This is a little different subject matter for this blog, but..

With the transformation of college football from amateur intentions to a professional game, I thought I'd give brief mention to a piece of history to this conflict. In its earliest days, pro football was actually viewed as a less desirable product than the college game.. largely because people instinctively felt that pay cheapened the competitive spirit. In 1922, Fielding Yost (football coach at University of Michigan) said that paying football players "robs the great American game of many of its greatest character building qualities. The ideals of generous service, loyalty, sacrifice, and whole-hearted devotion to a cause, are all taken away. The game is robbed of the exhilarating inspiration of achievement merely for achievement's sake."

I understand the factors why college football has become a professional (or semi-professional) game now. Universities were experiencing profit windfalls from football.. and superfans & alumni also welcomed more and more money in to the sport, if it could benefit their team. But I still think Yost's assertions hold true. College football was designed as a character builder for students. And was a unique, beneficial situation from pro football. But superfans & circling sports agents don't care about that character-building process.

There was a miscalculation when college football players were strictly forbidden from making any kind of money as college athletes. Other college students are allowed to work jobs & make $ while they study, football players should've reserved that same opportunity. This opened a resentful floodgate.. where now almost everything in playing high level college football is about mercenary profit. College football will likely start to adjust with some kind of salary cap, and forming a separate league containing the highest level programs, apart from smaller schools. Guess we'll see.

Benny Friedman, vintage Michigan football star.

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A couple of recent bird portraits..

If you're interested in ordering a copy of the Nat Rrain anthology, or seeking custom art.. send me an e-mail. Thanks.

nat.rain@gmail.com

 

It is the 39th anniversary of the Challenger explosion (Jan. 28th), so thought I'd share this March 1981 issue, where National Geographic previewed the Space Shuttle program for America. This was the imminent Columbia (not Challenger), but I think it's still relevant and interesting. These aren't images pulled from an image search, they're direct scans (for better or worse) from my hard copy of the magazine. (the article was titled: When the Space Shuttle Finally Flies)

The primary focus of this blog has been art, so I'm mostly posting the illustrations & conceptual art that was used to explain & introduce the Shuttle program..

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This is an interesting Johnny Carson biography that was released recently. It gives a good overview of both Carson's personal and professional life. And the book itself has an interesting backstory. It was started by one author through the early 2000s, who passed away, then completed by a protege. My only (minor) complaint, is that it has a lot of episode minutiae that I wasn't interested in.. verbatim documenting of specific interviews and bits from over the years.

All that said, there was a great Carson insight in this bio.. Carson was definitely a talented man, but he recognized that talent & hard work are still not guarantees for professional and artistic success. On page 82, Carson's quoted: "I don't believe the old showbiz cliche' that your talent will be discovered if you only keep at it. I don't think there's much truth to that at all, because you see too many people grinding away year after year."

Bringing me to a broader point, about the state of underground comics. I've seen firsthand (talented and talentless) artists grinding in this genre for many years. And part of the demand is that small press & underground artists have to double as both creators and salesmen/hype men. And it's a multitask that usually doesn't come naturally. These are fields that usually have differing personality types. In high level sports, you typically have a talented athlete, paired with talented agents who market & solicit on behalf of the athlete.. same concept with acting, and a lot of other entertainment fields. But in the world of underground art & music.. the creators are typically having to do both, and it usually does not end (financially or logistically) well. 

Here's Carson, an authoritative source on creative success stating a blunt truth.. you can work hard in entertainment, for years, and never make it anywhere financially. And I think this is difficult for some people outside of creative endeavors to understand.. because they only view artistic value & success by financial results. Y'know, the old cliche' where people are asking, "when are you gonna give up the band, and get a real job?"

Carson did have a practical plan to that attitude, he told himself if he couldn't progress within a year's time, he would head back to Nebraska. But who knows if that's true. His love of entertaining may have keep him aspiring around LA for years. And Carson did appreciate & understand the opportunities he received. The book documents them, and I think that realization is implied in Carson's quote I referenced.

Another trend I see in the small press game.. is there is a heavy criticism of DC & Marvel. Not just for their business practices (which I don't really have an opinion on..), but on their content and ideology. And I'm with these critics, when they say it is dumb to have ten different Spidermen. But there are a lot of small press creators who hate DC & Marvel now, but then release their own (almost) identical content of superheroes, vampires, vigilantes, etc.. but just of lower quality. And that's no insult against 'em, they don't have the benefit of an assembly line of inkers, writers, etc. I'm rooting for the independent comic books. But if you're going to go it alone, why replicate art that you believe sucks?

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