College Recruiting

College football recruiting is about to undergo a drastic change... and not for the better.  As of August 1st of this year recruiting rules are changing so that college coaches and contact recruits as much as they want.  Apparently this is the NCAA's response to the ever growing social media fads.  You can read the specifics and some coaches reactions here Link.  The NCAA did this so they could focus on other more important issues, but I feel like this is an important issue, the NCAA needs to looks at what they are promoting with this new proposal.

To me this is promoting the wrong idea to potential recruits about the NCAA and how they view recruits.  The main goal for a high school student is to graduate with good grades and to develop relationships with people their own age.  Now with these new rules recruits will spend even more time than they do now reading emails, opening mail, checking their Facebook page all to see what kind of contact they got from what coach that day.  As if they are not busy enough already from the correspondents they get already from coaches, it will easily be at least 10x more now.  High schoolers need to focus on academics, or even getting a college football scholarship will not matter because they fail classes and do not graduate.  Just imagine a recruit sitting down to do his math homework that would normally take a half hour.  But after they sit down they get an email or text message from a college football coach every five minutes, it suddenly take over an hour to do homework.  And how can you concentrate on homework when every few minutes your attention is drawn to something completely unrelated to school work.

Another drawback is that now that there is no restrictions, bigger budget schools like Notre Dame, USC, Florida, Alabama are going to hire people not even related to football to send out brochures, flyers, portfolios, to send out texts messages and emails.  Athletic departments are going to increase in size just because schools are going to hire grunts to do all the manual laborer.  Which can be a good thing and a bad thing, it creates more jobs, but its a job that is ruining the future.  These new laws are also going to widen the recruiting gap that already exists between the big budget schools and the schools that do not receive much funding.  The more money a school has to buy people and to recruit, they better recruits they are going to get, it is pretty simple.

It will be really interesting to see what happens the first year these laws are in existence, and what the reactions will be from college coaches, because so far the vote seems to be split down the middle.

One more thing about college football recruiting, the NCAA needs to pass a law that makes it wrong for coaches to offer a scholarship or even contact a player before their junior year in high school.  kids that are 14-15 years old do not need to worry about where they are going to play college football, they are not or are barely into high school.  Another way this can go is if a college football coach sees a kids highlights when he was 15 and offer him a scholarship, and then that same players does not do as well as planned, and the coach takes away his offer, is that not going to devastate that kid, especially the younger they are.  This seems wrong.

College Bowl Season

I know I am not the first person to say that the college bowl season is getting ridiculous in terms of length and sponsorship. When an announcer has to say a stupid sponsor name every time they say the name of the bowl it gets more annoying every time, especially when its something like the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, the AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl, or my personal favorite the Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman. These names take away from the quality of the bowl games because it makes them seem like they sold out, and some of the names just make it sound pompous. The one bowl that is the exception to this rule is the Chic-fil-a Bowl which has not changed the name of the bowl since they started sponsoring the bowl, which was way before a lot of the bowls. Some of the bowl games I did not even want to watch in fear of how many times I would hear the stupid sponsor name. Some are so ridiculous that they literally make me laugh out loud every time i hear them. I was talking to my dad and he remembers when bowls were just the Military Bowl, the Rose Bowl, and the Gator Bowl. I realize that companies will use any platform to market for their company, but apparently having signs all over the stadium is not enough anymore. The NCAA needs to look into this problem and quickly find a solution, limit the words, or say that signs are enough and do not need to blemish the name of the bowls.

On another but no less annoying point about the bowl season is how long it drags on and on and on and on. You can ask my mom, I love football way more than anyone should, but even I think there are to many bowls to watch. It seems like every team is in a bowl nowadays. Teams that are 6-6 with six division one wins are eligible for bowl games, which to me is just promoting mediocrity. These teams are obviously not the cream of the crop in college football but are still being rewarded for finishing right at 500. They need to cut down the number of bowl games, the count for games this year was 35. So 70 teams made it to bowl game this year, and I bet about 15 of those teams were a mediocre 6-6. I think they should cut the number down to around 16 bowl games every year, which would make the games much more competitive and would give extra motivation for teams to win. More people would tune in to fewer games because they have not become saturated with average football. Now I do know that some of these average teams do pull an upset once and a while, like this year when Washington flattened Nebraska in a rematch of a earlier game this season. These games are few and far in between, but they do appeal to people, who always love an underdog. So some would state the case that teams that finish 6-6 or even 7-5 do deserve a chance to play in a bowl game, but I think that you need at least a 8-4 record to make it to a bowl game, the competition and audience would sky rocket. I mean I am just saying, but I like to think I know what I am talking about.

College Football!

You know how excited I am that school is here, even though i am done with college. Because that means college football is here again! This is one of the greatest weekends ever because games stretch on from Thursday all the way until Monday, and on Saturday you can lay on the couch from 9 am until almost midnight, does that not sound like the best day ever? I have been watching all weekend, and even though I know I havent done anything, I still feel a sense of accomplishment. I cheered on my team even though it might have been the worst game we have ever played, and you know what, I dont care, I will watch them again and again. Thats what is great about college football, even if your team loses, next week it all starts again.

And there is nothing like college football, where else can you get a city, state, or country so pumped about one thing, every Saturday for months. The pride that comes with seeing your schools first game is something that cannot be duplicated anytime. Whether it is win or lose you know your school is trying with all their talent, and for that you should be proud. This is the time when you can identify with your team as "we", and place all your hopes on a team of your peers.

I know there are people out there who are bandwagon fans, and I say shame on them. They love their team, they say "we" when they talk about their team, but once they lose they call for the coaches head and say "they". I do not want to name universities where this happens, but lets say they are in close proximity to where I attended college. These people do not have as much pride, they cut their ties to their football team because they do not like to see the losing.

Not everyone feels the same way I do, but there is no better time of year than early September, the leaves change and the football fly. Pride is deep, and university colors become the colors you bleed.

One Regret

The more time that passes in my life, the more I have come to regret not playing football. I know that sounds like a trivial decision, but I don't think it is. I talked to my mom recently about why I didn't play football, and she said because I wasn't as interested in it as I was baseball and basketball. I then asked her why she didn't push me harder to play, and she gave the typical motherly answer, I didn't want you to get hurt. Which shouldnt surprise anyone, I think it is built into mothers DNA to worry about their children getting hurt.

Now I am not here to brag but I think I would of been a pretty good football player. I know the game better than a lot of people, I am athletic, playing basketball and baseball and pretty much every other sport, and I have the determination and competitive edge that it takes to be a winner. My love for the game has really made me look back and wish that I had played, it really bugs me sometimes that I didn't. I think my life would be completely different if I had, and I would think in a good way. Not just physically but mentally as well. I think that is one of the reasons I love sports, they teach you how to be emotionally tough and most importantly to believe in yourself. Which from what I have seen a lot of people lack, the belief that they can do anything they want.

This semester I have been asked multiple times if I was on the football team, and every time I am asked that, it bugs me that I have to say no. Its not just the aspect of being a well known athlete or famous football player, for me I just love the game, and I do want to play it. Many people wonder why Brett Favre keeps coming back, and as much as I don't like him as a player, he definitely plays because he loves the game. I feel like I would be like that. I study the game, even though I don't play it, and everything I read makes me like it that much more.

And again, I regret not taking the opportunity to play football, a sport I love to watch and learn about, because my life would be different than it is now, and I think for the better.