The recruiting game will go on into perpetuity. But it will do so without my words
adding even one innocuous whiff of propane to its furious blaze.
The premise being that recruiting is a game of self-aggrandizing, stars and bulldog puppies. And yeh, so originally the plan was for one post and it turned out to be three. Apologies and all, but I'm not perfect. Today you get this, tomorrow the bulk and then I'll wrap it up Sunday morning. Funny thing is, between now and then some "true Dawg fan" is gonna lose his mind four+ times over some tweet by a kid he considers the most important recruit of the entire Mark Richt era.
Anyway, I recently had the opportunity to meet and spend a small amount of time with a young man in possession of a true love for the game of football. His love for it goes beyond anything I can possibly comprehend. Mainly for the reasons that he's quite good at it and I'm only slightly proficient at watching it. Fortunately, because he is really good at football he gained much notoriety for his play and became quite a star.
Unfortunately, he was not fully equipped to handle the almost instant fame and attention. What's more, at least by my judgment, he never had that special someone in his life to remind him that he's not exactly all that and a bag of chips. In reality, regardless of our unique proficiencies, we're never as good as we hope we are because there's always room for improvement. Always.
So now we wait to see how much this young man has improved. In the mean time, the short of it is that I hope and trust he'll make the most of future opportunities. I believe life taught him a difficult lesson and that he'll be better for it in the long run. I've always been a believer that things happen for a reason. But it's up to us to make it a good and beneficial reason.
For me, I'm taking this chance encounter as a reason to change how I interact with and process recruiting coverage. I've given this a lot of thought. There's a line with this game that creates a border between what is logical, well meaning and what is superfluous and self-promoting. For example, websites that cover recruiting may post a development with a specific player that is timely and pertinent. But the subsequent commenting on said post devolves into some freakish "mine's bigger" competition and outright mudslinging. I've usually successfully steered clear of the latter, but that doesn't mean I don't see the dirt stains.
And I've grown very tired of the dirt stains.
Anyway, I recently had the opportunity to meet and spend a small amount of time with a young man in possession of a true love for the game of football. His love for it goes beyond anything I can possibly comprehend. Mainly for the reasons that he's quite good at it and I'm only slightly proficient at watching it. Fortunately, because he is really good at football he gained much notoriety for his play and became quite a star.
Unfortunately, he was not fully equipped to handle the almost instant fame and attention. What's more, at least by my judgment, he never had that special someone in his life to remind him that he's not exactly all that and a bag of chips. In reality, regardless of our unique proficiencies, we're never as good as we hope we are because there's always room for improvement. Always.
So now we wait to see how much this young man has improved. In the mean time, the short of it is that I hope and trust he'll make the most of future opportunities. I believe life taught him a difficult lesson and that he'll be better for it in the long run. I've always been a believer that things happen for a reason. But it's up to us to make it a good and beneficial reason.
For me, I'm taking this chance encounter as a reason to change how I interact with and process recruiting coverage. I've given this a lot of thought. There's a line with this game that creates a border between what is logical, well meaning and what is superfluous and self-promoting. For example, websites that cover recruiting may post a development with a specific player that is timely and pertinent. But the subsequent commenting on said post devolves into some freakish "mine's bigger" competition and outright mudslinging. I've usually successfully steered clear of the latter, but that doesn't mean I don't see the dirt stains.
And I've grown very tired of the dirt stains.
