Some of you might recall an item I posted in which I decried what I believe is happening to intercollegiate athletics … however, I am going to restate it once more with extreme emphasis.

It’s the damn transfer portal that is driving me just this side of the nut house.

It is becoming hard for me to root, for example, for my favorite college football team: the University of Oregon Ducks.

I grew up in Oregon. I didn’t attend the UofO, but I have rooted for the Ducks even when they stunk to high heaven. This era of the transfer portal has created a new environment in college sports. For the purposes of this blog, I am going to concentrate on tackle football.

The Ducks hired Dan Lanning four seasons ago. His head coaching record stands at 48-8 at Oregon. Pretty good, right? Yeah, it’s damn good! Lanning has been able to work the transfer portal to his liking in Eugene. I don’t begrudge Lanning for taking advantage of this notion of recruiting top-tier athletes to compete an extra year in college. He’s doing it legally … or so I reckon.

It’s just that these kids wind up in Eugene after playing full college careers in other locations. They arrive for a season — or maybe two — and then they’re gone. Some of them turn pro. Some of those pro athletes then launch stellar careers. I just wish I could root for them as if they were locally grown and fed. Instead, I find myself cheering for mercenaries. Which is what they are.

The Ducks have taken maximum advantage of the transfer portal. So have many other college programs. I suspect I am not alone in feeling stranded by the huge talent pool that coaches are recruiting to play for their teams. I hesitate to call them “their schools,” because the coaches aren’t exactly loyal to the colleges that hire them.

Another season is about to unfold. I’ll cheer for the Ducks and hope they can win a national championship. If they do, I won’t feel necessarily proud for the university or for the state where I came of age.