Palm Beach, Tweets, Virginia Tech, Miami

We're talking about this: Virginia Tech commit Jake Taylor just posted on SportsJournalists.com.

 

I understand. I guess my question is if there is a better way to identify that recruit in one or two words? Virginia Tech recruit Jake Taylor? Prospective Hokie Jake Taylor?

 

I don't really like the word commitment -- the word means less and less every recruiting season -- but if forced to pick, I prefer Virginia Tech commitment Jake Taylor better than the other. Commit is a verb. At least commitment is a noun.

Sorry if I sound irritated, but the whole thing is just silly. I've read a bunch of stories in which "he committed to State, then de-committed and committed to Tech, then changed his commitment tonight." At some point I think we have to at least think a little bit about the words we use. We get paid to do that. Coaches and recruiting fence-straddlers really don't. We shouldn't let them set the language standards and style for us.

Once they break contain ...

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No, I totally get your irritation. I've written stuff like that more often than I care to admit, and I have mixed emotions about it, at best. I'm honestly trying to figure out a better way to write it.

 

Do you agree that commit should remain a verb?

 

I don't know the whole back story, but that is GREAT stuff. Gives us an inside picture of how a "betrayed" coach handles being spurned on Signing Day. I love it.

 

This story seems to sum up the situation fairly well.

http://www.dailypress.com/sports/teel-blog/dp-teel-time-virginia-techja-wand-blue-recruiting-commotion-plays-live-on-twitter-where-no-one-distinguished-themselves-20120201,0,1896293.story?track=rss

Long story short, he thought (or was told) that it was Beamer. It was an assistant. But it was, in fact, a Va. Tech coach. And it shows you what kind of pressure these kids are under when they're tugged in different directions by well-paid professional salesman.

 

PBP explainer: http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/highschoolbuzz/2012/02/01/regarding-ja-wand-blue-and-virginia-techs-coaching-staff/

Eavesdropping via dual speakerphone...

 

If you let a commit break contain, then he'll stretch the field with physicality.

 

That mess all beats the hell out of "Johnny Dangerously verballed to Virginia Tech."

One easy edit I often make is, "Johnny Dangerously says he will go to Virginia Tech."

"Elite running back Johnny Dangerously, who initially said he would go to Virginia Tech, then Miami (Fla.), then Virginia Tech again, has signed a letter of intent to play at Miami."

 

Charles Robinson is investigating.