Welcome to the Friday Feedback, which would like to avail itself to West Virginia University. In another capacity. In another career. Because, oh, my God. You win, Oklahoma. You win.
This is my fault, I guess, but we paid zero attention here to colleges initiating “deregulation of eating” Aug. 1, and maybe that was because football started a day earlier or because we went over that deal earlier and with aplomb. Anyhow, it happened and it’s happening and I’ve even talked to some players about it (right now, they don’t notice a difference because they aren’t in class … and we haven’t been allowed to talk to anyone who’s a walk-on thus far).
You know this, but I’m a sucker for ingenuity and new ways to do old things, which is why I’m down with the Sooners today.
Food trucks, y’all.
“We don’t have facilities in all the places they would need to be, so the idea is to have a mobile fueling station and perhaps some additional trailers that have refrigeration capabilities that can operate as a prep kitchen of sorts,” Castiglione said.
Castiglione stresses that the truck is “not about largesse or excessiveness” and more about “putting ingenuity to work,” but does say that he fears the new rule will create an unnecessary competition of sorts.
“I realize the idea was to give institutions the flexibility to do what they want within their means,” Castiglione said. “But it’s now so flexible that schools can provide full meals to athletes at any time, and there will be some schools that will undoubtedly push that envelope. The next thing people will be doing is a comparative analysis for recruiting as to what schools offer more.”
First, “mobile fueling station” is satire of the highest quality. Second, this is amazing. This is so amazing. Oklahoma did its homework. The Sooners rolled out this idea at the start and set a trend that will be impossible to top short of Air Force dropping field rations on campus. And here’s the best part. It is clearly — clearly — a bell and whistle and Oklahoma will get a lot of attention for it, and deservedly so.
In this particular era, that’s significant. That much was clear from the outset in April, when the idea for unlimited meals was first endorsed.
You better believe it’s going to create a disparity between the haves and the have nots, between those who can afford to give their players more and those who simply cannot.
Suddenly, the kitchen is the new weight room in recruiting, and the quality, the diversity and the sheer number of meals are the things parents will be asking about on visits and what cunning coaches will be bragging about when in the presence of a recruit.
This totally transcends the quality and the variety of the meals, famously highlighted by The Product, and even the idea schools could make use of famous restaurants and celebrity chefs — and I wouldn’t discount the latter sooner rather than later, and even as a official member of the university as long as that chef has the proper certification.
But what the Sooners did was come up with something really cool — I won’t argue this: Food trucks rule. — and modern and thus attractive, but they made it seem like it’s all about the convenience and welfare of the student-athletes. And I’ll go along with that.
College sports is a copycat business. You’ll see a peer mimic this soon, though perhaps not right away so it won’t be so blatant, and I want it to happen here. You probably don’t know this about me, but I’m a fantastic cook and I have a dream and a swelling savings account that one day (far, far away) will address the skill and the vision. Go ahead and check the background of the Tier 4 set. Top shelf above my left shoulder is a toy taco truck. Trophy to my right is for a cooking competition. You see where I’m going with this. I see where colleges are going with this Oklahoma action. Put me in coach.
Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, don’t get mad at me.
SheikYbuti said:
Why in the world would we play at Northern Kentucky? We should never (and the Rock means NEVER) play on the road at a low-major, no matter what kind of regional reputation it enjoys. Why not schedule another home game against — I dunno — Robert Morris or someone. Baffling. Utterly baffling.
It is, but it isn’t, either. I get the perception involved, but there are positives, too. Huggins has known the NKU coach a long time, so this is probably a solid, which is what Huggins does. It’s also damn near Cincinnati, which is where Huggins has roots and where Devin Williams is from. It’s an hour form Juwan Staten’s Dayton, too. Elijah Macon’s Columbus is two hours away. It’s a pretty convenient homecoming because Huggins can’t get Xavier and likely won’t get Cincinnati. And it’s a road test that the Mountaineers should conquer, but will definitely benefit from early in the season. Lots of new and young guys on this squad and that’ll be the first time on an opponent’s floor.
And that’s all for basketball until October!
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