Dear dimwit on the phone

I'm writing a feature on one kid who's signing with Idaho State, where his two older brothers play. There is one kid signing with Idaho, but he's on the fringe of our coverage area. Most of the football players in my area are "signing" with the NAIA school, which just started football last season. Most of the kids "signing" are for other sports. So, actual signing day isn't worth changing one of my days off. I don't live/work in that kind of area of the country where it's a frenzy because we have all these kids signing real, NCAA NLIs.

So it's still my day off. I wasn't trying to throw it in anybody's face that I'm not working, but it does amuse me that so many schools in my area try to pass off their kids as "signing" like we don't know the difference. But, we do have more kids signing with prominent schools for basketball and baseball (one player is committed to North Carolina), so I'll deal with that in April.

 

We have 25 high schools, and we'll usually have 4-6 D-1 signees every year. We have at least five that I know of this year, plus a couple of other potential D-1s that are still undecided. We'll visit those schools, but jucos and D-2s will have to send us the picture. Our schools know the drill and they're usually pretty good about getting us their stuff and understanding that we can't be everywhere on Signing Day.

 

I think all I've got will be three local kids and they're all signing with the local juco. And once that's done, they'll be the only three local kids currently associated with the local juco athletic department in any way. Either the local juco doesn't want the local kids, can't get them to sign or doesn't know what to do with them if they do sign. Two basketball players left at semester and they were the last two local kids on any of the juco's teams.

So while this will be a nice moment for the high school, the kids and the parents, when pre-season camp begins, it's entirely possible that these kids won't be on the team.

 

I look at the blizzard of juco signing photos we get just long enough to see if the moms are hot. Then all go to the digital waste basket.

 

My area covers seven high schools. One of our girls' basketball teams had four players sign D-I back before Christmas, we've got a soccer kid signing D-I this week and a track stud who should be signing soon.

 

One coach called us to ask if we'd be at a ceremony at 7:30 a.m. .... don't think so.

 

If it's a signing ceremony that you would normally cover if it was at 2 p.m., there's no reason you shouldn't cover it if it's at 7:30 a.m. Maybe the kid has working-class parents and they can't away from their jobs for a mid-day thing. Just because it's too early for your comfort isn't a reason not to cover it.

 

We won't be there personally, but can do a phoner with the kid and get someone from the school to shoot down a photo.

 

Had two signings a few years back at 8. One of them got pushed back and I didn't know about it until I walked in the school and the football team's coach told me. So I called my boss, told him what was up and then asked if he wanted me to head to the signing, which was at least a 30-minute drive away and was 15 minutes from starting.

I called that school's football coach and told him what was going on, and asked if they could stall for a bit until I got there. No problem, he said. The family, which we've dealt with for several years, was more than willing to wait.

I don't like getting up that early, either, but it's one day.

 

Dear Dimwit basketball parents,
For the love of God, learn the rules of the game! Or at least learn how to count. It's 3 seconds not 3 milliseconds. Stepping into the key and standing there for a beat is not a 3 second violation. If I took a shot every time I heard "3-second violation!" at a game, I would have to be wheeled out at halftime with alcohol poisoning.

Let's start there and we can move on from there after.

 

A-bleeping-men.
"THREE SECONDS!" guy needs to be dragged out into the parking lot and beaten with a tire iron. While we're at it, let's take care of his equally annoying cousin "CALL IT BOTH WAYS!" guy.

 

That sounds more like Starman justice than the caped crusader, but a tire iron's a tire iron, no matter who's wielding it.