In honor of Signing Day, a proposed new NCAA rule:

It's mystifying to me how National Signing Day has become a holiday-like day. It's clearly the most overrated event on the sports calendar. High school kids who may or may not make it, showing especially on large media stages how fucking special they've been led to believe they are. Now, for the next four years, the whittling down process will make about 58 of every 60 nationwide see that they just weren't too special at all....turning pro in anything from flipping burgers at McDonalds to selling cars.

 

Starman...a great suggestion. the NCAA probably needs to eventually get involved with this kind of crap and put an end to it..the pick-the-hat, choose-the-jersey, spin-the-freakin-bottle mess...who was the Florida prepster who did the "pick the hat" routine at the--was it, U.S. Army All-Star Game in San Antonio?
whoever, the ESPN reporter who was grinning like he had a coat hanger in his mouth was describing the episode with more suspense than a Hitchcock movie. i wanted to throw up.

 

I understand the venom about the pick a hat, throw the others in a trash can LOI signers. But, I've been to many signings where the signer is wearing a school t-shirt or hat. Don't see what the problem is with that.

 

Highlander...maybe some of the venom is being applied because so much of this is becoming the rule rather than the exception...the Oscar-like staging of a 17-18 year old announcing where he is going to attend school for the next several years...and too many of 'em being about worthy of such drama and suspense as I am being a candidate for the Pulitzer Prize. or maybe many of us have been to so many of these "rodeos" and have grown tired of such over dramatization.

 

The issue doesn't come with the kid wearing something from the school he's picking. That's all fine and good ... but for most of those kids, it's been decided before that night or whatever, so the 'suspense' of the choice isn't still there. The issue is for the kids who haven't made an announcement yet, so they play this whole 'if i have three hats out, folks think their school still has a shot' thing.

 

I guess I must cover too many good kids who make a commitment early and stick with it. Also didn't understand the complaints about kids deciding on the Army All-Star game in San Antonio. That's pretty much why the game on NBC is about.

 

I'm more sick of the fans whose lives hinge on the decision of an 18 y/o than the kids themselves.

 

I agree wholeheartedly. I am a big college football fan and in the week before signing day, I can't even stand going on their board for all the talk about who the school is going to sign. I'll just wait till they show up and actually do something. Before getting too excited.

 

I actually got into an argument with a fan last year during the Pryor saga when he tried to say that the NCAA should mandate that the signing period is only one day, so that fans don't have to wait for the entire period to figure out where kids are going.

The recruiting garbage is up there with booing college athletes for me. I know these are very high-profile kids, many of whom really love the attention that comes with being a great athlete. But so many people forget that they are just kids.

The NCAA is the most corrupt, backward industry this side of Illinois politics, and anyone who thinks it's going to pass a rule to do anything to diminish signing day is nuts. The Double A loves this, because it's just another day of exposure for its biggest moneymakers.

 

The hell with "eventually." Do it now.

No problem whatsoever. You want to call a press conference and say, "I'm going to Michigan," fine. Whip out a Michigan hat and dramatically slap it on your head. Hooray for you.

It's the part where the kid takes the Ohio State hat and the Notre Dame jersey, rubs them suggestively over his crotch, and throws them on the floor, that needs to be utterly kiboshed. And the way to do it is to put a fear-of-death punishment on it, so word gets around: Don't Fuckin' Do It.

 

You are dreaming if you think the NCAA will ever hand out the Death Penalty in FBS football again. The NCAA is happy to pick on little private schools like SMU (death penalty) and TCU (the living death penalty) but let's big state schools get away with anything (see Oklahoma, Alabama, etc).

 

I get where you're coming from, and I'm all for being crochety, but I'm going to disagree. If a kid tells a school he's coming, then he has verbally committed to coming to the school, and I say you can write it as such. I would also include a sentence about all verbal commitments are non-binding until signing day until blah blah blah.

I think people understand what you're getting at, and banning the word "commitment" outright is tantamount to overthinking things. But that's just me.