As I said, this program functions off of volunteers who instruct or coach the children in small groups to teach them basic skills of cross country skiing or Nordic skiing. As a child, I had the privilege to learn to do such things with my father and my older brother many years ago. Since being married, my wife and I have taken the common interest and I took my early years of learning to get her started. Now with children and wanting them to come to enjoy it, too, we have enrolled them, as they approach 5 or 6 years of age, in this Nordic Kids group to have these very experienced volunteers professionally teach our kids how to get down the trails and back and giving them the skills to do it gracefully and somewhat pain free. Well, this year went a little differently when my wonderful wife decided to take action when she found out that our 6 year-old son did not have a designated instructor for each week. So, based on the volunteer policy, she volunteered me to be his coach along with the other 8 or 9 children of approximately the same age as our son. I've never taught anything about skiing before. Let's say that I felt a little overwhelmed with the task.
The first week as the "official" instructor was abound and I was sure to try to prepare myself by getting a little orientation from the guy who organizes the Nordic Kids program about an hour before my first lesson. I was quickly relieved to find out that another gentleman, Mike, was going to be with me for the day, who happens to have much more experience at this stuff than I. For the first part of the two hour class, Mike took over and got the kids doing little exercises and activities to help them improve their skills. It was fun! It was the last hour that things turned sour. Mike sent me up a trail a ways to place some little flags in the middle of the trail to work on turning by making a slalom-type of activity while he stayed in the junction area to feed the kids some M&M's. So, I finished and headed back down the trail to meet up with the group at the junction to see if I could get M&M's too, but they were all gone by the time I got back. I met some of the kids coming up the trail while I was on my way down and I told them to head up to the cones and stop. Then a couple more kids went by and then finally I reached Mike. I tried to tally all the kids and make sure we had them all when I asked Mike where this particular boy was. Mike thought he headed up the trail with some of the other kids. I didn't recall this boy passing by me to go to the cones. We looked around and didn't see any stragglers, so we headed up the trail to find one child missing at the cones. Dang! My first day of teaching these young kids and I lose one! I was shocked, in a sense, that I lost a kid, but not so much that it was this certain boy that happened to be missing. The whole time, he was not really a part of the group and wandering off here and there as if he thought that the group was not advanced enough for him. He knew his stuff because when asked to do the activities, he could do them with skill and ease. Maybe his advanced level of skiing put his head in the clouds and got him a little distracted and wasn't able to hear the other instructor give him instructions to follow the right path. The boy was eventually found when he skied into a group where his parents were. They were concerned that he wasn't with his group and didn't know where to send him back to, so he stayed with them the rest of the time. The boy's father made him apologize to both Mike and myself for not following instructions and staying with the group. He was just too distracted and didn't listen to instructions and missed the voice of reason. I'll never forget my first day teaching ski class when I lost a kid.
It's a couple weeks out past the National Letter of Intent (NLI) day of February 2nd, and I can say that the Pac-12 had a pretty good year, overall. I would like to congratulate USC for bringing in a top 5 class - even with all the sanctions and other disciplinary distractions around the football program. Of course, the Southeastern Conference (SEC) dominated again for the 374th time in a row, so congratulations to that conference. I have been focused on the top 300 athletes according to Scout.com for the past year and have noticed common trends and realized that there seem to be many informed high school seniors out there that have had some guidance and direction to help them out with this very huge decision, and there seems to be a few high school kids that just don't get it and don't seem to be paying attention to what is going on out there in the world of NCAA football. Maybe they lack or missed the voice of reason by someone who may have been there trying to tell them all along. I will touch on a few individuals in both categories and explain why I feel they belong there.
I will first start off with those who I don't feel they put much time and effort into selecting the proper university to follow their dreams of becoming a great football player as someone who is deemed as a very special player that stands out above the rest throughout the entire country. The first name that comes to mind is the 4-star quarterback (QB), Jacoby Brissett, who seemed pretty smart waiting a few days after NLI day, until he made his decision to enroll at Florida where the top, 5-star QB, Jeff Driskel, has already committed for next year. All I need to say is, Tim Tebow and Cam Newton. Where was Newton his first year or so? A little mop-up duty and practice field behind Tebow. If that's Brissett's highest goal in life, to be the backup to the guy who is winning the national title, by all means, you made an excellent choice. However, as the #9 QB in the nation of thousands of QB's, maybe you should get your transfer papers ready right away. He should have listened to his disappointed mother who wanted him to attend another school (I believe it was Miami). Like my little lost skier, he didn't heed the voice of reason.
The next name that I feel that should have chosen differently is the #10 defensive end (DE), Stephon Tuitt. This 5-star commit to Notre Dame came two days after the Irish received three of the five DE commitments in four days; including the #2 DE, 5-star commit, Aaron Lynch and #4 DE, 5-star commit, Ishaq Williams. How many defensive ends are allowed on the field at one time? How many defensive ends rotate in and out throughout the games? How many classes of players are allowed to play college football? I have no doubt that Mr. Tuitt is a very special player; however, the questions posed are legitimate and I am concerned how Coach Brian Kelly addressed those concerns to be able to get another 5-star DE commit. Stephon would be a very smart kid if Notre Dame football only played freshman in games and rotated 10 defensive ends every other play and had five DE's on the field at one time during each play, but I know a little more about football than that to know that it wasn't very smart - especially from a kid that is coming from Georgia!
