An open letter for recruiting season

Dear #BBN, #VFL, #GatorNation, #CardNation, Ohio State fans, every psychopath from the state of Alabama, and all of you other loonies,

Before you turn on me, I'll make it clear that I love the University of Kentucky. However, I like to believe I am a rational soul and not as crazy as you all. That being said, the summer is a dry spell for college athletics. The only thing going on is recruiting, both for basketball and football. Even though I love the recruiting season, because my boys Cal and Stoops are doing work, I also question myself and have pity on myself and all those others that follow along with the lives of these 17 and 18 year old kids. We wind up hanging on their every word about where they may or may not go to college and try to be a part of their life. Don’t get me wrong, they love the attention and are always trying to do something to stand out and garner as much of a following as they can. And that’s cool. It’s their life and they should go about it however they please. That doesn’t change the fact that you are all psychotic.

The problem with this process is that most of the attention that these kids draw in is from people that they would never talk to or hang out with (looking at you, Jim Bob from Tuscaloosa). They are just looking to get their followers up and connect with as many people as possible. Why is this an issue? Because they are attracting attention from the fan base of every school they consider and you are all scary. Unfortunately, they can only commit to one school at a time. This means that every time they commit, someone is going to angry they lose out. When this happens, it is difficult to believe how vile you people (you know what I mean by “you people”! Don’t give me that look!) can get with a kid you’ll likely never meet. 

A rational response

You seem friendly

You all become so enamored with trying to make your team seem like the best thing in the world. I’m going to say something that may hurt your feelings. If it does, I’ll be happy. You are not a recruiting expert. You have no idea which kids will be good and which will not. Please stop pretending to know what you are talking about because nobody is buying it and you look even dumber than before.  

You geniuses, being the utter experts that you are, feel the need to go and tell a 17 and 18 year old kid how to live their life and which choices will make them successful. Every time I see you tweeting at or about these kids, I become even more disgusted. Think back to when you were 17 and 18 and the decisions you made. At any point in time, did you have thousands of people hanging on your every word and watching your every move? No? I didn’t think so. It’s a good thing they weren’t following me around and paying that close of attention to me. I was/still am an idiot. I understand that and it’s cool. Luckily I was able to be an idiot without having thousands of people tell me that. If I had you psychos critiquing me, I would have snapped and it would not have been as pleasant as this lovely letter is.

These kids are trying to live their lives out and enjoy themselves. Do they go over the top with trying to share the aspects of their lives and try to get people involved? Yes, definitely. That’s part of growing up though. They’re going to make mistakes and they’re going to learn from them. I’m not saying to avoid holding them accountable. If that happens, anarchy breaks out.

What I am saying is to lay off of the kids and not follow them as closely because they are just that, kids. They are making the biggest decision of their lives and, contrary to popular belief, they do not need your opinion about how they “just made the biggest mistake of their lives” and they do not need your kind wishes of “good luck going to that loser team and enjoy being irrelevant”. So next time you think you should message one of these kids, stop what you’re doing, find a wall, and run face first into it as fast as you can. Should you still feel the urge to tweet at a kid, repeat the process.

All my love,

@corbeeeech