Of every sport we consume as Americans, an argument could be made that the internet has helped college football the most. A 365-day-a-year obsession before the advent of the digital medium, college football has done nothing short of explode at the same rate the internet has. And because of it, the internet has literally spawned more college football media than we can consume, with recruiting services message boards and blogs and websites trafficked by millions a day.
Of course like anything, there is a downside to it all, and in this case, that downside is access. Never has it been easier for the casual fan to get in touch with the players he or she roots for every Saturday. Needless to say, it’s led to some strange and uncomfortable dialogue between both parties.
Beyond that, an even more concerning growing trend has popped up with the advent of Twitter and Facebook these last few years: The idea of fans contacting high school athletes that their school is recruiting. Beyond the fact that it is an NCAA violation, it is also morally wrong, and just a strange situation for any adult to get involved in. After all, how would you feel about any adult reaching out to your kid via social media? Overall, it’s just a weird look.
And with recruiting season upon us (we’re less than a month until Signing Day), this was an issue that Crystal Ball Run planned on addressing.
At least we were planning on addressing it until one of the top college football writers on our Bloguin Network summed up the issue about as well as anyone could. It came in the form of an article called “Hey College Football Fans… Leave Recruits Alone,” and was written by The Subway Domer of SubwayDomer.com, an excellent Notre Dame website.
If you haven’t read it yet, go ahead and do so now, and if you don’t have time, mark it down and save it for later.
In the meantime, here is a particularly poignant excerpt:
Recently on Twitter, I came across some “fan” of a particular school cuss out a recruit because they “THINK” that the recruit has already chosen a rival school to commit to. It was flat out disturbing. Equally disturbing was “fans” of the same school trying to reach out to the recruit to tell him that this isn’t what this particular school was about- blah, blah, blah. They are all, in effect, trying to become recruiters for their institution. This is wrong, and also a NCAA violation.
Again, that is just a short excerpt, and we really do encourage you to read the article in its entirety.
And please, if you’re following anyone on Twitter under the age of 18, do us all a favor and unfollow them now. You’re weirding us all out.
For all his opinion, insight and articles on college football and beyond, please follow Aaron Torres on Twitter @Aaron_Torres.
