GeneTherapy

• Gene Therapy: We Are The Story!

  Dec 31, 2021 Gene Clemons 0 Comments

  

   

  by Gene Clemons

   

  When I was a Journalism major in college my professors talked about the role of the journalist. A journalist's number one job was to be a conduit for the people bringing them the information that they needed to know. They would be the voice for the people and ask the questions that the populous wanted answers for. They were above reproach because they provided an unbiased account of the information. In sports their job was to report the results of contests accurately while painting visuals that allowed the reader to feel as if they were present. The writing mattered and as such, the cause was noble. In many cases they were no more than a by line. Some columnists received a headshot and a by line. Other than that, they existed in anonymity. 

   

  At the same time the role of the sports reporter was changing before my eyes. What used to be clearly defined roles of writer and columnist began to blend as opinions took on more of a prominent role in the sports media landscape. Over time, social media outlets like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter became the most popular forums for consuming sports information. No longer did you have to wait for the morning paper or the evening news. You didn't need to wait for Sportscenter to come on. As so many elements of the newspaper and news broadcast died, journalists were left to adapt to a society who wanted everything in one place at the same time. These infinitely more accessible mediums also opened a field that is already saturated, up to anyone with a social media handle.

   

  Today's world of Journalism is very similar to that of the music industry. No longer can natural or developed talent get you in the door, unless that talent is SEO optimization. An abundance of followers can elevate someone from writing for a blog site to working at ESPN. It is a gift and a curse. With this new lane of discovery, it is not enough to simply write good stories or report accurately and timely. As a journalist you are no longer selling your work, you are selling yourself. What used to be a byline in a newspaper has been replaced by your Twitter or Instagram handle, a Facebook page, a YouTube channel and a LinkedIn profile. 

   

  As journalists share more of their personalities, as they let followers deeper into who they are as people, they lose the anonymity that so many of their predecessors enjoyed. In truth they can't afford to. Between local beat writers, local sportscasters, beat writers for national publications and media outlets, websites, blogs and the individual freelancer the competition for eyes is great and normally the journalist who has created a connection with the fans will get them to watch their content. The byproduct of merging your personal and professional lives through your social media is that people look to you for your opinion on situations that involve the team you cover. You become as important to your followers as the content you provide them with.

   

  We live in a cynical world. One that doesn't separate the personal from the professional. So, when we talk about the things we personally want to see teams do, fans assess it as a professional take. That gets tricky and can leave the focus on us instead of where we really want the focus to be, on the story. Earlier this year at the SWAC media days, a media member got into an argument with Deion Sanders when the journalist called Sanders by his first name. Sanders asked the journalist to call him coach and after a back-and-forth exchange where Sanders said, "You don't call Nick Saban, Nick." The journalist once again called Sanders by his first name which promptly made Sanders get up and leave the interview. None of the stories that came out of that interview session had to do with football or anything associated with the team. The only thing anybody reported on was the exchange.

   

  That incident elevated the profile of the journalist but did that journalist really do his job? In journalism school we were taught to never make the story about you. In a situation like that it would have been easier to simply comply with a benign request as opposed to offering resistance. If you make your interviewee uncomfortable or defensive, then they are likely to remain closed off. It probably made for a great post on his social media page where he garnered support from so many that may have thought Sanders' request was unreasonable considering that reporters have called Nick Saban, Nick. It definitely allowed others to post videos of Nick Saban being called Nick in an interview. What it did not do is serve the will of the people. People who wanted to know about Jackson State's football team and their charismatic hall of fame player turned coach. It was an opportunity to create an environment that would allow for better discourse that media outlet, the team, and the coach in the future.

   

  In this sports culture media members wear all of the hats. The intention of each person is unknown. Some people get into this field because they love sports, some because they want to be famous, others simply need a job. Many don't realize how much their personal life will factor in this world, especially when you actively post your personal and professional life on social media. Nobody feels this stress more than women. So many women have used social media to raise their profiles in whatever their field. Women in the media, especially sports media because it is so male dominated, have to deal with harassment and doubts about their knowledge in the space.

   

  They also have to deal with people who believe they are only in their position because they are beautiful or because they fill some quota. While I'm sure there are some men and women who use their looks to garner more attention, the truth is that these generations of women grow up being just as involved and passionate about sports as men. Since many men in the media never played the sport at a high level, what is the difference between them and a woman in the space, nothing. Passion is passion and knowledge is out there for everyone to attain. Is it a woman's fault that she has more followers than many of her male contemporaries, no. Nobody bemoans the good-looking weatherman who gets offers from bigger affiliates? His looks don't mean he is better at his job.

