CHRIS ERSKINE / FAN OF THE HOUSE

Fun-wise, national signing day is a signature event

There's so much to mock about a day with hours of breathless coverage as high school football players officially sign with their colleges.

By Chris Erskine

February 6, 2013, 6:09 p.m.

What fun, this national signing day, colleges' version of the NFL draft. Story I'm following most closely is of the Florida mom who reportedly ran off with her kid's signing papers so he wouldn't leave home.

As Dave Barry used to say, I'm not making this stuff up.

So much to mock on this overblown, overripe event, with 12 hours of breathless election-caliber coverage of the day when high school players officially sign with their colleges. Or in the case of the missing Florida mom, do not.

GRAPHIC: UCLA recruits

Also, so much to love. The names alone have a certain entertainment value, not a Grabowski in the bunch.

Here, for instance, is my all-apostrophe team, culled from Wednesday's signings:

A'Shawn Robinson (Alabama).

Damore'ea Stringfellow (Washington).

John O'Korn (Houston).

Su'a Cravens (USC).

Or my all-Christmas team:

Ebenezer Ogundeko (Clemson).

Hodari Christian (West Virginia).

Godwin Igwebuike (Northwestern).

Noel Padmore (Indiana), Noel Thomas (Connecticut), Noel Ellis (Texas A&M).

My overall best-names-of-the-day team:

Will Likely III (Maryland).

Dee Liner (Alabama).

Hipolito Corporan (Utah).

Montavious Smoke (Troy).

Comments (1)

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azmi.ramzi at 7:37 PM February 07, 2013

I am not impressed by these National Signing Day recruits where many of these Top-10 players never really pan out. Take the case of my BOY fellow University of Nevada-Reno Wolfpack & current San Francisco 49er's Quarterback Colin Kaepernick who led the 49er's to the Super Bowl 47 but lost. Back in 2007, Kaepernick was a Freshmen at the University of Nevada-Reno who was not highly recruited but thanks to injuries to 4 Quarterbacks ahead of him, Kaepernick became the starter for the Nevada Wolfpack for the next 4 years where HE was a 2nd Round Draft Choice with the San Francisco 49er's. This year Kaepernick got the starting 49er's QB job when 49er's QB Alex Smith went down who was the first overall pick of the 2005 NFL Draft out of the University of Utah & Urban Meyer who later on Coached at the University of Florida Gators for 2 National Championships. There is so much HYPE for High School players coming out of High School or the University level where the word POTENTIAL has an ugly connotation. It's like a High School genius who is good at Math & Science but could not pan out at the University-level or those Brilliant Students at the University-Level who could not get along with others in the Corporate World. There should be a narrative for football players instead of praising them but to make them into better people.

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