Seriously? Really? You're gonna do that a news conference

We have two big high schools in town. Out of nine guys signing yesterday, seven went to jucos. Another had been at a juco and signed with a four-year school. We did a story on them, mainly because it was signing day and it's all we've got. Normally, we'd handle it with a brief.
Most of the time these guys go juco, it's because they're dumbasses whose GPA is lower than their BAC will be by the second week of the semester. A couple guys were legitimately overlooked, and a couple more that's as good as they are.
It's always dicey, though, to ask the question "So, why did you sign with Dumptruck County Community College? Do you suck or are you a moron?"

 

Maybe he's just thinking that having a local go to RSU could give him some job security.

If that's the case, I can't fault him one bit.

 

Maybe you just don't appreciate him enough, Granny.

 

Our policy is we'll send a reporter out for a signing only if it's for Division I or a local college, or from a city school. If it's D-II or juco, we'll send a photog if it's within 15 miles, but we'll gladly run a submitted photo.

And if it's D-III, a photo is pointless because these schools do not give scholarships. In fact, it could get said schools in minor trouble with the NCAA even though it's the paper's fault and not ours — as happened with us a few years ago. Nothing major, but the school had to do the 'splaining.

 

Here's something about NAIA signings that shows the sham of it.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/preps/36076579.htm

In the late 1990s, when Dan O'Brien was the football coach at Concordia (St. Paul), it was an NAIA institution that did not award athletic scholarships. O'Brien, now Gophers director of football operations, had sent a few recruiting letters to players in Texas and one of them, from Houston, wanted to come to Concordia. But he and his parents also wanted a scholarship. What followed was an elaborate ruse.

The player's parents paid for O'Brien to fly in for the signing-day ceremony. Before leaving for Houston, O'Brien went to the Concordia bookstore and purchased a cap that would rest on the table in front of the young man as he signed.

But the fact remained that the Golden Bears did not offer scholarships, so O'Brien had no document for the player to sign. The solution? O'Brien asked the secretary in his football office to create an official-looking "letter of intent."

And on signing day, the future Concordia player and his fellow college-bound classmates were celebrities. Parents, grandparents and other relatives were on hand, the local newspaper took photos and pride was abundant. Only a few people knew that one of the kids was signing a piece of paper that meant absolutely nothing.

But everybody smiled.

 

Geez, I've really got the local high school pissed off at me -- from every which way.

* Only county kids who signed were both juco, and the AD wanted me there for a 9 a.m. signing. Um, I design pages between 7:30 a.m. and Noon. Sorry.

* Local high school cheerleading coach wanted me to do a feature on the team. Um, cheerleading is NOT a sport.

* Said high school girls basketball team was home, alone, across town, on a Friday night when the area league tournament was in town for the semifinals just two blocks away. Said high school girls were 0-10 and miffed that I covered the tourney instead.

* Middle school cheerleading coach wanted big feature for state. "The paper does a big story every year!" Um, see above. Not this year. Not on my watch.

 

We would do, almost anyone signing a major conference D-I scholarship and that's it. The exceptions would be if the state player of the year, or one of the best known players in the area was signing with a smaller school.

 

Harley:

[blue]You're costing these kids scholarships! how could you![/blue]

 

Middle school cheerleading ... ?!?

On a related note, our district has just officially recognized competitive cheerleading as a varsity sport. I sense trouble in my future.

 

I'll cover competitive cheerleading the day after I cover a band competition.

 

Been there done that at the behest of a boss once. ONCE!

 

I've covered a band competition. I'd rather go through a deposition.