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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1
The top-tier programs don’t take kindly to getting outbid.
Comment by Herb — February 11, 2025 @ 9:28 am
2
Leave it to a smug douchebag like Albom to blow a pretty stupid story way out of proportion. I also love the irony of egotistical sportswriters complaining about egotistical athletes.
As to FSU, maybe it’s just me but comparing playing a ranked opponent in September to travelling to the fucking moon seems like an overstatement.
Comment by Biggus Rickus — February 11, 2025 @ 9:41 am
3
#1 - Living here in Texas its even worse. As if somebody could decide to live in Boulder, CO in the mountains over the glorious 40 acres of Texas. Preposterous
Albom’s article was bad. I made it about 3 paragraphs in and said “Thanks but no thanks.”
Comment by ThreenOut — February 11, 2025 @ 9:51 am
4
2
In fairness JFK himself made a similar comparison in that very speech.
Comment by PW — February 11, 2025 @ 9:58 am
5
Hey, in fairness, who better than Mitch Albom to cover a fake story? Nobody does it better.
And if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go shake my ass to Mr. Brown.
Comment by Jebus — February 11, 2025 @ 10:01 am
6
Ya know, FSU can say what they want about our scheduling, but even with adding cupcakes, our schedule is one of the toughest in the nation year in and year out. It’s called the SEC gentlemen, and Bowden and his incontinence wouldn’t know what to do with it.
Comment by Jarrod — February 11, 2025 @ 10:05 am
7
Also… Mangino says that cupcakes can serve their purpose.
http://bp1.blogger.com/_h6ntj4r5Te8/R6CQRb_yS2I/AAAAAAAAAEE/Fyms0Kc6BDQ/s320/10-09-07_ku.jpg
Comment by ThreenOut — February 11, 2025 @ 10:07 am
8
So rather than fire Weis, they’re just going to hire coaches around him. The DC is now assistant or co head coach. He’s giving up play calling (does the decided schematic advantage go with it). What’s next: travel is too hard on on him so he gives up recruiting.
Comment by OhioDawg — February 11, 2025 @ 10:07 am
9
I read Albom’s column earlier this morning and spent half an hour muttering to myself about its idiocy. Anytime an old white man wags his finger about anything involving kids that didn’t include or incite violence and/or property damage, ignore it. Especially if that man is on record frothing about steroids on ‘The Sports Reporters,’ and writing sentimentalist tripe that winds up as a Hallmark movie. The bestselling motherfucker.
Comment by Hannibal Montegna — February 11, 2025 @ 10:11 am
10
8 - As a reporter myself, Albom has been on my enemies list since he wrote that fabricated column a couple years back. Me and my fellow reporter decided that the first one of us that met him in person would punch him in the face. Alas, this has not happened yet.
Comment by Edsall is God — February 11, 2025 @ 10:13 am
11
About the FSU thing…why did they have to schedule two horrible I-AA schools? Couldn’t they have beaten up on some Sun Belt schools? Or fly, say, Eastern Michigan down to take a defeat?
Comment by Edsall is God — February 11, 2025 @ 10:14 am
12
Hey, Ohiodawg-
Tenuta’s title is exactly the same as the guy he replaced. Nothing new there, dipshit.
Comment by Big 11 Blows — February 11, 2025 @ 10:15 am
13
PW,
True, but JFK as an asshole politician is expected to say outlandish things…or was.
Comment by Biggus Rickus — February 11, 2025 @ 10:20 am
14
Isn’t it a requirement that when another team beats you for a player, that other team “paid big” to get ‘em. At least that’s what the scUM fans said when Buchanan switched to Fla…funny, they don’t mention how much scUM paid to get him to switch back…musta been a stack ’cause they sure weren’t sellin’ him on their record.
As far as reFSU goes, they stole two players on signing day from the likes of Akron and somebody else I cannot remember…at least those guys will get to play the teams that they previously intended to attend. Have I mentioned that I applaud all the alzheimer’s induced ruminations of Bobba?
Comment by sb — February 11, 2025 @ 10:20 am
15
I don’t know about FSU, but us over here at GT had Army pull out of playing us, so we’re scrambling to get another opponent. When its just a one game thing, You pretty much have to go for 1-AA’s. Is it that kind of thing, or is FSU just ghey. Aslo, only 1 AA victory counts toward a bowl game, fellas.
Comment by Brian — February 11, 2025 @ 10:22 am
16
#10:
Sun Belt schools cost more money.
