Sick's Pack: Need someone to root against? Here are six great candidates

Show me the money — so I can root against it.

That’s the unfortunate dilemma of average Joe sports fans like myself these days. Tidal waves of cash keep crashing into our once-pleasant beach, bringing shark warnings, program devastation and an every-man/woman-for-themselves mentality that takes some of the fun out of root-root-rooting for our favorite teams.

Some of this is old hat. Major League Baseball has long been a battle of big spenders (New York Yankees) versus penny pinchers (Pittsburgh Pirates) and, yes, the “big market” teams frequently end up with the spoils.

But nowadays the rich-must-get-richer mindset has invaded (taken over?) collegiate sports. Unregulated NIL contracts and the NCAA’s disastrous transfer portal have turned “amateur” athletics into an endless merry-go-round for student-athletes with wealthy boosters and greedy agents pulling the strings.

University of New Mexico and New Mexico State fans know the storyline all too well, as talented Lobos and Aggies finish their careers elsewhere in pursuit of bigger NIL paychecks.

Can’t say I blame student-athletes for placing riches ahead of school loyalty. College administrators and coaches do the same thing, and athletes have shorter and less-certain time frames to consider.

Unfortunately, money makes the sports world go round and we fans have been forced to accept it. But that doesn’t mean we have to root for it.

As a diehard sports fan from another era, I’ll still root for my favorite teams even when the names on the back of the jerseys change almost every year. But I now find myself taking perverse pleasure in also rooting against the money. It tends to be a losing proposition and I’m not suggesting anyone should follow my lead. But, man, it can be a lot of fun watching those obscene contracts and payrolls go bust.

With that in mind, here’s a random Sick’s Pack of players/teams/leagues/organizations to root against.

6. LOS ANGELES DODGERS: I used to root for these guys back when Albuquerque was a Dodgers affiliate. Not any more. Now the Evil Empire West is buying up every top-notch free agent in sight and appearing on national TV pretty much every night. Luxury tax? Who cares? The Dodgers get around most of that with contract deferrals, like superstar Shohei Ohtani deferring all but $2 million of his $70 million salary this season. Even so, Los Angeles’ $323 million payroll is more than the Colorado Rockies (the Albuquerque Isotopes’ parent club), Cleveland Guardians and Tampa Bay Rays combined. No wonder the Dodgers are World Series favorites and have the highest ticket prices in baseball. Boooooooo!!!

5. LIV GOLFERS: It does my heart good to see this mega-bucks enterprise still struggling to gain traction. The Saudi-backed tour recently drew a record 484,000 viewers for a tournament on Fox. That same weekend, the PGA Tour’s Valero Open drew 1.746 million viewers. Once again, you can hardly blame the likes of Jon Rahm ($300 million), Phil Mickelson ($200 million) and Bryson DeChambeau ($125 million) for grabbing up absurd LIV signing bonuses, but it’s super easy (and fun) to root against them in golf’s majors. No booing, you say? Okay, polite golf clap for the other guys!

4. THE SEC: Arguably the most successful conference in college sports, the Southeastern Conference has more money and influence than any other league. The SEC recently got even stronger by adding Texas and Oklahoma and had a ridiculous 14 (out of 16) teams in the 2025 NCAA men’s hoops tournament. Seven advanced to the Sweet 16 and Florida won it all, so there’s no denying the league’s quality in hoops, football and most other sports. But the playing field is not level and Goliath doesn’t need me rooting for him anyway. Southern-Fried Boo!

3. THE PAC-WHATEVER: If the SEC is a testament to wealth and success in college sports, the former Pac-12 is money-driven train wreck. The league lost all but two of its former members largely because of what was perceived as a bad TV contract. The two remaining schools opted to rebuild by cherry-picking members from other leagues such as the Mountain West. So far, the rich media rights deal new members envisioned has not materialized, and remaining MW schools such as UNM have little sympathy. For my limited money, a merger would have made much more sense. As for the new Pac-Whatever — boo in advance!

2. NIL NONSENSE: As stated earlier, I have no problem with college athletes getting a share of the profits. The current, unregulated state of name, image and likeness payments, however, is a joke. It’s making rich programs even richer, turning mid-majors into farm teams and leaving a sour taste in the mouths of sports fans all over the country. UNM men’s basketball is a prime example. In 2023-24, the Lobos had an exciting young squad with JT Toppin and Donovan Dent as up-and-coming stars. In 2025-26, Toppin will reportedly receive around $4 million at Texas Tech, while Dent is in line for around $3 million at UCLA. Can’t really root against these guys for making the most of a broken system, but I won’t be cheering for their new employers anytime soon.

1. NCAA TRANSFER PORTAL: Where does one even start with this nightmare? Fans hate it, coaches hate it, agents love it and encourage student/athletes to jump right in — including those who’ve exhausted their eligibility. Hey, you never know, right?. Former Volcano Vista/NMSU quarterback Diego Pavia sued the NCAA for an extra year of eligibility and now figures to make $1 million or more in NIL money at Vanderbilt next season. Maybe someone will decide to give everyone a sixth year.

It’s a feeding frenzy, to say the least. As of Friday, more than 3,000 men’s and women’s basketball players were in the portal according to online trackers. To make a terrible system worse, football’s transfer portal opens during college bowl season and basketball’s opens when postseason tournaments are still underway. Give us a break! The transfer portal amounts to unrestricted free agency, making college athletes professionals without contracts or obligations (other than going to class). To the NCAA, conference officials and player representatives, this chaos is not sustainable. Get together and fix it before you end up killing the golden goose! Oh, and boooooo!