   

  In the end we are left to walk an impossible line in sports media. One where opinions are sought, and accountability is in the form of a retweet. Where videos surface of something that happened 15 years prior in a personal setting and it destroys a career. A space where journalist get more likes and retweets on a summer vacation picture than they do on a column and where advancement is as simple as a follower count. This is the new world order, the games, the participants and the media. We are ALL the story.

   

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  Gene Clemons is a Sports Analyst and Contributor to CWN Sports. His weekly column and podcast - Gene Therapy focuses on Sports, Politics and Social/Urban issues.

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• Gene Therapy Podcast: The Problem with Franchise QBs

  Dec 28, 2021 CWN Publisher 0 Comments

  Gene is joined by Brandon Howard of The Athletic and Turron Davenport of ESPN who covers the Titans. We talk about fans issue with Tua, the flaws of Tannehill, the fact that there are only 4 or 5 legit franchise QBs, and what is more important to fans and front offices a QB who wins or a QB who fits the mold of what they believe a franchise QB is supposed to be.

  Click the image above to listen to the full podcast. 

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• Gene Therapy-The Flawed Logic of a Franchise QB

  Dec 24, 2021 Gene Clemons 0 Comments

  
  

   

  by Gene Clemons

   

  In a world where we want everything right now, the NFL has chosen to go the opposite way when it comes to the quarterback position. Year after year we see teams reach on potential while disregarding production at that position. The rationale is always the same, “We need to find our franchise quarterback.” If we were to take an honest look around the league, how many teams can make the claim that they have their franchise quarterback for the next 10 years? 

   

  Of the 30 franchises there are only a handful of teams that can make the claim. The Bucs and Packers cannot despite having two of the best quarterbacks in the history of the game because there’s no way either of those guys play for another 10 years. Teams like the Chiefs, Chargers, Cardinals, Bengals, Bills and Ravens certainly feel like they have their guy for the next 10 seasons but the ever-increasing salaries of quarterbacks and the ever-looming threat of injury leaves questions about their long-term sustainability. Every other team is trying to figure it out. They either have a young quarterback they hope is the guy, a guy they believe (correctly or not) they may be able to upgrade from, or a guy they need to replace ASAP.

   

  Then there’s the impatience of NFL fan bases and front offices. The more impatient the fan base, the more impatient the owner. After all the goal is to make money and a happy fan base is one that spends. What other type of fan base spends money? A hopeful one! So the NFL has become this revolving door of quarterbacks who fans hope are the franchise until they are not, and the team replaces them for the next hopeful. Organizations like the Broncos, Rams, Raiders, and Washington have been using this model for years to keep fans on the edge of their seats with their hands in their pockets trying to support whomever the new hope would be.

   

  Outside of a few teams, coaches turn over every few seasons. So, most of the time they don’t outlive the proving ground for a potential franchise quarterback which also stunts the quarterback’s growth. Jameis Winston had 3 head coaches and four offensive coordinators in his five seasons with Tampa Bay before they decided to give up on him when Tom Brady chose the Bucs. Justin Herbert is going to throw more touchdowns this year in LA with a new coaching staff in just his second season but he’s also going to turn the ball over far more. These coaches are essentially being asked to groom a young quarterback for their replacement coach. I don’t think that is what former LA Chargers head coach Anthony Lynn had in mind when he decided to take their lumps with a rookie Herbert who compiled a lot of statistics but they didn’t equal wins. It begs the question that fans and coaches alike should ask regularly.

   

  

   

  “Who cares if he’s the quarterback of the future; does he give me the best chance to win now?”

   

  If this question was asked more often than a lot of fan bases would be happy because their team would be winning more. The coaches would not be worried about sacrificing wins for development which would lead to more job security. We would also really know who the best coaches were based on how they developed game plans to utilize the quarterbacks who gave them the best chance to win. Winning should be the great deodorizer but in the NFL a quarterback’s ability to be the “face of the franchise” seems to be just as important as their on-field ability. This is why players like Lamar Jackson and Jalen Hurts continue to be doubted as franchise quarterbacks while people still hold out hope for Sam Darnold and think Tayson Hill just needs a consistent opportunity to play the position to be successful. Jackson and to a lesser extent Hurts do not have the requisite look of a franchise QB. For others like Tyrod Taylor, Teddy Bridgewater, Baker Mayfield, Ryan Tannehill and Jacoby Brissett they don’t put up the flashy numbers that make fans swoon but when healthy, they can run an offense well and usually keep their team in a game. There’s value in those abilities as well and a ton of talented players like that in college who get overlooked for some project who has the look.

