To be clear, I don't have disdain for the old fucks who say "I don't want to spend money on this." I have disdain for the fucks that still don't think player acquisition is tied to NIL, which is obviously tied to winning and have their head in the fucking sand. The same fucks who thought investing in facilities was a waste of money. I did enough of those phone calls before TOF was officially formed, and the hemming and hawing and bullshit was enough. I'd have a lot more respect for just a "Yeah, I don't want to fund 18 year old kids." It's the guys telling me how wrong NIL is and that wont spend money and that isn't what winning is about, while denying completely it's related to the success we are currently having, that makes me want to vomit.
Del Conte being a bitch and not making those guys see the light for the last couple years is also fucking rage inducing to me. And to touch specifically on something you said, how the whole "what is it, can can we and can't we do" bullshit in my experience is NOT gone, and for that kind of bullshit I absolutely blame Del Conte. Becuase you're right, it should be. At this point it should just be a yes or no question "Do you want to win or not?"
I'm certainly not cheering for failure, but I sure as fuck am cheering for Del Conte to get religion and sway some of these guys to donate. Otherwise, the next moment to make change will be after a 7-5 season...then maybe the "Do you want to win or not" message will resonate more.
And the frustrating thing is, against my expectations, Sark does seem to have really created a culture kids want to be part of, and he's developing talent. Everything is there, we just need to be able to maintain an "all things being equal" on the NIL front to get and keep players at this point.