CURIOUS INDEX, 2/11/08
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It’s Monday, and you should play this all day long for no particular reason other than this is the greatest fucking band ever assembled: James Brown’s 1971 band, live in Paris. It’s nine minutes, so just let it play and, like James himself, take frequent breaks during your day to excuse yourself, walk to the side of the stage, and dance it out. It is now acceptable to say the recruitiment of Darrell Scott was fishy. Since everyone else is saying it, at least: Hagan said rumors of CU lining up a job in a local bank for Alexis Scott, who manages an OB/GYN practice, were “ridiculous” in light of Buffs coach Dan Hawkins’ strict adherence to NCAA rules and what the school experienced in 2004. Like most recruiting sagas and their sketchy fallout, it involves a megaprogram (Texas) and smaller program getting a recruit coveted by said program; and like most other recruiting sagas, the whispers never really were whispers at all, but open conversation about what was being allegedly offered to get him. We would not be surprised if there was something to this. We would be surprised if there was anything to this. Either way, it’s not as if there’s not a lot of attention and documentation surrounding the case–even the Grey Lady stepped down from its perch and turned off the tennis match and the Yankees/Red Sox DVDs to come down and see what the proles were raving about down in the heartland re: Scott and recruiting season. FAIL. Mitch Albom writes a terrible, terrible column. Man on moon. Winehouse, rehab. Fulmer, bacon grease/peach sorbet shooters. Charlie Weis is relinquishing play-calling duties in order to focus on being a head coach on the sidelines. He’s also planning to, you know, become more likeable overnight. Weis also wants to be more approachable to players. The Irish played more underclassmen last season and Weis was concerned some were too worried about getting yelled at by him. He hopes they will worry less when they get to know him better. “You get it so that they know you better so if you yell at them they know that it’s not personal,” he said. Ouchie yelling! The move makes sense, of course: Georgia’s been a juggernaut since Mark Richt gave up playcalling duties to OC Mike Bobo, though having a knee-pumping dervish like Knowshon Moreno makes that less of a task than it might be in other years. (To Knowshon is to fearShon.) If you see Notre Dame swamping the field following their first touchdown in the USC game, know that some seriously devoted copycatting is going on here. (Though they should celebrate after being blanked in 2007’s matchup.) With Greg Mattison going to the Ravens to cash in on some pre-retirement NFL money, Florida needed a crusty Midwestern-type defensive line guy, and got one in Dan McCarney, former ISU coach who spent 2007 coaching the gnarly line of the USF Bulls. The last Hayden Fry guy to wheel around Gainesville was Bob Stoops, and that worked out kinda all right and everything. Oh, and he won at Iowa State, a feat comparable to flying a paper airplane successfully through the bowels of hell. I choose not to race! Florida State schedules two D-1AA opponents for the first time since 1988. Kevin ain’t happy. FSU homers will try to dodge the subject by pointing to the Gators eight DI-AA games in the last twenty years versus FSU’s three during that same span. Don’t. Just don’t. This isn’t about history - this is about now. This is about the future. This is about who FSU is and how we will remember Bobby Bowden - the man who told us just a few months ago that he didn’t back down and wasn’t about to start. Umm… yeah. About that…. Florida State has lost an awful lot of games in the last seven years, but they never walked away from a fight… until now. But the cupcakes, Kevin? As a team with tons of them on the schedule over the years, we can confidently say they are indeed deeeeeelicious. |
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71
I know this is hardly anyone’s interest here, but I am compelled to let the record show that you are on solid ground in your adulation for the Godfather of Soul’s lineup of ridiculously talented performers. I’ve had a cd copy of that concert in Paris for 10years and I still dig it. If you cannot get down to the Brown Sound then you sir are dead. HUH!! I wanna get into it, Good God. Go Vols! that’s right I said it, Rocky Top!!! like a sex machine. Jus ask Nilo Silvan.
