Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Jai Means Goodbye

There are a couple of reasons that I don’t get worked up over football recruiting anymore.

One is that if there’s anything the last few years have taught me, it’s that the rankings really don’t mean much. Braylon, Hart, Long = 3 or less stars, star players. Mundy, Burgess, Crable, Watson, Woods, Max Martin, etc. = Very highly regarded players that didn’t/haven’t panned out.

One recruit I remember being devastated that we lost out on was Mike D’Andrea, who ended up going to Ohio State. I know he has had some injury problems and that he plays behind a great group of LBs, but that kid has done nothing in his career. It just doesn’t make any sense for me to get worked up about guys that honestly might not turn out to be all that good.

The other reason is this: We can get all the 5 star guys we want. We’re still losing our first road game every year, and probably 2-3 others.

Oh, and then there’s this. And this. And this. And a lot worse stuff that thankfully is no longer on the board. I’m trying not to get all soap-boxy but it made me sick some of the stuff I read last night. Or some of the stuff after Cone committed about “Why are we only taking a 3 star QB?” Especially after reading Spath’s article about how broken up Jai was about de-committing from Michigan ($$$), everyone who ripped him last night should be ashamed of themselves. It’s one thing to be a little upset that he left Michigan in a bit of a bind at DB (especially if they stopped recruiting DBs because of him) but it’s another to spew a ton of venom at him because of it.

He’s an 18 year old kid. His little kid had a birthday party and he realized that he didn’t want to be that far away from him. How dare any of us judge him on that? Who hasn’t made a decision that they ended up thinking better of after it was made? The kid decided he didn’t want to be 1,500 miles away from his son (or have to figure out a way to care for his son while attending school and playing football). Family is a nice support system and they’ll be close to him at LSU.

But to read stuff like “Why not teach your son to honor his commitments?” just makes me ill. Do people honestly think that 15 years from now his son is going to remember that Daddy didn’t go to the University of Michigan? Or is it more likely that he’ll remember that Daddy hung around to take care of him and raise him?

Also, would anyone here be bitching if Myron Rolle went to bed tonight a Seminole and woke up a Wolverine? Probably not.

Does that mean I’m not going to be hitting F5 like everyone else tomorrow, waiting to find out of Mouton commits? Of course not. I will be. But it also means that it’s not going to ruin my week if he decides Texas was a better option for him.

I’ll still follow hockey and basketball recruiting a little bit more closely, but that kind of goes back to reason #1. It seems like in those sports, it’s a lot easier to pick out who will be good at the next level. Plus in the case of hockey, I can see a lot of those guys play. But it also doesn’t mean I’m going to be on the Yost Post saying “OOOOOOOH SCREW KANE! HE WENT TO LONDON!!” If he does, so be it. It’d suck if he decides not to come here, but Michigan will be fine with or without him. Just like with Jai.

Quick Hits:

Osgood sucks and I don’t know why he’s on the Wings. Luckily Babcock was smart enough to get him out. I don’t think we’ll be seeing him again before the Olympics.

Michigan hockey has a must win against Western tonight. Big week as a whole. We make up all 4 games in hand on Northern by the end of next Tuesday.

Favre is leaning toward retirement. Not ready to talk or think about this yet.

Pistons won game 1 of the 5 games in 7 nights deal. New Jersey is up tonight. They’ve lost 4 in a row after winning 10 straight, but they’ve been very good at home. Should be a good one tonight.

Michigan basketball is ranked for the first time since I was like a sophomore in high school. Nice to see Tommy and guys like Horton get rewarded for things they’ve brought to this program. If they take 2 of the next 3, they’re going to be in really good shape, IMO. Very interesting post by CaliforniaGreen1 who breaks down the Big 10 assuming that the trends that the home teams win, and the Big 7 beat the little 4 hold true. Good stuff.

1 comment:

Chris said...

I'll probably cry the day Kane chooses somewhere other than Michigan(though I am still practicing the choreography for the dance if he does come to Michigan), but I won't rip the kid. It's up to him to find the best situation for himself.

The only bad thing about hockey recruiting is that we get the bonus assholery of certain people who feel the need to take shots at 9th graders and say that they will never amount to anything because they didn't choose their favorite school, which seems incredibly sickening to me.