Comment by ehrenb — February 11, 2025 @ 10:23 am
17
Jerry Hinnen is a jackass and a douchebag.
Comment by Mr. Beasly — February 11, 2025 @ 10:24 am
18
12
I’m biting my tongue, so to speak, to keep things apolitical on here, but I think a certain in the current election is prone to similar outlandish rhetoric.
Who am I kidding?…all of them are. But one in particular.
Comment by PW — February 11, 2025 @ 10:25 am
19
and by 12, I mean 13
Comment by PW — February 11, 2025 @ 10:25 am
20
PW,
Does his name rhyme with faux-llama?
Comment by Biggus Rickus — February 11, 2025 @ 10:29 am
21
#8 - Weis won’t be able to go out and recruit anymore anyway. The AFCA just passed a vote that says head coaches can no longer go on the road to recruit. This was the first rule passed under the new AFCA president. That president? Tyrone Willingham.
Comment by W — February 11, 2025 @ 10:31 am
22
#12 - sorry I hit a nerve.
Comment by OhioDawg — February 11, 2025 @ 10:37 am
23
FSU’s two cupcake games are scheduled during their player suspensions for the cheating scam.
Wake is the lucky party to get them during the suspensions.
I am appalled, just appalled, that ANY I-A school would schedule two I-AA teams in the same season.
* - We play Citadel and South Carolina State this season, due to Auburn backing out of a home and home a couple of years ago, and us backing out of a home and home with Oklahoma.**
** - Why Auburn wanted to back out with us, given our history together, I don’t know.
Comment by Coop — February 11, 2025 @ 10:48 am
24
I’ve said it before in this space: Fuck Mitch Albom in the Eye.
Comment by Mr. Wrong — February 11, 2025 @ 10:49 am
25
As a WVU fan, im kinda sad that FSU are on our schedule down the road… that win is looking like its going to count for nothing by the time it gets here…
Comment by beckett929 — February 11, 2025 @ 10:52 am
26
Cupcakes are delicious, just ask us Nebraska fans.
Comment by gregg — February 11, 2025 @ 10:53 am
27
As for Albom, both EDSBS and BHGP have gone on record mocking and insulting the recruiting game and those who follow recruiting, which, again is the lifeblood of any college football program.
So, when Albom writes the, “who can blame them” article for acting this way, you cry “FAIL?”
Sure, it reeks of Captain Obviousness, and if that is your point, fine.
But, isn’t that what most sportswriters do, write fairly obvious articles that draw conclusions anyone could reach?
What exactly are you expecting with this guy, or most “journalists” who cover college football?
It is sort of like Lewis Grizzard said about people attacking newspapers for the truthfulness and accuracy, “hey, it don’t cost but a quarter.”
But, if you are ripping him for saying the same thing all of you have been saying for months and taking the next logical step, who can blame these kids for acting in such a manner when we make them gods before they turn 18, well…
Comment by Coop — February 11, 2025 @ 10:58 am
28
Coach Hawkins had to seek out the bank job for Ms. Scott since there were no scholarships left on the gymnastics team.
Urb goffs at this piddly accusation.
Comment by Aerobab — February 11, 2025 @ 10:59 am
29
Coop,
There’s a difference between thinking that glorifying recruits is silly and thinking it is socially damaging.
Comment by Biggus Rickus — February 11, 2025 @ 11:11 am
30
29 - It is not socially damaging to these kids?
You want your son having a presser when he is in high school, changing hats and making an assclown of himself?
You want your son to have that sense of entitlement due to dominating kids he is bigger and faster than in high school? What does being a high school football hero get you, if that is all you accomplish on the field and in life?
Of course it is ridiculous, but Internet recruiting websites, and the people who pay for the information they provide, and I am one of them, have created this monster.
Anyway, yes, Albom played the hyperbole card, but it is still true.
And, the guy had to fill up a column, and as we learned from the Michigan State basketball debacle, he loves easy material that writes itself.
Comment by Coop — February 11, 2025 @ 11:23 am
31
Albom’s article isn’t near as craptacular as Matt Zemek’s College Football News essay on the fall of western civilization because Evil Richt told his players to storm the field against Florida. Ridiculous, yes. The Sacking of Rome, negatory.