   

  Two seasons ago quarterback Tyler Huntley was a Pac-12 first team selection in his senior season. He was named a third team All American. Yet when the 2020 draft rolled around he was not invited to the combine and was not selected in the draft. He had to sit and watch a quarterback he outplayed in the Pac-12 (Herbert) go top 10 and a bunch of other names that he undoubtedly never heard of be drafted while he waited for an undrafted free agent offer from Baltimore who already had three quarterbacks on the roster. In the three games where he has received significant playing time, he has performed like a starting quarterback in the NFL but this offseason, even if another team brings him in, you will hear people say things like they say about Hurts, “He’s capable but the team still needs to draft a franchise quarterback.” 

   

  So much draft capital has been wasted on quarterbacks who are not playing. In San Francisco the 49ers have a championship caliber team. They have a quarterback who is a liability in the biggest moments. Instead of upgrading the position this season, they decided to take a quarterback in Trey Lance that they have no intention of playing. They could have used that top five draft pick to bring in other talent that could make life easier on the quarterback that they chose to stick with. They were knocking on the door just a few years ago and Garropolo was the reason they did not bring home the trophy. So why not bring in someone who could possibly take him out of the equation either because you don’t need much from him or you have upgraded from him. It feels like it has already come back to bite them. Especially with how tight the playoff race is this season in the NFC. 

   

  Is a franchise quarterback, a franchise quarterback if he is not winning games? What about if he is not playing? Do statistics make a player a franchise quarterback? Or should the attributes that make a quarterback “franchise” worthy be based on how they fit within the framework of a particular team’s scheme? Philadelphia or Baltimore may not break any passing records, but they sure do seem difficult to beat when Hurts and Jackson are behind center. Both teams were also smart enough to put backups in place that allowed them the chance to have success even if the starter is out. That’s proper planning. Because not every team gets lucky enough to get Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson and Tom Brady. The rest just need to focus on winning games the best way possible.

   

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  Gene Clemons is a Sports Analyst and Contributor to CWN Sports. His weekly column and podcast - Gene Therapy focuses on Sports, Politics and Social/Urban issues.

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• Gene Therapy: Against The Grain

  Dec 17, 2021 Gene Clemons 1 Comments

  

   

  by Gene Clemons

   

  With a stroke of a pen, the college recruiting landscape was flipped on its head during the early signing period. Consensus number one overall player Travis Hunter decided to take his talents to…….Jackson Mississippi? That’s right! The 6’1” 160-pound cornerback shunned the advances of Alabama, Georgia, Clemson, and every other major Power Five player in college football. On signing day, the Collins Hill High School product turned his back on his long time commitment to Florida State and at his ceremony flung the FSU hat off the table, caught the Jackson State “J” hat flying at him from off stage and revealed the “I believe” tee that he was wearing underneath his jacket. 

   

  It was a banner day for Hunter who stole the entire day. It was another step for Coach Prime to show that what they were doing in the spring was not a fluke but in fact a new normal and a warning to the establishment that they and subsequently other HBCU programs would have to be respected as a legit factor in recruiting. It was celebrated by countless people who considered it a win for all HBCU’s and a win for the culture. But any time you upset the “natural order” the ugly never takes long to appear. The negative shots always start subtle and then crescendos to blatant full-fledged disrespect. 

   

  The first slight came when ESPN announced him as the second ranked player in the country. It's not that various scouting services are always aligned but when the news announces something it is usually based on the consensus. Whether it was done purposefully to lessen the magnitude of the moment or not, we will never know but it was not lost on people who followed the timeline of the announcement. 

   

  The second came with backlash from Florida State fans who declared Deion Sanders public enemy number one and denounced him as a true Seminole. "How could he do this to us?" Was a familiar phrase posted among the social media posts. The Twitter space titled "Fire Mike Norvell" flooded with people who believed there must be something wrong with the 'Noles coach if he is losing recruits to an HBCU.

   

  The disrespect continued to go deeper. The rumors that a significant corporate involvement by Barstool Sports in conjunction with Coach Prime funded an NIL deal that lured Hunter away from FSU or the other P5 suitors and delivered him to Jackson State. People commenting that Hunter will be in the transfer portal next season and that Coach Prime bought Hunter permeated throughout social media and on mainstream media debate platforms. It reached a climax when radio personality and former college basketball player Doug Gottlieb compared choosing a top FCS HBCU over a P5 school to choosing a Jewish D3 school over a P5. He also said that the decision was an obvious mistake. 

