Gene has been right all along?

mstateglfr · May 22, 2009

****!
Kidding aside, criticizing recruits actually can apparently lead to them not wanting to attend MSU.
Of course the obvious response is that EVERY fan base criticizes and if a recruit is going to cross MSU off because of some random internet posters, are they really mentally ready to take on SEC play???

But anyways, check out the following from Parrish...
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Sticks and stones will break your bones but words will never hurt you. Unless, of course, you're Vander Blue. In that case, the words hurt. And it was only a matter of time before we got here, wasn't it? <table class="MsoNormalTable" style="WIDTH: 187.5pt; mso-cellspacing: 0in; mso-table-lspace: 2.25pt; mso-table-rspace: 2.25pt; mso-table-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-table-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-table-left: left; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 0in 0in" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="250" align="left" border="0"> <tbody> <tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes"> <td style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; WIDTH: 187.5pt; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width="250"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: frame; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-height-rule: exactly"> 

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 </td> </tr> <tr style="mso-yfti-irow: 1; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes"> <td style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; WIDTH: 187.5pt; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width="250"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: frame; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-height-rule: exactly"> 

 </td> <td style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8; WIDTH: 11.25pt; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width="15"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-element: frame; mso-element-frame-hspace: 2.25pt; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-height-rule: exactly"> 

 </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> "These so-called Wisconsin fans, what they had to say on those [message boards], it really made me second-guess: Do people really want me here?" Blue told Jeff Potrykus of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. "Because I know if I was a fan and I heard about a recruit [who might be struggling academically], I'd be more like: 'What can we do to help him?' And not, 'Let's make him feel like the worst person in Madison right now.'" Vander Blue decommitted from Wisconsin earlier this week. It was not national news. He is not John Wall. But what made it a national story -- and perhaps a lesson for the uncivilized world of message boards, if we're lucky -- is that the decommitment was prefaced by a story about the Madison native's alleged academic woes, which led to some Wisconsin fans spending their days publicly bashing the Class of 2010 standout on the Internet. They questioned his attitude, character and intelligence. And guess what? Vander Blue read it and it bothered him. He is 16 years old, by the way. "I felt like I was in a corner, trapped and I couldn't get out," Blue told the Milwaukee paper. "I just felt like it was so unnecessary. I don't think I'm that worse of a guy. Sometimes I might be tired and have a little attitude, [but] I don't think I'm a horrible person. "Forty year-old adults talking about somebody who don't got their license yet; I just felt it was so unnecessary," Blue added. "Picture yourself in my position. Rumors going around, you're just keeping quiet. And you read the article and 1,000 people [are] throwing you under the bus." It would be easy to spend the next 250 words killing Wisconsin fans. It would also miss the larger point. Because this is not a story about Blue and Wisconsin as much as it's a story about message boards, and how total anonymity allows people to attack and attack and attack with little regard for the folks they are attacking. On a personal level, I can't tell you how many wild (and anonymous) words are written about me each month either on message boards or via e-mail; words that question my integrity, background, education, sexuality, hairstyle (that one's open for criticism, I suppose) and anything else you can imagine. Every once in a while, I actually take the time to respond in the most reasonable way I know. And more times than not, I get a response within hours from somebody apologizing and explaining how they would've never been so rude or brash or ignorant if they really believed I would read it. Well, I got news for you: I read it. As does Vander Blue. And though I'm an adult with a high-profile job who is by definition fair game, Vander Blue is -- as he put it -- "somebody who don't got their license yet." He has not graced magazine covers, played on national television, appeared in police blotters or done anything to make himself a target. The only notable things about him are that he's pretty good at basketball, and that he has committed to and decommitted from Bo Ryan's Wisconsin program. That's it. And yet dozens if not hundreds if not thousands of people -- some of whom are most certainly adults with children of their own -- have spent this week trashing Blue and everything about him to the point where it's reasonable to presume they've hurt the future recruitment of the prospect they once believed would lead the Badgers to Big Ten titles. That's the kicker, you see. Though Blue decommitted from Wisconsin, he never eliminated Wisconsin from his list of potential destinations. Rather, he just said he wanted to take another look around and make sure everything was a right fit because he committed when he was only 15. Makes sense to me. It probably makes sense to most people. But his wavering didn't make sense to some Wisconsin fans, and they responded with personal attacks that led to a good old-fashioned your-school-sucks/no-your-school-sucks war on a message board with Marquette fans. Poor Vander Blue just caught in the middle, young Vander Blue now scarred by the wrath of the same people he thought loved him just weeks ago. He said it all made him feel like the "worst person in Madison." But I suspect some anonymous posters have a better hold on that label. http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/11776517

ScoobaDawg · May 22, 2009

Poor kid...
This would is full of cruel people, we should be all be happy sunshiny people.

Hey KID..grow up, get a sack, instead of looking to place blame on others.
Grow a thick skin, you need it in this world.

"Because I know if I was a fan and I heard about a recruit [who might be struggling academically], I'd be more like: 'What can we do to help him?'

What do you want joe badger to do? go take your classes and sat for you?
Nothing, fans cant do anything for you. Its on you to take care of your own damn problems and be responsible.

On second thought, is he any good..
put gene on the case, and we are guaranteed to get his signature.

Irondawg · May 22, 2009

I always think it's a fair question about a kid's reliability level when they can't pass their schoolwork. There are certainly some that have some learning disabilities that aren't properly diagnosed (dyslexia, etc) that do cause them problems beyond their control.

But the truth is most of the kids that have grade issues have so b/c they didn't give a crap during their 9th and 10th grade years before they really started realizing that they can play D1 football and that schools require you to have certain grades to get there. And if you don't give a crap in HS, why would you give a crap in college. Despite all the help and "tutoring" that athletes get, some still flunk out in college.

There's nothing any internet poster can do to help these kids make their grades. Granted, I'm don't think we should be bashing recruits on a message board. But you read some of these interviews and stuff and you do have to wonder a lot of times if certain guys are worth even fooling with.

HammerOfTheDogs · May 22, 2009

mstateglfr said:
"I felt like I was in a corner, trapped and I couldn't get out," Blue told the Milwaukee paper. "I just felt like it was so unnecessary. I don't think I'm that worse (?????) of a guy. Sometimes I might be tired and have a little attitude, [but] I don't think I'm a horrible person.

No, Vander, you not a bad peeple, just supraased you can turn on a computer.

Gene has been right all along?

mstateglfr

All-American

ScoobaDawg

Redshirt

Irondawg

Senior

HammerOfTheDogs

All-Conference