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I had to climb way up on my ivory tower for this one.
National Signing Day is TOMORROW! This is the day that young men all across the nation sign their Letter Of Intent and commit themselves to whatever university they've chosen to play football. Once they sign their LOI they are committed, not before.
There are plenty of surprises, some pleasant, some not.Nebraska fans especially do not want a repeat of January 7th, a day which will forever live in infamy, not because Nebraska went 0– 4 in prized recruits at the US Army All-American game, but because Husker fans turned into complete jackasses on social media as it appeared they had been personally rejected by teenagers.
This disappointment might've been set up by the fact that Nebraska recruiting pundits had picked at least one recruit as a sure lock. When Jamire Calvin picked Oregon State over our beloved Huskers it sent a ripple through our fanbase. Calvin's pick suddenly wasn't about a young man trying to make what is an important decision at a critical juncture of his young life, it was a failure on behalf of our coaches and rejection of our morals, values, and our very way of life.
How could it be that someone with his skill could pick a losing program like the Beavers over Nebraska? (Calvin has since flipped and chosen our beloved Cornhuskers, but remember what I said above.)
The simple answer is that Jamire Calvin, and all of the rest of the recruits across the nation, are teenagers. Teenagers do dumb things. Teenagers struggle with decisions, and they’re full of drama.
Apparently nearly all of us have forgot what that’s like. It's either that or we are a bunch of lying bastards.In my conversations with other adults through the years, whether they were involved in youth coaching, in scout leadership or just in general conversation, it's clear there are many, many of you who are in denial about your teenage years.
You were angels. You never made bad decisions. You never spoke back to your parents, because if you did "there would be hell to pay". You were respectful of your leaders and especially of your parents, not just once in a while but all day every day because you were a saint.
You are all stinking liars. The only saint I know is Mrs. CN and you are not her.
I have no problem admitting that I was a hellion as a teenager. I was opinionated and no matter how much I tried to exert self-control my big mouth sooner or later would let my opinions be known and invariably get me in trouble. I was a juvenile delinquent. I made bad decisions, frequently. It is only by the grace of God that I am still alive despite some of those bad decisions.
It wasn't just your relationship with authority that you forgot about. You forgot about your day to day life as a teenager. You forgot about how terrifying it was to ask a girl out on a date or how much you were sweating the first time you went to pick her up. Do remember practicing your speech 300 times in the mirror before the first time you met her father?
You wore sunglasses at night because you thought it was cool and shorts in the winter for the same reason. Perhaps you were terrified to even mention that you liked a band that no one else did because you desperately just wanted to be accepted. You worried about everything, including the clothes you wore because you were sure everything was being scrutinized by everyone around you.
You lied about having sex or not having sex. All that dope you smoked back in the day, never happened, right? Your buddy threw up all over your parent’s car because he wasn’t feeling well and you were doing him a favor taking him home, right?
Possibly my favorite thing (not really) about signing day are the complaints about drama.
“Why does he have to have his own video?”
“Why does he have to pick between hats?”
“Who paid for that limo?”
The drama is huge because the decision is huge, not for you, but for them; by Friday morning you won’t give a damn. They’re still young, and possibly not cynical, and because of their youth everything seems like a big deal because it is.
These complaints are along the same lines of those who complain about entitled millenials. Recruiting is the enormous pile of drama that it is today because adults want to make money off athletically-talented children, whether it’s recruiting services or Dear Old Nebraska U. It’s been this way for years. Young people are living in the world that we built for them - if it seems like there’s too much drama, too much whining, and too much entitlement, well, who’s fucking fault is that?
What’s different is that it’s your turn to live vicariously through them, the same thing the adults around you did when you were young. Or perhaps you forgot about that part too?
NEWS
To get to this level of excitement one must consume many meths:
Lane Kiffin seems pumped for that new job pic.twitter.com/hlvuoxACXD
— Busted Coverage (@bustedcoverage) January 31, 2017
Counting Down to the 2017 Softball Season - Huskers.com - Nebraska Athletics Official Web Site
Daily features counting down to Nebraska's 2017 season opener vs. BYU on Thursday, Feb. 9, at 10 a.m. in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
For the fifth time in as many years, the Nebraska bowling team won the championship at the Prairie View Invitational, taking down Vanderbilt in a 4-0 sweep on Sunday at the International Training and Research Center in Arlington, Texas.
How your college football team builds its recruiting board before Signing Day - SBNation.com
Let’s talk to a bunch of people in the business.
Class of 2017 WR Oliver Martin commits to Michigan - Maize n Brew
Michigan makes another major splash on the recruiting trail. Isn't this cute?
Atlanta is SB Nation’s experts’ pick by a 5-4 margin over the Patriots.
Buckeye fans shouldn’t underestimate the power of a strong ‘crootin pitch.
Big Ten power rankings: mid-year grades edition - The Crimson Quarry
Breaking news: The Big Ten is still bad at basketball.
B1G Basketball: Weekend Recaps - Off Tackle Empire
Purdue goes down and Maryland keeps rolling while Northwestern looks like they are headed for a double bye in the Big Ten Tournament
Of the top 100 in 2007, 39 were eventually drafted into the NFL. Twenty are still in the league. Seven made the Pro Bowl. Four are dead.
This is an excellent article. There are so many stories in here...
Then There’s This
It’s time to bring back the dumb phone - The Verge
My problem with Twitter is that it fragments my attention and makes it extremely difficult to refocus after checking it for a casual look at my notifications.
This is the real problem with social media. It is a constant distraction from what your real goals are. We’d all better get some better discipline, or just delete those damned apps from your smart phone and don’t re-install them.