   

  The question becomes why? Why is it a mistake? Let’s examine some reasons people lay out and debunk these baseless premises. 

   

  There’s more exposure at a P5. False

   

  This is usually the first point that the uninformed make. Exposure is relative to talent. Many of these top talents don’t need a college to provide exposure anymore. They do it themselves. Many of the top recruits in college athletics have thousands upon thousands of followers. It could be argued that they help the needle move at the school they attend. This is a dilapidated way of thinking that predates the social exposure world we live in now. In this particular case, no school, including the P5 best teams, received more exposure than Jackson State since the arrival of Coach Prime. 

   

  You have a chance to play in front of large crowds full of adoring fans. True but…

   

  Have you ever been in a packed stadium of 50,000 and a packed stadium of 90,000? Both create a seemingly deafening sound. Both are electric. But the opportunity to play in front of a packed stadium full of faces that don’t look like you will never trump the feeling of a packed stadium full of people who look like your mother and father or could be a cousin. Do the fans at Florida State love you, or do they love what you can do for their team. The fans at an HBCU rock with you and want to see you succeed because they feel like when you succeed, they succeed. That feeling can not be usurped by a few thousand more people in the stands. 

   

  The education is better. False

   

  This is one of the most infuriating lies that many of these schools tell. Very similar to the lies that private schools tell players in high school, the idea that your education is better because it might cost more money is preposterous. HBCU’s have been recruiting and producing some of the best and brightest in all fields for many decades. They have done that for many years while being denied the same federal and state funding as their PWI contemporaries. It has long been preached that when you are black you have to work twice as hard to make the same mark in the world so HBCU’s prepare their students for the rigors of being black in a world that is already difficult. When they emerge, they are usually well versed in their field and ready to conquer the world. Which is why there are so many alumni doing well for themselves. 

   

  The coaching is better. False

   

  We have all heard the saying, “It’s not the X’s and O’s, it’s the Jimmys and Joes.” We make coaching important whenever we want to make the argument but in college normally it comes down to who can recruit better. It is no coincidence that when PWI’s were not accepting black players, HBCUs fielded mighty teams. Segregation saw these same school pilfer talent like a midnight raid at an auction house. They left HBCU’s to fight for talent that used to routinely populate their rosters. The coaching did not improve, the players did. But for the sake of argument in this case Hunter is a defensive back. He gets an opportunity to be mentored and taught by the greatest defensive back of all time who happens to be a meticulous student of the game and tireless worker. No other school on the planet can offer him that level of coaching. 
  

   

  Why would these P5 schools spend millions of dollars just on recruiting budgets every year if they were not setting up the opportunity to make that money back 100-fold? The recruiting budgets of programs like Alabama and Georgia hover around three million per year but the amount of money they generate is in the 100 million range. Their care for the player is based on the ability to continue to generate that type of money. How disastrous would it be for the P5 if all of these top recruits decided to follow Hunter to HBCU’s? The endorsement dollars and television rights deals follow the talent so don’t expect these schools to take this move by Jackson State lightly. They will hit back. They have already planned their smear campaign if things don’t work out. They will conveniently forget what just happened at Ohio State where a quarterback went to the school to get his million dollar NIL deal and the next season he was in the transfer portal. They will forget BYU brokering a deal to pay the tuition of all of their walk-ons essentially giving the team unlimited scholarships. They will overlook the NIL deal that Texas brokered for ever offensive linemen who attended the school in Austin. 

   

  The truth is they have no choice but to fight. They can’t afford to lose these assets, they can’t imagine life where they actually need to develop players and be patient with the process of building a team when you can’t infuse it with the best players in the country year after year. Congratulations to Travis Hunter for going against the grain. You can believe he will not be the last one.

   

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  Gene Clemons is a Sports Analyst and Contributor to CWN Sports. His weekly column and podcast - Gene Therapy focuses on Sports, Politics and Social/Urban issues.

   

   

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• Gene Therapy: Time For HBCU Football to Bump Up!

  Dec 11, 2021 Gene Clemons 0 Comments

  

   

  by Gene Clemons

   

  Every season when we arrive at the postseason for college football, the lack of representation for HBCU’s is staggering. Yes, the Celebration Bowl exists but that only spotlights two teams. This season the SWAC was “fortunate” enough to get a representative in the FCS Playoff. Florida A&M was a top 25 team and because of the way the first round is set up, not only did they have to go on the road, they were given a difficult first round opponent because of proximity. Meanwhile Holy Cross and Sacred Heart were able to play each other and neither one of them were ranked. The disrespect for HBCU programs in the FCS Playoffs is a yearly tradition which sparked the creation of the Celebration Bowl but it is just not enough. There's not enough exposure and nowhere near enough revenue generated through sponsorships and television rights. 

