Perspective Of Parents Of Recruits And Their Kids

LongJim · February 9, 2008

I saw this on another free board and thought it was interesting and worth re-posting here:

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"This post has been a long time coming, it’s a result of an experience I had after the...football game this past season. After the game was over and I waited til the crowd had dwindled, I left the stadium and was making my way back to the truck. Well I turned a corner and noticed all these fans that were gathered at the entrance of the basketball arena, I think. I thought, “oh cool this must be where the players come out from and these are all fans wanting to congratulate the players on the come from behind win”. As I stood there I realized that I was standing next to the parents of the players because they all had on buttons or shirts with the “parent of #” on it. I started talking to parents. I asked what it was like to have a son playing at an elite school and I got the same responses of “stressful because when your son messes up, its all over the news and everyone knows who’s kid that is”. I asked if they had advise for me with an up and coming son and (a) mom said, “When (coach) came to our house (our son) had his tape ready to show him. (Coach) put it down and wanted to get to know (our son) as a person because every player that comes (here) is good, you have to be good to get there but (coach) wanted to talk to him and see where his head was, how he did in school, what his grades were like. So your son may be great but if his heads not screwed on right (coach) does not want to mess with him. So keep your son grounded with his head on right”. I thanked her and got excited as the players started coming out…….

I was caught off guard at how the players were when they came out. These massive players were tired/exhausted from the game; they were dragging themselves out the front door, carrying their box lunch and looking for their parents. Well kids were running up to them asking for autographs and I was surprised that just about every player stopped, dropped to one knee, put their box lunch on the floor and talked to the kids, signed whatever they wanted and took pictures while their parents watched with pride. The players would have adults wait while they worked with the kids, which was awesome to watch. Those of you who have kids that play sports will be able to relate to this part…the players came up to their parents looking for that hug from mom, the pat on the back from dad along with some words of wisdom. I was watching (a QB) and his mom off to the side just talking, (He was) nodding his head and eating while his mom talked and all these big players being polite to other players mom’s, getting hugs and handshakes, it was truly a family atmosphere. This put college football into perspective for me and made me realize that, yea we yell at these players and cuss at the TV when thigns go wrong but hell these are just kids still. I see all this bashing on...boards and the put downs that the fans do to the players but a lot of these people fail to see that these players are just kids and just looking for that approval from mom and dad after a game.

Long story short, lol, how would some people like it if they came to a message board and saw all this bashing going on about your son. When you boil it all down, these are just kids playing a game. I just wanted to share that with my fellow fans."

eulessismore · February 9, 2008

I saw this on another free board and thought it was interesting and worth re-posting here:
*********************************************************************
"This post has been a long time coming, it’s a result of an experience I had after the...football game this past season. After the game was over and I waited til the crowd had dwindled, I left the stadium and was making my way back to the truck. Well I turned a corner and noticed all these fans that were gathered at the entrance of the basketball arena, I think. I thought, “oh cool this must be where the players come out from and these are all fans wanting to congratulate the players on the come from behind win”. As I stood there I realized that I was standing next to the parents of the players because they all had on buttons or shirts with the “parent of #” on it. I started talking to parents. I asked what it was like to have a son playing at an elite school and I got the same responses of “stressful because when your son messes up, its all over the news and everyone knows who’s kid that is”. I asked if they had advise for me with an up and coming son and (a) mom said, “When (coach) came to our house (our son) had his tape ready to show him. (Coach) put it down and wanted to get to know (our son) as a person because every player that comes (here) is good, you have to be good to get there but (coach) wanted to talk to him and see where his head was, how he did in school, what his grades were like. So your son may be great but if his heads not screwed on right (coach) does not want to mess with him. So keep your son grounded with his head on right”. I thanked her and got excited as the players started coming out…….
I was caught off guard at how the players were when they came out. These massive players were tired/exhausted from the game; they were dragging themselves out the front door, carrying their box lunch and looking for their parents. Well kids were running up to them asking for autographs and I was surprised that just about every player stopped, dropped to one knee, put their box lunch on the floor and talked to the kids, signed whatever they wanted and took pictures while their parents watched with pride. The players would have adults wait while they worked with the kids, which was awesome to watch. Those of you who have kids that play sports will be able to relate to this part…the players came up to their parents looking for that hug from mom, the pat on the back from dad along with some words of wisdom. I was watching (a QB) and his mom off to the side just talking, (He was) nodding his head and eating while his mom talked and all these big players being polite to other players mom’s, getting hugs and handshakes, it was truly a family atmosphere. This put college football into perspective for me and made me realize that, yea we yell at these players and cuss at the TV when thigns go wrong but hell these are just kids still. I see all this bashing on...boards and the put downs that the fans do to the players but a lot of these people fail to see that these players are just kids and just looking for that approval from mom and dad after a game.
Long story short, lol, how would some people like it if they came to a message board and saw all this bashing going on about your son. When you boil it all down, these are just kids playing a game. I just wanted to share that with my fellow fans."

I couldn't agree more, and due to two of the players mentioned in the original post of this thread link never having played a down in college (correct me if I'm wrong), another having played in three games, and none of them being more than a college freshman at this point, ages 17, 18, maybe 19, I personally consider that thread to be in poor taste, and have no respect for the poster. If we have problems with the recruiting, is it too much to ask that we wait until the recruits have played more than three games on the field of play before calling them out by name as unworthy of their scholarships? After all, for whatever criticism we on this board level at Dodge and his assistants, Dodge himself will be given at least 3 years (5 if we use Dickey's tenure as precedent) before the UNT Administration starts expecting him to win. That particular post seemed to even dismiss taking a risk on a player (and aren't they all risks?) According to the well loved coach here in Euless, Steve Lineweaver, fear of taking risks only invites failure in life (in so many words).