He chose the red hat!!!
Around here, there are very few topics that we love to hate more than recruiting.
Sure, the recruiting process sometimes yields stories like what we've seen this year from a few of the guys- kids that love Purdue, really want to come to our Alma Mater...and try to tell the world about it.
But more times than not, the drama around recruiting belongs on oldschool daytime TV. Dramatic pauses, big events that mean nothing, drawn out sagas...I hate drama.
I have voluteered to work with the Senior High ministry at my church in the past...and from where I stand, 14-16 year old girls got nothing on many of the young men who play basketball and football and are heavily recruited. And the process, the jumping through hoops, biting your tongue and all the trappings makes me want to pull out the little hair that I have left on the top of my head.
If I sound like an old man, I'm OK with that. If I sound like a contrarian, I'm good with that. The culture of recruiting has been broken for a long time...and rather than contribute to it, I'd rather stand on the sidelines.
Kids set deadlines...you know- they say that if they don't receive an offer by a specified date, then they'll make their decision based on the schools that have been pursuing them up to that time. They call a press conference...local media, friends and family gather to hear the decision and they make their call...their big committment. Final...end of story...they're going to School A.
BUT WAIT! School X didn't get the memo!! Their offer got lost in the mail...they really think this kid is a good fit for their progra...so the ass-kissing resumes and the recruitment process is once-again open. They offer a scholarship two weeks after the decision is reached. SURPRISE! All of the deadlines, the press conference and effing drama around the decision gets kicked back into gear...and online magazines and desparate fans once again await the word of a 17 year old. Fun huh?
This type of thing is happening as I type to both Purdue's football and Purdue's basketball fans as a couple of recruits weigh, re-weigh and re-weigh again their options. Official visits, unofficial visits then interviews and Twitter blasts keep fans on the edge of their collective seats as they await a potentially good or great athlete to make their decision again.
None of this process is illegal, mind you. Big schools don't have to do any of the leg work...they can wait as a hustling coach wines (non-alcoholic, of course) and dines kids, visits him at practice and talks to his parents...then another program lazily drops an offer, and many times yields the benefit of their name.
It's grimy...it's not fun...it's overly dramatic...
Real life has real drama...not this created garbage that we soap opera sports fans all seem to consume without conscience.
Is your wife pregnant? You anxiously anticipate the result of the test.
Did you get the job? You stare at the phone urging it to ring.
Are the tests positive? You think to yourself, "I'm never doing that again in Mexico."
That's drama...I've got enough of that in my life already. There's really no need to add the soap opera of recruiting atop of it all.
