there "hundred-year grudges" and "world feuds"?
This has something to do with the "alma mater attribute" of the NCAA, and the more "pure" nature of NCAA sports events. It also has something to do with the audience's sense of belonging...

Penny on the sidelines was already prepared, but she did not step forward but waited until Ethan celebrated with the audience before going to interview Ethan with other reporters.

The California Open is not like the national finals that has the rights to a first-level event, so Penny can naturally be there.

Ethan also gave Penny more special treatment. When facing other reporters, he always seemed vague and answered many questions in a vague way. He left more time for Penny.

"You led the team to end the winning streak of LS High School. There is no doubt that you are now the No. 1 player in high school football. Is there anything you want to say to yourself?" Penny handed the microphone to Yi Sen.

In addition to feeling happy for Ethan from the bottom of her heart, she also felt lucky for herself.

Fortunately, I made the right bet. Ethan has indeed grown up. Now I am deeply bound to him. It can be said that as long as there is an Ethan game and Fox Sports can send reporters, I will definitely go there.

Not to mention the sub-channel, everyone on the Fox Sports main channel now knows that they have a close relationship with Ethan.This has also helped her career become more and more successful. Now she will be sent to more and more locations not only for rugby but also for other locations on the West Channel.

Soon, she will become the chief location reporter of the West Channel!The next step is to establish a firm foothold at the main station!It's all thanks to Ethan.

In the face of Penny's inquiry, Ethan still expressed his modesty: "There is no so-called No. 1 at the high school level, there are only outstanding players at this stage. No one can predict what will happen in the future, and at a higher level. In rugby, I'm still a lot behind."

If similar answers before were a kind of self-effacement, then Ethan's words now sounded somewhat from the heart.

He was completely helpless with "dynamic defense" in this game. If it weren't for the special tactics Thomas prepared before the game, plus his strong body, and the "2-minute extreme attack" he had mastered before, he would never have won this game.

It can be said that among all the battles Ethan has experienced, this battle touched his heart the most. This game made him truly realize the depth of rugby skills and tactics.

"Many people say that this game is a showdown between the best high school football coach and the best high school player. What do you want to say to coach Bob Ladouceur?" Penny then asked.

"I welcome him to the Normans."

……

"Not long ago, there were rumors that after the national finals, many well-known college football coaches contacted you personally and offered you an olive branch. Are you ready for your college career? Do you have any favorites? School?" Penny asked about the whereabouts of Ethan University in her last question.

This question is placed at the end, as it is obviously the one that attracts the most attention.

"I will graduate in one year, right? There is still a long time to think about this issue. In the next school year, I will carry out intensive school visits." Ethan still did not reveal any information.

After the interview, Ethan and Penny looked at each other, and Penny nodded slightly.

"Ethan, why do you always leave time for Penny? Is it because she is a beauty pageant champion and has outstanding appearance?" SEPN's male reporter took advantage of Ethan's return to the player tunnel to ask.

He also interviewed Ethan many times, but Ethan was "lukewarm" towards him and didn't talk to him much at all.

"You're right." Ethan nodded. He was in a good mood and said it in a joking tone.

"I only accept interviews from beautiful reporters, so next time ESPN better ask someone else." Ethan shrugged.

·
Holding the "California Open MVP" trophy in his arms, Ethan returned to the locker room and found that his teammates were taking photos with the team trophies one by one. Ethan walked straight back to his seat and took out his mobile phone immediately.

Sure enough, although no one around them was present this time, they were all paying close attention to the game.

"Even the child in the belly is cheering for daddy!" The latest news comes from Lisa.

Considering that she is only three months pregnant, it is obviously a psychological effect on her.

Lisa had been inducing labor before, but Ethan did not refuse.Putting aside other factors, from a purely profit perspective, it would be a great benefit for Lisa to have her own offspring, not to mention that the interests of the two are more deeply bound, and not to mention the birth plan she gave her in the first place. The bonus check is used to reward Ethan for his hard work. The most important thing is that Ethan has evolved into the "child's father", and his status is completely different from before.

The next latest news came from Catherine. In addition to congratulating Ethan, she also asked Ethan to take her out to play during the summer vacation...

The third message actually came from Grace.

“With this competition over, it’s clear that more sponsors will be interested in the school! XDDDDDDD”

Her thoughts now are completely different from when she first met Ethan.

The fourth message comes from Jennifer, who delivers the happy news to Ethan.

"'California Girls' has already entered the Billboard No. 10 this week! I have received offers from multiple radio programs! Talk shows also invited me to be a guest performer."

Billboard is a list that collects song play rates from thousands of radio and television stations across the United States and ranks popular music on the market.Anyone who knows the European and American pop music circles knows that this is the benchmark of American pop music, which can intuitively measure the popularity of a song.

Ethan has also listened to the DEMO created by Jennifer. It can only be said that it is more in line with the characteristics of "classical hip-hop music" of this era, and it lacks the rap embellishment of the original version of Snoopy. All in all, it is almost interesting, but in this era, it is still very Can fight.

