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01/04/09 - Sonny Fulks/1570wptw.com
Now that the college football season is coming to a close, and with it the speculation of who’s number one and the process by which that ‘s determined, another season begins with the most ridiculous speculation of all.
It’s the season of college recruiting. But more, it’s the season of armchair speculation from football fans with nothing more to do than get on the internet and gossip about high school athletes and where they’re likely to play college football.
Worse, it’s the season of idiots who claim to know more than they know, about football, and, high school football players. Some of them actually try to make a living by it…posting ratings, films and “inside” information about who’s a “5-star” prospect, who makes the top “100”, who’s going where, and who’s leaning to one particular school or another.
As one with just a little experience, I can tell you that college football recruiting can be a very
“seamy” business, starting with college football coaches. A sweater vest does not make you reputable. And given their competitive nature, coaches will tell you just about anything you want to hear to influence loyalty or a outright decision. The shameful part is that recruits assume that loyalty runs both ways. It does not.
It only makes the internet gossip, the ratings and the rumors more “irreputable”. Because if you can’t trust the official process, how can you possibly trust all the over-zealots online who pump high school heads full of fantasies based on little or no fact at all.
To illustrate, I once posted a thread on one of the recruiting forums, extolling the virtues of a high school player that actually didn’t exist. And within two days that forum was teeming with questions and comments about player “X”. Who knows more about him? How does he rate against so-and-so? And believe it or not, one poster actually claimed to have film on this nonexistent player, as well as “inside” knowledge as to where he would ultimately commit. I doubt if anyone ever checked for validity, and it was laughable but for the fact of being so sad.
Sadly, kids read this stuff and eat it up. Some are led to believe that they can play at a level beyond their actual physical attributes. Others are led to believe that they can’t play at all…because their names don’t show up on any of the lists. In a day of competition and conjecture over “4” and “5-star” recruits, isn’t it funny that Utah just beat Alabama, and did it with a roster full of “2-star” recruits?
Now consider. Given the interest that’s inherent with Ohio State recruiting, imagine what the next two months will be like considering the state of affairs at Michigan. And if you want to read a soap opera, check the comments on their recruiting forums.
With speculation over what’s necessary to bring Notre Dame football back to respectability, there’s heightened rhetoric about their recruiting process.
With Cincinnati suddenly making the BCS picture, there’s even more recruiting gossip concerning those athletes necessary to take the Bearcats to the next level of national profile.
What used to be a season of anticipation for high school football players has now become a season of cynicism and outright lies…a season of fat guys sitting at a keyboard basking in their own fantasies at the expense of the innocent.
It’s a season based on nothing more than insanity and beer. And reader beware! |
