Turtledroppings.com – Maryland Football And Basketball Blog

Tomorrow is National Signing Day.  The day when all prospective college football players submit their letter of intent to the University that they will attend in 2010.  It kind of takes me back to the day I committed to the University of Maryland.  Of course there was a lot less fan fare surrounding that decision.  I know my parents were probably happy that I was going to be close by, but in terms of tuition Maryland in-state isn’t much different from Clemson, NC State, or Mississippi State with out of state tuition, so that wasn’t a concern. 

Truth be told I don’t remember the moment I made my decision.  I do remember it was hard, and I do remember making some sort of table to check off the pro’s and con’s of each of the above mentioned schools.  I wonder where that is.  I imagine if I were to do that today, it would have been in some sort of excel spreadsheet, which makes me feel old.  But I also remember deep down thinking that all along I was probably going to end up at Maryland. 

But whatever the story of then 17 year old me was, it was nothing like what these kids face today.  Maybe not the “me’s” of the world, but the elite Division I recruits.  Their decisions are made with much more fan fare, they don’t have hand drawn spreadsheets and brochures, they have coaches they’ve watched on TV their whole short lives sitting in their living room telling them this and that.  To some degree that must be a great experience.  To another degree, I’m glad the decision I made was with my heart while all those close to me left me to make up my own mind.  There were no coaches telling me this or that about other schools, and certainly no message boards chronicling my every move.

But these kids are different, and tomorrow is going to be a much different experience for them.  College Athletics for better or worse has changed over the years and now instead of kids telling the world their decision to their family and loved ones in their own kitchen or living room.  They now have elaborate “hat ceremonies” where they pull out a bunch of hats and finally put on the one of the school they are planning on playing football for.  Some times change is good, sometimes change is ridiculous.

Anyway, what I’m going to say next will probably suprise you after that intro, but tomorrow is the National Signing Day and they are having their annual celebration in College Park.  Assuming the weather permits I’ll be there.  And if you don’t have anything going on, I suggest you go as well.  I can’t really sum up signing day which is a painful admission for someone who enjoys writing as much as I do, but every year I leave the Alumni Center happy that I went.  It is a time to be optimistic, it is a time to feel as if you are in a way a small part of the Maryland Football experience.  It’s a time where, at least for those early enrollee’s who are in attendance to see this kids who have been on a pedestal since they put on shoulder pads, look geniunely scared, for probably the first time in their lives.

Sure the whole idea of Football recruiting is a bit disturbing in this day and age, but at the same time there is something wholesome about the signing day celebration.  The optimism, the youth, the togetherness.  It’s in a way welcoming these kids into the Maryland family.  Now whether they made the decision to be Terps via a press conference or by breaking it to their families over dinner.  The facts the same.  They are Terrapins, and they will be for life.  In that regard we are all the same.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 at 6:33 pm and is filed under Maryland Terps Football. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.