First off, I have changed my name. Taco Bell has fucked up my order for the last time. No Mas. Shit from me won’t change though, I will still have the same smart-ass attitude in the truth I bring to posts on this blog.
The sports “Dead Zone” was initially described to me as the time period between the Super Bowl©®™ and The Final Four. My Dead Zone is longer than that, as it goes from the end of college football season to the beginning of baseball season, almost a full 3 months. And I don’t get into the NAMBLA stalking that accompanies the recruiting process and National Signing Day for a few reasons:
1. These are kids. 17, 18, and 19 year olds shouldn’t be elevated to the status of a Contra Code for a program because very few of them actually are. Also, things like grades or family issues may keep that kid from ever putting on a jersey of any one’s favorite team.
2. How can someone’s impact upon a school in a top-tier league like the SEC be accurately judged from that kid mostly playing against high schoolers who have no realistic hopes, dreams, or ambitions of playing college ball?
3. I’m not a fag. I am not going to get sand in my peehole because some kid doesn’t decide to attend my favorite school. The passion displayed by grown-ass men that care so desperately about the decisions of 17-19 year olds is scary. It should be illegal.
[HT to KwajTiger for tip on this guy]
The biggest facilitators to the fluffing of high school athletes are recruiting websites like Rivals.com. It is said that a lot of money can be made by telling stupid people what they want to hear, and Rivals does this to near perfection. If anyone does a little research on Rivals CEO Shannon Terry, they can find a few questionable (or illegal, depending on how you look at it, like how the government did) things this dude has done throughout his past. When a tech/WWW site tried to bring dude’s history to the public’s awareness, he had his lawyaz knock on their door. Wow, a little insecure are we?
Looking at the press release from the Securities and Exchange Commission (the other SEC), Terry was accused of using his position to hype up stock he owned before he sold it at a huge profit. Terry paid a nearly $900k fine to the other SEC for these infractions. Background information on this guy is that even though he got a scholarship to play college basketball at Lipscomb University, he was a Bammer in high school, and still is. I have always thought there was a pro-Alabama slant to Rivals compared to Scout, but dismissed it as just the paranoid android in me. After hearing this from someone who actually went to school with this dude, it confirms my suspicions. Why is a website co-founded by a guy who graduated from a high school that didn’t even have football until 2005 considered the standard in judging potential and impact on high school football players?
Around this time last year, a lot of SEC fans were complaining that some Alabama signees that had originally signed or verbally committed to other schools were bumped up in their star rating after they switched to Alabama. I didn’t give a shit at the time because, as stated earlier, there are more important things in my life than the decisions of an 18 year old. After finding about all this from an extremely reliable source and confirming it with a little research, it seems perfectly logical that this happened. What is the motive for doing this?
Sites like Rivals are in the business of doing the sports equivalent of what Shannon Terry did with stocks… working the hype machine. Instead of hyping up stock, Terry’s company has the ability to pump up players, with the potential of abuse for personal gain. More attention should be paid to this by the college football world, particularly the fans. There is no need to get upset or overly excited because some kid that Rivals deems a 4 or 5 star does or does not sign with your school. Auburn fans, remember the Tez Doolittle signing? He was hailed as the savior to AU’s D-line. His commitment was bigger on the message boards than Quentin Groves inking with Auburn. Who had the bigger impact over the course of their careers?
With less than a month until National Signing Day, I just want to leave you boy-stalkers with these thoughts…
Sites like Rivals and Tom Lemming will never be neutral and independent evaluators of some kid’s talent. The businesses and people within those companies will always have ulterior motives.
You shouldn’t care how some website rates a commitment. The game is decided on the field, not by the number of “stars” given to the kid when he signs out of high school or re-signs out of junior college.
College football is just a game, and just kids playing a game. Most of these kids are not going to be playing pro ball and are just lucky enough to get a free college education, something most kids entering college have to take out loans for.
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