It’s not surprising at all for an unknown artist to become popular with one song, it can even be said to be commonplace.

In addition to Jennifer, Sarah Gellar and Liv Tyler also sent congratulations to themselves.

During this time, Sarah Gellar always texted and called Ethan at night, and she often stayed with Ethan at school.

Apparently, after Ethan and Jennifer left, she also realized the abilities of the woman behind Ethan, and she probably wanted to copy Jennifer.

Of course Ethan wouldn't refuse.

As for Liv Tyler, as a second-generation star, she naturally does not lack resources. She just simply wants to take a step further with Ethan.

Ethan even heard from Erin and Margaret.

Erin said she was going to Los Angeles during the summer vacation and brought the trophy with her, hoping to meet Ethan.

As for Margaret, her exchange program failed, but she decided to go to Los Angeles during the summer.

"It seems that during the upcoming summer vacation... I am really busy." Ethan laughed.

You must know that these four are all untouched girls.

Ethan is going to let the four of them go through personnel.

Then Ethan heard Thomas talking about Ladouceur.

"Fainted? Why not visit him later?" Ethan said.

He was ready to give Ladouceur a reason he could not refuse.

·
In the infirmary of the University of California, Sacramento, Ladouceur slowly woke up.

Except for the Spartan assistant coach, I saw Ethan standing by the bed alone, chatting with the assistant coach.

"If you want to see how embarrassed a loser is, you can leave now." Ladouceur struggled to sit up. He didn't want his competitors to see his embarrassed side.

"Coach Ladouceur, you are a respectable opponent." Ethan was unmoved.

"Huh, what's the point of talking about this now? I don't need false pity from above." Ladouceur snorted and did not accept it.He did achieve everything he could, but he underestimated Ethan O'Connor.

Ladouceur had to admit Ethan's talent.

"This is not pity. There is no doubt that the two of us are the same kind of animals and have a special desire to win."

"Why can't we join forces? I think you are also curious about how high the upper limit of a high school player can be?" Ethan asked.

Ethan didn't stay in the infirmary at the Sacramento campus for too long, he knew that just that sentence was enough.

After the finals, the team was temporarily disbanded. Some players went back to Los Angeles directly, while others wanted to stay in Sacramento for two more days, including Ethan, mainly because several of his old friends came to watch the game this time. He had to catch up with these three.

"Let me introduce you to some of my friends?" Ethan met Penny who came to the hotel where the team was staying.

"Of course." Penny is naturally very willing, which means that Ethan is willing to share his life with him, which is a further manifestation of the relationship between the two.

In fact, Ethan planned to stay drunk tonight and just asked Penny to send him back.

·
That night, Ethan met Adam, Pat and Tom Brady at a bar in Sacramento.

These three are all from California, and the game is close to home, so naturally they have to come to support in person.

"Ethan, what kind of quarterback you are, you really disgraced me. To be honest, Berkeley doesn't know how to attack to the extreme yet." Pat smiled and hammered Ethan.

Adam and Tom next to him were of more reserved character, and their reactions were naturally not as excited as Pat's, who was greeting Ethan at the moment.

At this time, Pat noticed Penny next to Ethan.

"Let me introduce to you, Fox Sports West's location reporter, Penny Weber." Ethan said to his three old friends.

"I know, I often see it on TV before." Pat nodded immediately and took the initiative to shake hands with Penny.

The West sub channel not only covers Los Angeles, but also has signals throughout California. The three of them are all Californians, so naturally they have seen her on TV.

"More beautiful than on TV." Adam shook his head.

"And she's Miss Alabama." Tom also subconsciously said.

Looking at Ethan and Penny's somewhat intimate but natural behavior, the three of them also realized that Ethan and her had been hooking up for a long time.

As an extremely conservative person, Adam knew that Ethan was a "devil" and would not say anything.

Tom Brady, who is the same age as Ethan, has a hint of envy in his eyes.

They are both students, and Ethan is now able to hook up with female anchors on location, but he is still experiencing the painful failure of confession.This is probably the difference.

Pat laughed and scolded: "This is not a good behavior. If I had known about it, I would have brought my girlfriend here with me."

The four of them chatted, and Adam and Pat were also looking forward to Ethan's performance after joining the NCAA next year.

Ethan mentioned the matter of sneaker sponsorship, mainly for Pat. He has established himself as the main player at Berkeley. Wilson or other companies may be interested in him.

It’s just that Ethan encountered resistance this time.

"This is not a good proposal Ethan. You have to know that the NCAA's supervision in this area is very strict. We are not even allowed to sign autographs for the audience privately."

"After the basketball team's game, the coach didn't even dare to buy a Taco Bell for the players, even if it was only a few dollars, but it was against NCAA rules."

"There are a lot of players who can explain why tens of thousands of people cheered in front of them, only to go home to an empty refrigerator."

The words between Pat and Adam created a picture of the miserable lives of some NCAA college players.

