Mountain Damn Values from the Paint Rock River Valley
Review of “Bama Profiles in Courage: Laykin”: (Capers) Barr flexes through an emotional range that most writers would never dare attempt … Humor and Bama sorrow are fused together like twined tree trunks that keep each other standing…..It’s part satire, part character study, with a wry lens on fame, fandom, and the modern South. Well done, Capers, well done.”– Ian Allen, The Times Literary Supplement.
The narrator witnesses the perceived influence and control that the Bama NIL Collective, also known as the “Hidden Hand,” has over college football. The Big Bama Booster (BBB) discusses the group’s involvement in the hiring of Jeremy Pruitt at the University of Tennessee and their intention to create chaos and maintain dominance over rival teams.…
He released a deep, drawn-out “Roll Tide” in celebration after the announcement. Then, he turned to me and declared, “Now the real work begins. Follow me and observe how it’s done, son.”
(Due to certain agreements between my publishing house, the KPC, and the BBB, this interview follows strict guidelines; no filming, photography, or audio recordings are allowed. The questions have been screened by the BBB beforehand. In short, this interview is fully controlled by the KPC and BBB, much like college football itself.)
Near Ariton Alabama. I had just watched the College Football Playoff selection show with the Big Bama Booster or BBB, I couldn’t shake the feeling of dread. BBB’s coldness, his Bama sense of entitlement, his smugness, and his total disregard for the rules were chilling. But what scared me even more was the feeling of helplessness. Bama’s Kern Place NIL Collective, or the “Hidden Hand”, manipulating the game like a shadow government, seemed unstoppable.
I knew then, right then that my publisher was correct. I knew I had a story to tell, a story that would rock college football to its core. But exposing the truth wouldn’t be easy. First, who in their right mind would ever believe that one school could control or influence all of “it”? This wasn’t just some college football scandal, it was a fight for the very soul of the sport. Did the sport even have a soul anymore?
Would the Collective silence me like they silenced so many others? Only time would tell.
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