Comment by NobodyLovesMe — February 12, 2008 @ 9:20 pm
70
F$^& you Orson! You and your hatred for ISU!
Comment by wilbur — February 11, 2008 @ 11:27 pm
69
Some guys get caught up in their hype and some guys don’t, and I don’t think it is the increased scrutiny that has led to this. The increased scrutiny has probably made people more aware, but prospects have been failing since time immemorial. The idea that this is a new phenomenon brought about by hype is like everything else in modern sports. Every game is the biggest ever. Every successful player is the greatest ever. And so on. Most guys do okay or better. Some guys fuck up royally. Such is life.
Comment by Biggus Rickus — February 11, 2008 @ 9:27 pm
68
I read. A lot. I’ve read 1.5 of Mitch Albom’s books and i honestly can’t tell you how they got to be on the best seller list without his momma buying a couple of million.
I do think there is something to what we’ve–and it is all of us–have made football recruiting into. I can’t imagine having to kiss the a$$es of these snotty HS football players. I coach some high school kids now (in a sport other than football) and I am shocked at the entitlement that these kids–and their parents–have toward playing at the next level. Delusional does not describe it.
I casually follow recruiting and every year I pick out one or two kids and follow their careers. Almost all these kids that I have followed have essentially been highly hyped recruits at the time of their recruitment who never amounted to anything.
When I lived in Charleston in 2000, my local radio program was interrupted so that Summerville QB Bennett Swygert could make a verbal commitment before his senior year to USCe. He had some knee inuries, but I don’t think he played much.
A few years ago, I was living in the upstate of South Carolina when the second coming of Bo Jackson, Roscoe Crosby, committed to Clemson AND signed a contract to play with the KC Royals. Kid believed the hype and everything that people were telling him and essentially crapped away both opportunities. I am sure he is gainfully employed at a used car lot somewhere in Union, SC.
Last year, I read Steven Garcia’s recruiting blog on the Tampa Tribune’s website. Apparently, he was too busy reviewing his offers and forgot he had a football season to play. Robert Marve of Plant High outplayed him, broke some Tebowian records, and led his team to a state championship. Garcia may contribute at Soutn Carolina, but I am not holding my breath. He also believed that he was somebody he isn’t and has run into trouble there at USCe.
Speaking of Marve, he had no trouble falling into trouble at da U. He got caught up in the life at da U, thought he was indestructible and got in a terrible car wreck. I doubt he will make a contribution there.
And the jury is out on Chris Rainey out of Lakeland. Sure is great to be Chris Rainey.
I’d like to see college coaches restore some dignity to their profession and stop the insanity.
Comment by Brandon Lang — February 11, 2008 @ 8:45 pm
67
Brian O,
It’d have been better if the player wasn’t in on it, but I basically agree.
Comment by Biggus Rickus — February 11, 2008 @ 6:56 pm
66
I don’t blame anyone but Hart for the incident, and I really don’t care. It was funny. He admitted he made the whole thing up, and even the so-called middle man who he was supposedly duped by was named “Kevin Riley”, who was the Cal QB who let the clock run out at the end of the game last year.
It was nothing more than a well executed prank.
Comment by Brian O'Blivion — February 11, 2008 @ 5:45 pm
65
OhioDawg,
Unfortunately, at least regarding last night, I attended Clemson.
We seem to have a bit of trouble with you guys, recently, and basically the entire SEC, excluding South Carolina, natch.
Comment by Coop — February 11, 2008 @ 4:54 pm
64
I initially thought it was USCe…you know…chicken “coop”.
Ohiodawg, I guess that they did a poor job teaching us perception at UGA.
Comment by hunglikehussain — February 11, 2008 @ 4:44 pm
63
Whoever pointed out that this kid has more than a couple of issues has hit the nail on the head.
Having said that, I think Coop makes some good points (btw, what team do you root for? I thought it was ‘bama), particularly relative to the creepiness of the whole recruiting process that Swindle reguarly points out.