Comment by Dawg 05 — February 11, 2025 @ 11:27 am
32
Coop-
Personally, I rip Albom for being a maudlin, self-important gasbag engaged in the favorite pursuit of self-aggrandizing sportswriters: Moral Grandstanding.
If you are someone who follows recruiting, you should be insulted at his suggestion that you are somehow responsible for the sad episode in Nevada. Albom essentially blames society, and his fellow media types, but not himself. Because he’s better than that.
Comment by Mr. Wrong — February 11, 2025 @ 11:31 am
33
Coop,
No, I don’t think it’s damaging. It’s a kid having fun in the spotlight for possibly the last time. I would prefer my own kid to be humble about it, but I don’t think the recruiting process damages players. High schools that pass football players who can barely read just because they can help the school win a state title is another story.
Comment by Biggus Rickus — February 11, 2025 @ 11:35 am
34
Coop - God knows the Michigan State University nation needs to be chastised at times, but the basketball debacle that I believe you are referring to belongs to my beloved University of Michigan.
Six hundred thousand dollars apparently only buys you a talented player who can’t count timeouts and doesn’t win championships.
BTW - one could not read Albom’s “Fab Five” and not feel the need to shower. No direct evidence of misdeeds was presented, but yeesh.
Comment by maskedavenger — February 11, 2025 @ 11:36 am
35
32 - Again, I agree that Albom took the hyperbole route, but there are some basic truths to all this.
FACT: 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. The reality is that it is not good that we are celebrating the athletic exploits of high school kids to this extent.
One of my favorite Chris Rock bits is his line about OJ. “I ain’t saying he should have killed her, but I understand.”
Well, I am condoning what this kid did, and I certainly don’t understand how this scam got as far as it did, but I can understand why he wanted to perpetrate the fraud on the public, or I can understand his mindset at the time.
The pertinent question is why he continued to go forward with this farce when he knew that sooner or later it was going ot blow up in his face.
He could have exited this scam at several points and saved face.
That is what I would like answered.
Comment by Coop — February 11, 2025 @ 11:43 am
36
maskedavenger,
I think that Coop was probably referring to the Jason Richardson article that Albom wrote. Basically it was about some former MSU players attending a game and reflecting. Albom wrote the article before the game, and, as it turns out, the players in the article never made the trip.
Comment by Off Tackle Tom — February 11, 2025 @ 11:44 am
37
34 - I was referring to the article that Albom wrote about the former Michigan State basketball alums who attended the NCAA Tournament game.
Albom wrote it 3 or 4 days before the game, and none of the players were at the game, or something along those lines.
Comment by Coop — February 11, 2025 @ 11:45 am
38
Got it. Mitch being a local boy, there is a longer list of gripes here. The MSU folk hated “Fab Five,” which is largely a positive portrayal, since they believed (perhaps rightly) that no one could have been that close to that team for that long and not seen something that would have led to suspicion.
Frankly, I had forgotten that the “clairvoyant” column involved a MSU guy. Sorry for the error.
Comment by maskedavenger — February 11, 2025 @ 11:53 am
39
Dawg 05 @ #31…although I don’t condone a group of armored, large men running as a herd toward another such force on the field of play, I do think it will be interesting to watch a less well disciplined team erupt in response to just such a threat. Kinda the over the edge result of a misuse of the agreed balance of power…and Richt will be hoist on the petard of the act which initiated what may be termed as the beginning of the end…O, beware all ye who enter here…fists flying, heads cracked with helmets, video of players kicking downed players…oh, sorry, I think that was scUM v. FIU…
Comment by sb — February 11, 2025 @ 12:17 pm
40
Mitch Albom probably killed Morrie.
Comment by MorningBeer — February 11, 2025 @ 12:22 pm
41
Ya know, JB used to fine band members for missing hits & notes. That’ll make you tighten up pretty quick! His band plays the most ridiculous shit while looking like they use as much effort as those pancake-makeup chicks from Robert Palmer videos of the 80’s. Friggin’ insane!
Oh, and absolutely no reefer was smoked before, during, or after the making of this video. Nope, not a bit.
Comment by tOSU_radar — February 11, 2025 @ 12:24 pm
42
Biggus Rickus
Yes.
Comment by PW — February 11, 2025 @ 1:14 pm
43
@35
Coop, two sections of any newspaper are the front page and the “Editorial” section. The former is usually verbatim quotes, eyewitness descriptions and factual information. The latter is opinions often supported by the prejudices of ones own upbringing and influences. They are opinions, nothing more nothing less. Albom’s piece was editorial and for him to insinuate that the media (of which he is a part of), airheaded parents/coaches and overzealous fans are to be blamed is ludicrous.