  At the Division 2 level it is even worse because there are no automatic bids. So the CIAA and the SIAC have been consistently squeezed out of playoff slots. This year Savannah State had a great season and didn't get a bid to the postseason. Albany State and Bowie State were the only representatives from HBCU's and they were both put against D2 playoff staples.

  Without much in the way of postseason representation how do these teams get to prove their mettle when the most eyes are on them? Recruiting the best and brightest has been a mission that Coach Prime has rejuvenated and we can already see the results rippling throughout the landscape. But regardless of what is said, how can you tell a student to turn down a scholarship to Ole Miss or Miss State to go to Jackson State. It is hard enough to get them to choose the Tigers over Southern Miss. At the end of the day the SWAC and MEAC both are FCS conferences and therefore considered lower than FBS programs. So that is always the trump card FBS teams play when recruiting the best. At the lower level they use playoff berths to out recruit HBCU programs. Because they can not attract the best talent the teams lose and then it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy and it is all recycled and used to continually paint HBCU programs in a negative light. 

  So what happens when a team begins to win? You would think everything would open up for them but unfortunately the preconceptions still exist and it is almost impossible to shake unless you do something to shake it. You have seen in recent years HBCU programs leave HBCU conferences with the belief that inclusion would allow them to further thrive but it has not taken shape. Storied programs like Tennessee State, Hampton and North Carolina A&T are treated as if they don’t belong in their new conferences.

  For years despite the product on the field fans have flocked to HBCU games. The pageantry that is supposed to surround college football is alive and well at HBCU’ s everywhere. The attendance numbers at many HBCU games rival or even eclipse those of teams in the Group of Five at the FBS level. The pageantry and fanfare at programs like Grambling, Southern, FAMU, Jackson State, Alabama State and so many more can make a tailgating situation outside of your favorite G5 school look like a mere picnic. After all, HBCU games are not just limited to the game itself. It is the night before and the night after. It is a true weekend experience when you talk about the football season at an HBCU. So why should the SWAC as the number one conference in attendance in the FCS subject itself to the Orphan Annie treatment at the hands of a lesser level. It is time to bump up and while doing so create a system that dramatically closes the gap between the FBS PWI and the new FBS HBCU’s.

  So how would it work? The college football landscape is changing and now is the time to jump up. It's not like the FBS is full of traditional historic conferences. Many have only been around for a short time so adding another conference would not hurt. Especially when that new conference would bring in attendance numbers better than the MAC. The SWAC has the most teams ready to jump to the FBS based on the teams that we've seen make the move recently. The conference would take a contingency of teams from all of the HBCUs and create a super conference of 16 teams divided into two divisions.

  The new FBS SWAC would be: Jackson St, Alabama St, Alabama A&M, Grambling, Southern, Alcorn St, Arkansas Pine Bluff, Texas Southern, Prairie View A&M, Florida A&M, Tennessee St, Hampton, North Carolina A&T, South Carolina St, Morgan State, and Delaware State.

   The new FCS MEAC would include: Bethune Cookman, Mississippi Valley State, North Carolina Central, Howard, Norfolk State, Savannah State, Fort Valley State, Albany State, Morehouse, Miles, Kentucky State, Lane, Bowie State, Fayetteville State, Virginia Union, Virginia State.

   The new SWAC as a FBS to schedule a Power Five conference team and not cost them strength of schedule because they played an FCS school. That would allow these HBCU’s to still take guaranteed pay games.. They could then schedule a FCS from the new MEAC and guarantee them a payoff that would help their bottom line. The FCS teams could do the same if they scheduled the remaining D2 schools for a pay game. It would allow every team to increase their revenue and demand a place at the table of the level they are at. It is a "for us by us" philosophy that may never come to fruition. People should ask themselves why it doesn't make sense when we consider that three teams who do not draw nearly as well as some HBCU squads are about to ascend to the FBS with nothing more than hope. 

  The time is now for HBCU teams. They are raising the bar with coaches who move the needle. Coach Prime has paved the way for Eddie George and Hue Jackson to join the ranks. They have shed light on the other talented coaches already at HBCU programs and that has helped to increase the talent pool attending those schools but that only scratches the surface. They have already begun to position themselves by galvanizing a strong conference. They should not let the train pass them by. 

   

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  Gene Clemons is a Sports Analyst and Contributor to CWN Sports. His weekly column and podcast - Gene Therapy focuses on Sports, Politics and Social/Urban issues.

   

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