Comment by OhioDawg — February 11, 2008 @ 4:37 pm
62
High school kids playing the Shell Game with ball caps is great entertainment. Bonus points if it’s televised. Please, Mitch, don’t decry this offseason diversion. What are we gonna do, get ready for the fantasy baseball draft? Yuck.
Comment by Acorns — February 11, 2008 @ 4:08 pm
61
Saddam,
To quote Ronald Reagan, in response to a fellow Georgia boy…
“there you go again.”
We have strayed from the original point/counterpoint, which DC accurately addressed, among others, but…
I think it did have an influence on the kid’s actions, because he wanted to be recruited and have the limelight on him like the kids you read about on Rivals or Scout, the kids you see on Countdown To Signing Day on Fox Sports on Saturdays, the kids who get to play in the All-American games, etc.
He wanted the attention, or at least he wanted the local attention, and he patterned his “recruitment” after what he read about on the Internet, what he saw on TV, hence….
the locally televised press conference.
I am not saying that he was 100% influenced to create this scam by what he read, watched, etc, but no way in the world he would have gone to such extreme extents, how redundant was that?, to continue living this lie.
And, and this is where we obviously disagreed, I think the massive media coverage recruiting played into this delusional fantasy/mindset whatever you want to call it, with the end result being what we have on display, today.
But, no, I am not blaming his actions on the Internet or the media, or any outside cause, or they certainly do not bear the brunt of the blame.
But, I think this desire to be like the people he was reading about, and to be locally celebrated, and the latter CERTAINLY COULD HAVE OCCURRED W OR W/O THE INTERNET COVERAGE, had an effect on him.
But, no, I am not blaming it on the outside influence, I just think it is a hair more complex, and other factors were lighting gas on the fire that was/is his mental imbalance.
Comment by Coop — February 11, 2008 @ 3:48 pm
60
Coop @ 55 - one serial commentor to another, I don’t think you’re lazy. Nonetheless, I still think that proposing some degree of equivalence between Albom’s “the media made him do it” column and serial blog condemnations of the recruiting process as creepy is misplaced - one is facile moralizing, the other is something I agree with. (What? that’s not how you tell the difference?)
As for the young man in question, I have no interest in piling on. There are more important issues of the day, and he’s humiliated himself and others quite enough that nothing further is required.
Hunglikehussain @ 56 The car killed James Dean. - sure, driver error etc.,etc., but the steering column through the chest didn’t help matters much.
Comment by DC Trojan — February 11, 2008 @ 3:37 pm
59
Coop, yes I did graduate…BS79.
Your argument is that because of the unnaturalness of todays recruiting it caused….no…was responsible….no….influenced this kids actions. Therefore blame an outside influence. Correct?
My logical discourse is that the kid is in need of psychiatric help. His neurosis would have erupted regardless.
Comment by hunglikehussain — February 11, 2008 @ 3:33 pm
58
Maybe I am oversimplifying this, but it seems that the recruiting sites, televised pressers, etc., only gave the young man the venue/medium to do something stupid on a much grander scale. Sure, if recruiting weren’t so huge, he wouldn’t have called a press conference. But he still probably would have lied to friends and printed out fake letters of interest from colleges.
Basically, the recruiting frenzy didn’t push the kid to do something stupid. It simply allowed him to make an ass out of himself on a much larger stage.
Comment by Tater Salad — February 11, 2008 @ 3:22 pm
57
56 - Look at Strawman the 2nd
Again, it did not CAUSE this kid to go crazy and lie, which is basically what Albom was hinting at.
However, if you don’t think the massive increase in attention recruiting has received in the last 10 years did not play a role in this kid’s scam…
I question if you actually attended the University of Georgia, or even a community college, for that matter.
Comment by Coop — February 11, 2008 @ 3:08 pm
56
@50
Coop, saying the internet caused this kids neurosis is like saying….
The fork made Mangino fat.
