Dear dimwit on the phone

Signing day makes me realize how much I don't miss sports. And it's only going to get worse.

Read this nonsense ...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/highschools/next-level-recruiting-eighth-grade-qb-dejuan-ellis-the-areas-top-ranked-middle-schooler-prepares-to-choose-his-high-school/2014/02/04/ab89f9f0-884f-11e3-833c-33098f9e5267_story.html

... and ask yourself how long it will be before people on the prep beat will be covering where the local eighth graders will attend high school.

And don't get me wrong. I don't mean the story is nonsense. It's clearly well-reported, and a topic worth a deep dive. But it felt to me like the story glorified the trend, legitimized the efforts of private schools to recruit, and lacked a truly dissenting voice.

When I was a sports editor, I had people call me begging for coverage of youth and middle school teams, but I'm glad I got out before taking the first call from someone wanting a story on how 13-year-old Johnny Bedwetter is committing to Our Lady of the Must-Win Game.

I know times change and all, but I find it very hard to look the other way from the business-like approach that has permeated youth and high school sports. It just doesn't seem right to me.

 

I agree. Sadly, I think the media shares some of the blame in this trend. If we weren't treating these signings like D-day, maybe it wouldn't be this way.

 

I should point out that many of the top Division II programs do offer full rides, same as the big boys. It's the D-3s that don't offer scholarships.

And then there's the case of a kid named D.J. Law, who signed a scholarship offer from Ole Miss ... then signed another one from Utah AND one from East Mississippi CC.

I have a feeling that deal may end up in court somewhere, and the kid will end up playing at Scooba.

 

Ole Miss solved the problem by releasing him. No way he qualifies for next year, so it's Scooba.

 

Saw this type of thing at an insane level five years ago in my neck of the woods. Johnny Superstar was a middle school star and he was being recruited by TWO PUBLIC SCHOOLS!!! It had something to do I think with divorced parents living in different towns so he had a choice. He went to Central instead of Podunk because it played in a higher division. After two years there he went to Academy Prep and is now in the top-six rotation of a very high-major team.

It worked out for him, but I still can't shake the disturbing hilarity of two public high schools recruiting a middle school kid.

 

Next week, I'm going to break a self-imposed rule and write something on a middle school girls basketball team here that has won 41 straight games.

The only reason I'm doing it is because the high school girls team this school feeds into has become very, very good over the past five years, and that's the hook that makes it a relevant story.

Otherwise, no...

 

Uh-oh. I'm sure all the other middle-school parents will undersand the difference

I bet you one million internet dollars there's some middle-school homeschool/christian academy co-op team you've never heard of with a similar streak.

 

Thank God in California teams get sanctioned and players declared ineligible for recruiting

 

This case?
http://www.egcitizen.com/articles/2014/01/31/sports/doc52ebe62e5e1df294589952.txt

 

Oh, hell, I covered a high school recruiting issue in Massachusetts in 1980! It's not exactly a new thing.

 

My brother goes to Sheldon High and I laughed when I heard about this.
It's rare when it happens. I was shocked how hard CIF actually came down in this one. Just had a really good wrestler get DQ'd after trying to transfer. He was a little obvious as he transferred right after his coach got canned — pissing off the entire wrestling program — and after he was elected to the student body government.

 

Pete Saco, the Sac-Joaquin Section commish, doesn't mess around when it comes to transfer/eligibility issues. He'll be missed when he retires at the end of the school year.