Tony’s Take | Enough is Enough | Battle of the South | Edition 103 

By Tony Duckworth, [email protected]

Enough is Enough.  The NCAA continues to be the target of lawsuits as 11 former student-athletes have filed a lawsuit against the organization.  The NCAA recently modified its eligibility rules to allow athletes five years of competition.  The ruling made it clear that this will not extend to athletes who ended their eligibility in 2025-26 under the former rules.   

Historically, NCAA athletes were allowed five years to complete their four years of eligibility. The “red-shirt” year allowed incoming freshman a year to develop while being part of a college team but not competing against other institutions. Some utilized their “red-shirt” to rehab an injury.  Outside the impact on record books, this is a smart way to eliminate multiple layers of compliance by adjusting to the 5-year model.    

The 11 athletes’ lawsuit claims that not allowing them to compete during the upcoming season denies them an additional year of eligibility and NIL benefits that are now part of college athletics. 

Newsflash.  The rule does deny both benefits.  That’s life; get used to it, as life isn’t fair. 

Like governing bodies or not, sports have rules and restrictions participants must adhere to.  There are age restrictions in youth sports, the Olympics, professional sports, and virtually every sport on the planet.  Age restrictions are in place to protect developmental fairness.   Common sense tells us twelve-year-olds should not participate in 10-under sports for obvious reasons.   Sports have performance-enhancing restrictions.  In most instances, rules are put in place to create a level playing field to protect the integrity of the sport.  As you recall, this is an argument against the steroid era in MLB.  As entertaining as the summer of 1998 was, the Great Homerun Chase between Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire lends credence to performance-enhancing restrictions, knowing this has been happening for decades in a variety of sports.  Remember Lance Armstrong had his seven Tour de France titles stripped after publicly admitting his use of PEDs.    

While researching this column, I learned that the NFL has practice squad restrictions.  Each team is limited on how many veterans can be retained on a practice squad.  This practice forces veterans to make an active roster, or move on with life, while focusing on rookies and those developing their craft early in their career. 

Should these former student-athletes win this fifth-year eligibility lawsuit, it will open the floodgates and transform rosters this coming season.   5th-year seniors are always assets to rosters due to the experience they bring to the organization.   

It is no secret the NCAA needs a legal win, given how often their legal counsel has taken it on the chin in recent years.  

Battle of the South.  The 31st Annual Battle of the South took place at Monroe High School last weekend.  20 teams from Georgia, Florida, and Tennessee squared off in an old-fashioned double elimination basketball tournament. 

I was selected to officiate games over the weekend and experienced everything one could imagine during the nine games I wore the whistle, including calling a technical over a disagreement on one of my calls.  While I could have T’d up several others, I was very patient with complaints.  The individual and team talent varied, and the reactions to whistles were wildly entertaining. 

Select players had little to no reaction to calls; others disagreed but would have a brief dialogue to secure the officials’ perspective, while a small percentage approached every whistle like Draymond Green or Rasheed Wallace playing in Game 7 of an NBA playoff series.   

My favorite team was made up of 40+ ballers who wore their favorite NBA players’ jerseys during one game.  During this game, I was privileged to officiate the Iceman and Kobe while Julius “Doc” Irving prowled the sidelines as the head coach.  This all-star roster was made up of good men who I’m certain were good citizens and fathers who enjoyed lacing up and playing roundball with their friends. 

During a game I was taking a break, I ran into one monster of a MAN near concessions that I discovered played at Oklahoma State University while I was AD at Northeastern State (OK) University.  Given he looked familiar, I asked him where he played college ball, and he disclosed OSU.  What was more meaningful was that I discovered we shared Macon as our hometown.  He recently returned stateside from China, where he plays in their professional league. 

I enjoyed officiating with Albany hoops legend Melvin Drake during the weekend, and he pointed out that the best player of the Battle was a Middle Georgia product. This star led his team to the title, and he enamored the crowd with dazzling dunks, acrobatic drives, and NBA three-point range.  While the young man didn’t play college ball, he is talented enough to be playing international professional basketball. 

Good for the Good Life City for attracting the Battle of the South for three decades. For this official, it was a memorable experience. 

Follow Tony Duckworth on the X platform at @tonyduckworthsr or email him at [email protected]. Duckworth is a native of Macon and is the President and CEO of the Albany Area YMCA. Tony worked in intercollegiate athletics for thirty-one years. He was an NCAA Division II Director of Athletics at three universities, including Albany State, following ten years as a head men’s basketball coach at two colleges.