The car killed James Dean.
The gun killed John Lennon.
Comment by hunglikehussain — February 11, 2008 @ 3:04 pm
55
DC, I honestly don’t have a clue how to add italics on this site, this is what the Strawman remark was to:
“It’s nice, if somewhat ironic, that you’ve got a well-developed sense of collective responsibility about this, but it’s just lazy to conflate one windbag’s lazy article where he takes one Walter Mitty-like adolescent and turns it into a lament of modern sporting times, with blog posts and the like from people who think that recruiting is over-hyped and no predictor of success.”
If certain blogging sites, and this is one of them and it is their opinion so they are certainly justified in saying what they want, left it at recruiting being over-hyped and no predictor of success, that would be fine.
Difference of opinions, great.
But what you said just is not the case, hence, again, you playing strawman to my original point.
All I keep hearing from various bloggers is mocking and insulting those the whole recruiting game, and everything involved with it.
But, then they all turn on Albom, who, admittedly exaggerated the reality of the situation.
It is sort of like Person A watching a game and saying, “that guy played bad,” and then Person B stating, “that guy played terrible,”
and then A attacking B of going to far.
I am just saying that I am not going to crucify this kid for using extremely bad judgment, and we all play into him wanting to be someone he was not.
If the Internet does not create this recruiting frenzy which he reads about every day and obsesses about, maybe, just maybe, he does not go off the deep end like this.
Conversely, he may be so mentally unbalanced that he would have gone off the deep end in another, possibly violent, manner, had this recruiting phenomenon not evolved over the last 10 years.
Anyway, again, I do feel partly responsible for what happened to him, and I am okay with the fact that not too many people other than me share my opinion on the subject.
But, when you call me lazy and try to distort my point, well we have a problem.
Anyway, good luck in DC traffic. The only thing I know about it is when traveling I-95N, make sure you get to Alexandria and the surrounding area by 2PM at the latest on a week day.
Comment by Coop — February 11, 2008 @ 2:59 pm
54
Coop @ 46
Strawman? You wrote: If if were not for people like me who pay the $8/$9 a month to Rivals, Scout , etc for memberships to these sites, which has shown just how much of an interest there is in this stuff, these kids would not be having these press conferences, switching hats on TV, taking off one shirt to reveal another shirt, etc.
I admit to bearing some responsibility for what recruiting has become, and the adulation orgy that these kids are bathing in.
That sure looks to me like “We’re all in this, and I am one of us.”
As for the description of recruiting as being creepy? You seem to object about the homoerotic jokes but absent that, you’d be okay with the general meat-market tone surrounding the whole enterprise?
Finally, I don’t know what cow-town you live in, but here in the national capital region, you’d be far safer playing on the Beltway during rush hour traffic since the traffic doesn’t move all that fast - hence the inherent irony of the description “rush hour” for heavy traffic.
Comment by DC Trojan — February 11, 2008 @ 2:45 pm
53
If there was a Fulmer Cup for wife-beating, bastard-siring, gun-toting, pcp-doing and runnin’ from the law, J.B. would be the all-time champ.
Comment by NRBQ — February 11, 2008 @ 2:35 pm
52
(On if he was looking at Notre Dame prior to last year)
CLAUSEN: Honestly, I wasn’t really looking at Notre Dame until coach Weis came. Once he came, I guess he saw my highlight tape and offered me a scholarship. I was real honored and blessed to get a scholarship from a guy like coach Weis. He has three Super Bowl rings on his fingers. That what I’m here for, to try to get four National Championship rings on our fingers (crowd erupts yet again).
Well, he can still shoot for 3, right?
Comment by Techie — February 11, 2008 @ 2:18 pm
51
Come on, didn’t we all love mocking Jimmy Clausen for holding his “commitment press conference” at the F*$!in’ College Football HOF?
You would deny us that?
Comment by Techie — February 11, 2008 @ 2:17 pm