Lane Kiffin is all that is wrong in college football. This guy is a joke. As I mentioned in a previous post, Lane Kiffin is definitely one of my least favorite coaches in college football mostly because of the way he handles his business. The most recent story is the commitment he received from a 13-year-old quarterback. This story is absolutely ridiculous. This kid has yet to hit puberty, yet to pick a high school, yet to even clear the 7th grade. He's a prospect for the recruiting class of 2015. There are many things I view wrong with this situation and people to blame, but by no means do I blame the kid. He says USC was his dream school and so it was natural for him to commit upon receiving the offer. Kiffin and the father/parents on the otherhand, they each have their share of the blame in my estimation.
I understand that you want to get in on recruits early, but this is seriously ridiculous. Kiffin doesn't need to offer this kid now in order to seal his commitment. Kiffin obviously has no need to get in this early in order to seal a top quarterback, he coaches at USC, where he shows them the beach, the celebrities, and the money and they commit. This seems to be another promotional ploy that Lane Kiffin tends to make to get his name in the news, and the media always falls for it. It's very self-serving and if you look at the potential affects this may have on the kid, it could be harmful. I'm not saying that this kid isn't going to grow up to be the next Drew Brees or Peyton Manning, but you can bet that everyone is going to be prepared to take their shots at the kid who is already committed to USC. People are going to start to cling to him, claiming to be "friends," just to be there when he makes it big, and we've all seen how high school posses have affected some professional athletes (see: Michael Vick). I think this ultimately does more harm than good, but in todays recruiting world, should we expect any less?
I also think the parents, especially the father, have a part to play to. It's the story of modern sporting culture, trying to make your child the next Tiger Woods or LeBron James, or perhaps in this case Peyton Manning. So you start training your kid to try to be elite at one sport (this kid has one of the top QB coaches in the country that he trains with), and frequently that sport is determined by the parent. It strips a child of all the freedoms of finding the sport that he loves, living a normal life of discovery and mistakes the lead to learning. Parents structure their lives towards what they view as success, not necessarily what the child has a passion to do. There was a story a few years ago about the best female basketball player in the country who had been playing basketball her entire life and felt an obligation to keep playing, she felt the pressure from the people around her. She got a scholarship to UConn, arrived on campus, and just couldn't do it. She didn't have enough passion for the sport to keep going. She ended up transferring to a Division II school and playing volleyball. I'm not saying that this is or will be the case for this kid, but give him a chance to be a kid.
Super Bowl Prediction: Colts 34, Saints 24
I love the story of the Saints, as does most of the nation, but I'm going with the experience of the Colts and of course, Peyton Manning. They have more than 20 players back from their previous Super Bowl victory and the best quarterback in the league, and possibly all-time by the end of his career. I really just want a competitive game (unlike the Nat'l Championship game), and I think this one should be rather entertaining. Happy Viewing!
1 comments:
Good blog post!
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