Two more names, to conclude the "lost" children that believe their talents are better than the people around them who get distracted and the voice of reason fades, belong to the two 4-star talents, #12 tight end (TE), Dillon van der Wal and #38 wide receiver (WR), Lafonte Thourogood. I mention these two names strictly because both committed to Vanderbilt and lost all sense of working real hard to have your efforts pay off to get you places that ordinary people can't get to. Vanderbilt? Really? Why play football at a place that all the other teams in the same conference will call you "bye week" and treat you like a practice squad that has the actual scoreboard lit up to show you exactly how horrible your team is. No matter how easy the four non-conference games are for Vandy, they struggle every year to win two conference games to make them bowl eligible (if they actually win all four non-conference games). Does Dillon and Lafonte realize that Jay Cutler has been in the NFL for a few years now? Quarterbacks at Vanderbilt are not exactly the Heisman front runners every year. Plus, if Vandy had a decent QB, they would be on their backs too quickly to get a throw off due to the offensive line that has to go up against some really good defensive lines throughout the season. All I have to say about those two fellas is, some coach at Vanderbilt really knows how to recruit (two guys) - I can't imagine what was promised to the parents on those visits! If it's academics, I know of a school that has excellent academics and actually played in a bowl game in January - well, it was actually a BCS bowl game that they happened to dominate to end the season with one loss (for those who didn't quite pay attention this last season, it's Stanford). Vanderbilt? Hmmm.
Now, I would love to change gears and focus on those kids who actually thought things through and had the right people around them to guide them properly to find the right fit for their talents and be able to make a positive impact to their future team and university. There were some schools that came out very successful at the end of the day on February 2nd who deserve great athletes because of the excellent facilities, coaches, and programs that play great games each year. Some of the teams that won big this year were; Florida State (obviously with the #1 recruiting class this year), Georgia, Clemson, and Oregon. Both Georgia and Clemson had down years, but finished strong with great recruiting classes to help out their young teams next year. Florida State got just about anybody they tried for. Oregon rarely gets a top 15 recruiting class, but with an appearance in the BCS Championship game in January, it may have helped a little with some TV time and lots of viewers. I'm actually a little shocked that Oregon didn't do a little better due to the exposure they received this year. The #3 defensive tackle (DT), Delvon Simmons may have made a mistake by not going with the Ducks to bolster up a defensive line that needs some size. The choice Simmons made to attend North Carolina may be a little scary after what the Tar Heels went through during this last season and losing some quality defensive players. Can you say, "red flag"? Should have stuck with Oregon, Delvon!
Speaking of Oregon commits, DeAnthony Thomas, the #1 corner back (CB) in the nation took his 5-star talent to Eugene after committing to USC for a long time when he changed his mind and showed up on NLI day in a Ducks shirt that read, "12-0" on the front. Smart kid! DeAnthony doesn't necessarily need to play defense (although that would bolster the defensive backfield nicely with Cliff Harris at the opposite side) because he may be even a better running back. I'm sure Thomas did his research and concluded (maybe with some help) that he would probably get a little lost amongst so many blue-chippers at USC and not get to play as much if he went to the young Ducks team that just went undefeated in regular season and lost by a last second field goal to the national champs in the final game with Chip Kelly who took his first year as a head coach to a Rose Bowl birth and to the national title his second year. With DeAnthony and other superstars that Oregon hasn't been able to recruit consistently over the years like... say... Auburn, may turn Oregon into a powerhouse year-in and year-out. Oh, did you catch that minor slam on Auburn from the last sentence? Figuratively speaking, Auburn, with its ability to recruit much better than "measly" little Oregon, should have lit up the scoreboard so high and blown the young Ducks team away. The size and talent that the Tigers bring in, year-in and year-out recruiting, should drive any non-SEC school back to the 80's to make them sing, "Don't Dream, It's Over" every game - including the championship game.
I can't believe how enormous recruiting is for a program and how dominant one conference can be each year and never exploit it on the field, but consider only words being enough to satisfy the college football fanatics. How disappointing it must be to live in the Southeast and be a huge fan of some SEC school or two and never see their team play legitimate competition every week prior to conference games! There are four chances each year where the SEC schools have to show off their dominant recruiting skills and put those premiere athletes on the field against powerhouses from other automatic qualifying (AQ) conferences and squish them into the turf to prove to the nation the major prowess that the SEC has a reputation for. Instead, they justify the conference slate as so difficult that they need to take on opponents such as: Utah State, Florida Atlantic, Samford (Auburn); Kent State, North Texas, Georgia Southern (Alabama); Florida Atlantic, Alabama-Birmingham, Furman (Florida); Missouri State, New Mexico, Troy (Arkansas); Memphis, Louisiana Tech, Alabama-Birmingham, Tennessee-Martin (Mississippi State); East Carolina, The Citadel (South Carolina); Western Kentucky, Central Michigan, Jacksonville State (Kentucky) - to name a few. Can I just say that the expansion of the Pacific 10 (Pac-10) to the Pac-12 has not made them "sell-out" by stopping the nine conference games like the other 12-team conferences. Instead, they set the bar high, again, and keep the nine conference games and the competitive, three non-conference games. Why don't the other conferences take note? Are they afraid that they won't actually get 80% of their conference bowl eligible every year? Pity!
