Willie Williams recruiting opus--hidden behind the chintzy pay wall of the Miami Herald, but not forgotten--doesn't really have an equal. It's like Con Air: you might have thought you saw a better movie, and then realized you had, and then remembered: oh, yeah, it's because I just rewatched Con Air.
For sheer recruiting-corruption-in-a-single-quote power, though, we might have a new winner: Chris Rainey, a top Florida running back and Gator verbal commit who may have scotched his amateur status in a single clumsy excerpt from a Miami Herald article.
Chris Rainey, Lakeland's star senior running back, told The Miami Herald he received sports jerseys and jewelry from a Lakeland clothing vendor in exchange for an autograph. He also said he received cash from an unknown elderly woman. (HT: Mike, AUAlum, Chris, Elkon, and the fifteen other people who saw this before we did.)
''I didn't even count it,'' Rainey said in a story published Tuesday. 'When I walk around, people are buying me food, giving me money. I'm like, `Damn, I'm glad I'm Chris Rainey. It's real nice to be me.' ''
We'd only contest one fact about the story: Rainey sounds like he's saying "dang," a la Joe Dirt, not damn.
Dang, indeed.
What the article leaves out that's included in the audio is even better. After Rainey says this, the reporter says, "That's awesome," and eggs on Rainey to tell him more about the benefits of being a Lakeland High School football player. Dang, it's good to be a reporter when a clueless high school kid stumbles face first into the wood-chipper of his corrupt football program. Listen to the audio for the full effect. Dang.