When did "We Suck At Recruiting Day" and "Recruiting Championships Don't Matter Day" become one big over commercialized holiday? I remember back in the day, you had a nice "We Suck At Recruiting Day" meal with some friends and family, posted on one message board, watched some talking heads we sort of remember playing for some Big 10 team 12 years ago talk about a teenager's ability to burst through the gaps, then got a little drunker and engaged in some good natured ribbing with somebody who had attended a different academic sports entertainment institution. We'd all take a little break, the chips would begin to fall into and out of place, excitement would build, and the final week before "Recruiting Championships Don't Matter Day" were just electric. People pouring over tidbits, constantly refreshing at 28.8kbps, or possibly 56kbps if you had an extra phone line and one of those expensive modems. Banter at the bars of the finest steakhouses between intoxicated gentlemen, bragging about all the teenage boys they seduced... into attending their academic sports entertainment institution. Then, that special day would come. Fax machines would whir. AOL email accounts would near capacity. LDDS printed money as grown men across the country dialed 1 before the area code. Newspaper sales soared as those same people so eagerly awaited to see just how the local "rag" would label the new crop of student athletes. To those victorious, stars would blind them. To those not, the familiar refrain, "We'll settle it on the field where it really matters," slurred from their beer soaked mouths.
Those were the days....
But now? When does one end and the other begin? And how did both of them end up swelling to take up Nearly 2/3 of the calendar year? They both have even bled into the "Hey There Are Actually Football Games Being Played" holiday season. I, for one, say that sucks. Keep them separate or you begin to lose the true meaning of each. Keep them separate or the commercial aspects of each will balloon so out of control that these two, formerly quaint yet meaningful holidays, will be lost among piles of seizure inducting TV graphics, bitter message board threads, hospital beratings, and hat switches. It's already gotten so bad that's it become un-PC to have an opinion either way. "We Suck At Recruiting Day" is a day of reflection for mostly southern, white males with jobs at computers. A day when they can look back to the very first time that fast teenager picked up the WRONG hat, have a few drinks, pound out some babbling words that have nothing to do with their employment, and think about how good they truly have it now. When the commercialism of "Recruiting Championships Don't Matter Day" begins to bleed into the early hours of "We Suck At Recruiting Day", grown men must miss time with their family and friends, just so they can be the first on-line tospread rumors find out the latest. And oh how I could go on about what we've done to "Recruiting Championships Don't Matter Day." For so long a message of hope to the small, the downtrodden, the little sisters of the poor... The message is now twisted by kings and rulers of the land. It has been warped into a vile weapon of words, used against those who don't believe the promise of that day to be true. "It's not the stars that matter," they say. "You can compete just the same if you just work really hard," they lie with their serpentine tongue flashing from between their fangs. "Everyone in this conference can compete," they mutter falsely from one side of their mouth as they promptly crush your trending hashtag dreams the way a can gives way to the head and hands of Bluto, Ogre, and that keeper in the Foster's commercial.
Those were the days....
But now? When does one end and the other begin? And how did both of them end up swelling to take up Nearly 2/3 of the calendar year? They both have even bled into the "Hey There Are Actually Football Games Being Played" holiday season. I, for one, say that sucks. Keep them separate or you begin to lose the true meaning of each. Keep them separate or the commercial aspects of each will balloon so out of control that these two, formerly quaint yet meaningful holidays, will be lost among piles of seizure inducting TV graphics, bitter message board threads, hospital beratings, and hat switches. It's already gotten so bad that's it become un-PC to have an opinion either way. "We Suck At Recruiting Day" is a day of reflection for mostly southern, white males with jobs at computers. A day when they can look back to the very first time that fast teenager picked up the WRONG hat, have a few drinks, pound out some babbling words that have nothing to do with their employment, and think about how good they truly have it now. When the commercialism of "Recruiting Championships Don't Matter Day" begins to bleed into the early hours of "We Suck At Recruiting Day", grown men must miss time with their family and friends, just so they can be the first on-line to