The kid obviously has self-esteem problems. It happens, he needs psychiatric help. Society is not to blame. Sanity and maturity is in part the ability to accept responsibility for life’s misfortunes, without seeking the easy way out (blame something, wring hands, etc.). Finding an excuse is easy, accepting reality and dealing with it takes effort.
Just my $0.02.
Comment by hunglikehussain — February 11, 2025 @ 1:15 pm
44
Coop @ 30 - I don’t have to worry about either of my offspring making an assclown of themselves at a signing day press conference because they are girls and unlikely to be playing football.
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.
The real crime is not the hype, the real crime is what’s done to young men so that middle aged fatties like me can enjoy college football. But you know what? There are so many other fucked up things in this world to which I could be held party, I’m straight out of guilt on this one.
Comment by DC Trojan — February 11, 2025 @ 1:26 pm
45
For the Dawgnation…. The Godfather of soul, Vince, Erk, Redcoat band and the infamous “railroad tracks”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YViDwVBpTn4
Comment by hunglikehussain — February 11, 2025 @ 1:30 pm
46
44 - They are not saying it is merely over-hyped and a non-predictor of success.
They are saying it is creepy, with tons of homoerotic jokes thrown in for shits and giggles.
Listen to O’s rant on recruiting.
Go check out another site that uses the word, “creepy,” in discussing recruiting.
Stop playing Strawman with my posts and exaggerating my position.
I mean, just because I would argue that children should not play on the Interstate during rush hour traffic does not mean I would condone prohibiting children from playing outdoors, entirely.
Comment by Coop — February 11, 2025 @ 1:41 pm
47
That bowden thing is about the record and the record only, busch league bobby, low down and shitty.
http://thebigeleventh.blogspot.com/
Comment by Big 11th Blog — February 11, 2025 @ 1:42 pm
48
I didn’t follow the FSU scheduling link, but I assume they are counting Duke as one of their 1-AA’s.
Comment by Chg — February 11, 2025 @ 1:43 pm
49
Coop, the problem with Albom’s piece is that he shifts responsibility from the kid to society. If you remove all college football recruiting websites, this kid would still have issues and would find another way to get attention.
Ultimately, athletes get a big head because of failures at home. I’ve known plenty of HS and college football players that were normal, grounded individuals. I’ve also known plenty like the jackasses that end up in the Fulmer Cup updates. In most cases, the difference is pretty much directly tied to the family.
In lieu of the Roman slave, star athletes need parents and family to remind them they are but a mortal. There are too many bad parents for kids of all athletic abilities, but an even higher concentration among kids capable of D-I football.
Comment by Chg — February 11, 2025 @ 2:01 pm
50
49 - You make several valid points.
But, prior to the Internet, there were no announcement press conferences broadcast on national television. There were no recruiting television shows.
Countdown To Signing Day did not exist prior to the Internet, if I am correct.
Yeah, kids will still do stupid stuff, arrive on campus with entitlement issues thinking they are the 2nd coming of Vince Young or Herschel Walker, and all that has been happening since before all of us were born.
Anyway, all I am saying is that, while exaggerated the effects of our focus on recruiting, there are some basic truths at the heart of his argument.
And, yeah, the kid in Nevada F’d up. But, I am not going to say he is 100% to blame, so much as he was attempting to go the football equvialent of the American Idol route.
Comment by Coop — February 11, 2025 @ 2:15 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, 2025 @ 2:17 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, 2025 @ 2:18 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, 2025 @ 2:35 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, 2025 @ 2:45 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, 2025 @ 2:59 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, 2025 @ 3:04 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, 2025 @ 3:08 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, 2025 @ 3:22 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, 2025 @ 3:33 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, 2025 @ 3:37 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, 2025 @ 3:48 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, 2025 @ 4:08 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, 2025 @ 4:37 pm
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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, 2025 @ 4:44 pm
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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, 2025 @ 4:54 pm
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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, 2025 @ 5:45 pm
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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, 2025 @ 6:56 pm
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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, 2025 @ 8:45 pm
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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, 2025 @ 9:27 pm
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F$^& you Orson! You and your hatred for ISU!
Comment by wilbur — February 11, 2025 @ 11:27 pm
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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, 2025 @ 9:20 pm