Today, I’m glad that my cable company doesn’t carry ESPNU. That makes it impossible for me to watch that network’s coverage of “Signing Day”. Today is the day when high school seniors who are coveted football players make it official about where they will be going to college. And this has become a news event so horrendously blown out of proportion that I want nothing to do with it. But ESPNU will put on seven hours of programming today devoted solely to high school football players deciding where to go to college. Let me restate that; most of them won’t be “going to college” in the fullest sense of that phrase. Most of them will be deciding where they will try to play football next year.
I understand that recruiting is the foundation of successful college football programs and I can therefore understand why devoted fans of various schools should be interested in how many good recruits will be matriculating at good old Alma Mammy next year. But to watch seven hours of coverage of this stuff when none of these guys has yet to strap on equipment for even a practice session is a bit over the top. Compound that with commentary from a bunch of folks who probably have not seen 5% of these people play a football other than on a highlight reel and you have the makings for a truly surreal experience. The NFL Draft is a hugely over-hyped event to be sure, but at least the players at the top of the draft are ones that people have seen play football against good competition for several years. Think about how imprecise the NFL Draft process is and what all the effusive verbiage associated with its coverage actually means in terms of reality at that level. Now project that back to high school kids about to enter college…
There are a couple of high school football players whose final destination in terms of college might be worth a look. This has nothing to do with their football skills; it will have to do with the tolerance level that the college football program will have for demonstrated antisocial skills. Here in the DC area, we have a football player who is described by the Washington Post as a “high-level recruit”. He also has served a few days in jail followed by about a month of house arrest with several years’ probation because he participated in the robbery of an establishment called “Smoothie King” in the DC suburbs. In Florida, a kid who some folks say is the top recruit in the state was charged with “lewd and lascivious battery” against a 14-year old and was actually out on bail when he played in the state high school championship football game. Next year these two guys may be wearing the uniforms of one of the top football schools in the country – - or they may be modeling orange overalls. Time will tell…
Look, here’s what I would like to have happen. I’d like there to be an immediate cap placed on the number of high school football games televised outside the school districts of the teams involved; high school football does not need “commercialization” or “exposure”. Then, I’d like to see the number drawn down over the next several years. AND, I really want ESPN and/or any of its spin-off networks to stop any and all coverage of signing day or press conferences held by high school kids to announce their verbal commitments to schools. For today, ESPN stands for Excessive Signing Programming Nonsense!!
Several commentators thought that the absence of Paul Tagliabue from the NFL Hall of Fame inductees’ list was a shock and an affront. I’m not going to say anything derogatory about Paul Tagliabue and I think that he is deservedly a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame in the next couple of years. But all the people who are shocked by this “snub” should check out the history of the NFL Hall of Fame. Pete Rozelle was a visionary who really made the NFL into the economic juggernaut that it is; he handed Paul Tagliabue a robust going concern, which Tagliabue did indeed take to stratospheric proportions. But Pete Rozelle was not inducted into the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. If I counted the voting cycles correctly, he waited 8 times until his name was called. So, pardon me if I am not appropriately outraged by the “affront” of the selection committee.
Cleaning up a few items about the Super Bowl, I wonder how those folks who paid $3000 – 5000 for a seat felt as they sat there in the pouring rain. As we were watching the game, someone commented that they were getting soaked by the elements after they had already gotten soaked by the ticket brokers. At least most of the uncomfortable folks were the sponsors and league partners and high rollers who force the game to be played in these “good weather venues”.
Oh, and speaking of the rain, is it really beyond the state of the art to prevent water droplets from falling on the camera lens and staying there for most of the game? I’ve heard that someone has this new technology to accomplish this; he calls it an awning. There are lots of folks who shelled out top dollar to get HDTV for the game and what they got was a high definition picture refracted through a raindrop on the lens and water condensation. CBS should apologize for that. But don’t hold your breath…
When Jim Nantz made the obligatory reference to Tony Dungy being the first African American coach to win the Super Bowl, I was impressed with Dungy’s response. He said that he thought it was also important that he and Lovie Smith represented the work of Christian coaches. Tony Dungy is a man of faith; whether or not you share his faith, it is central to his being what he is. And that he focused attention on what is inside him in addition to the color of his skin on his outside is laudable. Remember, it was only about 15 months ago, that Tony Dungy lost his son to suicide. His faith obviously gave him some of the strength needed to get through that horror.
The old adage, “defense wins championships”, played out last Sunday. The Colts fell behind 14-6 and needed its defense to keep the game from getting out of hand. After the Bears had two early TDs, the Colts defense held the Bears to less than 40 yards on the next five possessions in the first half. Counting the time into the third quarter, the Bears went 24 minutes without a first down. The Colts’ defense won that championship as much as the offense did.
If the Bears had won on Sunday, I would have loved for one of the players to ask for Dennis Green to come out and crown them with their championship trophy. Remember Green’s tirade about the Bears being exactly who the Cardinals thought they were; well, it would be fitting for Green to show up since he obviously would have known … Too bad.
Finally, an observation from Greg Cote in the Miami Herald about stadium security for the Super Bowl:
“NFL officials have come out with a list of prohibited items that cannot be brought into the stadium Sunday. The list includes umbrellas, coolers, beach balls, banners, weapons and O. J. Simpson.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports…