And here you thought I would be writing something about our out-of-control government agencies once again. If you hang around to the end, you’ll see that is exactly what I am doing.

Well, about quasi-government agencies as an analogy, that is. Of which technically, there really are none. See folks, with government, it’s like the Mafia; once you’re in, you’re never out. And without a doubt, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) fits a quasi-government agency (along with the power, money and abuses which come with them) to a T.

Not sure how well I can do this, but it’s my column and if you know me even a little bit, you know I write about what’s on my mind when I wake up on deadline day.

More background on me. Anyone who knows me even a little bit knows this: I am an unapologetic fan, rooter and sycophant of all things University of Michigan (UM) sports. Yes, I will literally watch any UM sport, at any time, no matter which team it is. YES, that includes field hockey, gymnastics, swimming and (OMG!) even soccer!

Now before all you CU Buff fans start in with your whole, “Hey Craig, remember that one play that one time CU got lucky on a tipped ball and went on to win the national championship?” as some kind of special moment in CU sports history, remember this. Your greatest moment, like the greatest moments of all so many ne’er do well, second-level college programs, you needed UM to even have the moment. Also note, we beat your team the year we won a national championship back in 1997.

And we would have beaten Nebraska as well in the “greatest game never played” just to get that out of the way before Husker U starts chiming in.

But I digress.

So, naturally, as I was wondering which direction to take this week’s column and really wasn’t feeling “it” about any topic one way or another, something came up. And thanks to the NCAA and its overzealous persecution/prosecution of UM football, I was handed one on a silver platter. Along with a few (I think) great analogies.

So here we go.

There are two main reasons the NCAA went after Michigan football. First, its coach, Jim Harbaugh was a huge advocate of paying NCAA athletes across the spectrum, no matter what sport the athlete was involved in at their chosen university. And let’s be honest, the NCAA can have none of that as it takes away from confiscating revenues from the big-time college sports players (think UM, Alabama, Ohio State and Notre Dame in football or Duke, Kentucky or UM – again, oddly – in basketball) the way politicians seek to make “the rich pay their fair share.” Yes, I went there.

Truth is, the rich never pay their fair share – they overpay an unfair share – every time. And college athletics are no different. Also, as long as I’m down the rabbit hole, this makes the NCAA view UM as Trump, because Harbaugh’s idea was about freedom, the athletes and fairness (I’ll view some of your views on Trump the same way I view your views on CU Football) for ALL athletes in the same way.

So what does the NCAA do? Makes up some “violations” involving a cheeseburger and a few texts outside of “covid communication guidelines” like the Southern District of New York made up a new value for Mar-a-Lago and how a loan satisfied and paid in full was somehow fraud.

Which leads us to reason Number 2. Conner Stalions and how he never broke a rule in obtaining and deciphering signals better than anyone in NCAA history, helping UM win after the NCAA determined it was going to get Michigan at all costs. And apparently today, the all-costs margin call is in. The cost? I hear $20 million in fines and suspensions for Harbaugh and Stalions even though they are out of college football.

The real cost? The NCAA has shown it will abuse its authority (some might say weaponize) to go after who and what it wants (or opponents want) at any time. This whole UM fiasco took three years, and the NCAA provided no more proof than it had on Day 1 when the “story” broke.

For that, Michigan should do two things: withdraw its membership in the NCAA and stop paying its tribute. But that would require the backing of the two major parties (see what I’m doing here?) that make up the power of the NCAA (federal government), known as the Big Ten (B1G) and Southeastern Conferences (SEC), hereby identified as our Republican and democrat parties for obvious reasons.

And yes, I realize the SEC are the Republicans and the B1G are the democrats.

But neither analogy makes them good. Because they both need (either individually, as a group or collectively) the NCAA to enforce their ways against whoever the next chosen victim is. And folks, it will always be the one out of line with (your organization here) think – like President Trump. After all, he’s been attacked by both sides since he came down the escalator in 2015.

But no quasi-government agency will bite the hand that feeds it. It will never walk away from the trough. It’s why I will always speak truth to power. It happens everywhere.

In Truth and freedom.

Craig Hall is owner and publisher of the Business Times. Reach him at (970) 424-5133 or publisher@thebusinesstimes.com.