Back to the smart athletes that were recruited this year, I have to mention Cyrus Kouandjio, the #1 offensive (OT) player overall and #2 overall. Even initially, when he chose Auburn, he would have surrounded himself with a bunch of other freshman talent with 5-star OG, Christian Westerman, 4-star OG, Greg Robinson, and 4-star center, Reese Dismukes. Now that's a solid future that could have taken Auburn really far for a long time. However, the decision to commit to Auburn and not FAX in the letter of intent immediately was very commendable. I'm impressed with that - especially with the end result. It took some serious... uh... "guts" to change from Auburn to their hated rival, Alabama. Cyrus eventually went with his heart and hopefully no regrets.
The same can go with the #1 talent in the nation, DE, Jadeveon Clowney, who took nearly a full two weeks after the NLI day to announce on Valentine's Day - and his birthday, which school he finally selected. Choosing the South Carolina Gamecocks was a wise choice for Jadeveon and his family. The campus is only 30 miles from his home so his family and friends won't need to travel far to watch him play - and he WILL play. He is nearly guaranteed to make an instant impact on Coach Spurrier's defensive line. I'm excited to watch South Carolina finally grow under Spurrier. The only thing that would have made me happier about Jadeveon's decision is if he would have selected a Pac-12 school instead (like USC, Oregon, Oregon State, or Washington), but that wouldn't make much sense for a kid from South Carolina.
So, with Cyrus and Jadeveon heading to SEC schools, according to Scout.com, that gives that conference 26 of the top 100 athletes in the nation and 61 of the top 200 and 94 of the top 300 athletes. Those are huge percentages, especially considering those 26 athletes are split amongst nine of the 12 schools - Kentucky, Mississippi State, and Vanderbilt did not get any of the top 100 athletes this year. As I said earlier, those twelve schools who recruited such great athletes, should display all that talent on the field against weightier opponents. Even with the weightier opponents, those twelve teams should demolish anybody in non-conference play; and I am shocked that the SEC commissioner has not learned from the new Pac-12 commissioner how to bolster up a non-conference slate and requiring more competition at a higher level of play during that part of the season to prove to the nation what it already knows - how dominant the SEC is at football, or at least recruiting.
As they say in betting, "put your money where your mouth is". I want to see better non-conference games from the NCAA's most admired conference. I want to see the SEC drop a non-conference game to add an additional conference match-up like the 2011 fall schedule of the Pac-12 has. I want the SEC to drop those games against Kent State, Georgia Southern, Missouri State, Troy, Samford, Northwestern State, Western Kentucky, Tennessee Martin, Southern Illinois, Furman, Coastal Carolina, Jacksonville State, The Citadel, Buffalo, Elon, and any former Division II (Football Championship Subdivision - FCS) games that are or will be scheduled. You recruit almost 1/3 of the entire top 300 athletes in the country every year! The nation deserves better games from you! You are the SEC! Prove it on the field, not by the jabbering of your jaw! Post season bowl games should not be merely gifts given freely to those who won 2 or 3 conference games, but earned by hard work on and off the field against the better teams out there to prove that you are one of those elite programs that can handle the "big boys". Until you do, you are just a hypocrite who is too afraid to play a full season of football and risk not going to one of the superfluous bowls that have flooded the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS - former Division I) where over half of the entire FBS is invited to play in a post season game (way to really point out the losers) - there's no feeling of success and accomplishment in that.
The talent in this year's recruiting class won't be completely fulfilled for another two or three years and we all shall see whether the voice of reason was heeded or ignored while the promises from the coaches to the players will be exposed for the country to see on the big stages of the BCS bowl games. We will see if the athletes were focused on improvement and getting to a better place and following their correct path, or if they were focused on how good they thought their talent was and how they didn't belong amongst the inferior players around them to cloud their perception of where they should be and eventually get lost - like my little skier. I hope that all the top athletes made the best decisions they could and really took the time to make such an important decision. I also hope that the SEC commissioner will listen to the voice of reason, too, in expecting more from each of the conference's universities in regards to their football schedules. To toot your own horn over five games the past five seasons is merely a reflection of the annual dominance in recruiting; however, to really appear impressive and worthy to be called the number one conference, you have to step up to the plate at some point and really challenge yourself or you will never stretch your limits and grow. You will remain at that particular level of play while the rest of the world is getting better and improving themselves each year and will eventually surpass you and your sub-par standards of scheduling.
