Where better than on The Card Chronicle to pose some philosophical questions in hopes of receiving enlightened and astute observations in plain, easy to understand, trash-talking dismissiveness? So here we go.

I don't understand the current state of the NIL law, what's allowed and not allowed. So please educate me if I'm way off base, but also keep in mind that we're in the beginning stages and evolution is to be expected. So first hypothetical, is the NIL good for competition? The obvious rhetorical answer is that, with schools like Duke/UK/UofL/etc in basketball and Alabama/Georgia/OhSt/etc in football, how much competition was there before (considering all the schools you never hear about)? So, is having schools with larger pocketbooks really change the dynamics of the system already in place? I am in favor of NIL for the athletes, but frankly don't see it as a good thing for schools (or tuition for that matter).

Let's go one step further. How would you all feel about a Russian oligarch or an oil state funneling their loads of money into buying Louisville players? Having a racist pizza magnate was bad, some might think, but if Louisville Cardinals used Prince Mohammad's money to win championships year after year, are we as a fanbase ok with that? What if the Emirates backed UK? Are we all just pawns in this geopolitical game played by the ultrawealthy? Anyway, that's how European soccer is. You get to root for Chelsea, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, or... Any other team that won't win without some benefactor of ill repute.

So what are you Chronheads thinking about the world these days? Hot times and high prices? Bezos could afford to blanket the US with wind, solar and nuclear to power us for another generation, but would we use it for good or just buy more cheaply made trinkets delivered fast on Amazon?

Who's got the solution? Give the athletes money, but don't force them to go to school. Let UofL create engineers and doctors and polisci majors, and put money into hand transplants and HPV vaccines. Let the one and dones just take their money and play the game they want without putting on a jersey they don't care about. Not really anyway, not as much as the jets.

But it's been like this forever, right? We've always been at war with Eastasia. The moneyed folks make the decisions. The poor folks scramble on top of each other to get the scraps they can. Guess in a world with 7.5 billion, things are just going to get more ornery.

No good closure. No final question. I'll always root for the Cards, win or lose, backed by pizza money or Chinese slave labor money. I think it's the teeth. Cardinal bird with teeth.