Although they can bring income to the school and the NCAA, they do not get a living to match it.

This starts from the very beginning of the establishment of the NCAA.

The tradition of intercollegiate competitions between universities can be traced back to the rowing competitions between Harvard and Yale in New England. At that time, many intercollegiate competitions were contacted by rowing related personnel.

In the early morning of December 1905, 12, thirteen university presidents who were still on Christmas vacation were summoned to Washington, the center of power in the United States.

At this time, in the office in the White House, Theodore Roosevelt was waiting for the group of principals.

It’s not that they were awarded medals to these principals, but they were scolded in full:

"The sport of rugby is too dangerous, this is legal killing and you have to stop this bloody farce between schools, gentlemen."

It's a pity that the thirteen principals present did not fully listen to the leader's opinions, because rugby games can bring ticket revenue to the school.

In two subsequent meetings, both sides took a step back and the school agreed to form an athletic association to improve rugby's rules while preserving the sport.

This association was called the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of America (IAAUS), which was later renamed "NCAA".Like other sports associations in the world, the NCAA was originally established to promote sports. Schools send representatives as "executive committee members", which is the highest decision-making body of the association.

All this changed half a century later.

In 1951, a 29-year-old young man named Walter Byers walked into the personal office specially purchased for him by the NCAA.

He used to be a reporter, and later became a press assistant for the Big Ten League, traveling to various university stadiums to take photos.

Now, he has become the first full-time employee of the NCAA, with the temporary position of "First Executive Director." At that time, no one could even explain the scope of this position.

The first thing he did when he took office was to establish the Basketball Journalism Association to take photos and compile news for basketball games.

The second thing is to expand the NCAA basketball tournament from 8 teams to 16 teams.

The third thing is to negotiate the TV broadcast contract with the TV station on behalf of the NCAA.It is rumored that he sold the broadcast rights to television stations at a very low price, almost free.

The first television broadcast of the NCAA football game achieved immediate results.Since then it has embarked on a path of rapid development.

Throughout the 70s and 80s, the NCAA led by Walter Byers engaged in a fierce battle with the amateur sports leagues, and ultimately won. In the s, the NCAA absorbed the Intercollegiate Women's Track and Field Association, becoming an amateur sports behemoth spanning men and women in multiple sports.

But correspondingly, there are many controversies accompanying the NCAA.

In 1957, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the university did not have to pay any fees for student-athletes' sports injuries because it was a "voluntary" "amateur competition" and "the school did not benefit from the competition."

In 1984, the University of Oklahoma Board of Regents took the NCAA to court.The two sides fought all the way to the Supreme Court, which ultimately ruled that "the NCAA's complete control of television rights completely violated the Sherman and Clayton Antitrust Act." This paved the way for universities to directly benefit from television rights.Intercollegiate football could bypass the NCAA and negotiate directly with television stations.

The NCAA claims to be a non-profit organization and distributes proceeds every year through athletic scholarships to schools participating in various levels of competition.

But the distribution of athletic scholarships is fixed, meaning that the top school with the most attention gets the same amount each year as the weakest school in its class.This uneven distribution of benefits further deepens the gap between the school and the NCAA.

In 2014, the NCAA disclosed that it held $6 million in unrestricted net assets, which have always remained tax-free.In addition, the NCAA holds the foundation for a long time and obtains income through investment growth.

Among the revenue disclosed to the outside world, event broadcasting rights revenue accounts for 1% of the total revenue, and the rest comes from ticket revenue, while D basketball games account for % of the broadcasting rights revenue.

The main reason is that the NCAA does not get a dime from the broadcast rights of football games. This area is exclusive to the school.

"This is a kind of collective 'exploitation'. When the rights and interests of athletes are infringed, they say this is an 'amateur game'. Since it is an amateur game, why not play it behind closed doors? It must be broadcast, Are you still selling tickets and souvenirs? Is this like a person standing on the street, asking for money while saying that this is not a transaction? Will the LAPD believe this kind of nonsense? But the problem is, everyone believes it now, and no one questions it ." Ethan knocked on the table.

None of the three athletes could offer any rebuttal.

"Although % of Olympic gold medal players have come out of the NCAA system, and the NCAA is the cornerstone of American sports, this is not a reason for the rights of other people to be infringed." Ethan said quite indignantly.

"But the problem is, no one can solve this situation now." Adam said subconsciously.

"Yes, of course there is. The NCAA could stumble on the antitrust bill 10 years ago, and of course it can do it now." Ethan smiled.

Ethan did not reveal too much, causing the three people present to be confused.

"Let's talk about sneakers, Pat. All you have to do is wear a pair of Wilson's sneakers. Maybe your parents will benefit from it. What I can guarantee is that the method is secretive enough." Ethan mentioned this issue again.

"How much money can Wilson pay?" Pat showed his relief.

"Then we have to discuss it in detail. You may lack an agent." A deeper smile formed on the corner of Ethan's mouth.

　Today is 1W2, and there is another chapter tonight, around ninety o'clock.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)