I don't need to chill out, but thank you for your concern none-the-less.
This is true. There are recruits that have chosen to commit to the school that first offered them, whether you choose to call them, your choice of word, an idiot, or not.
As to the flag waving, what you are saying is that we wouldn't have made fun of Vanstrom if he had chosen to do nothing but stare at the field.
He could have saved himself the embarrasment and ridicule if he had done nothing.
As to your statement about people who read message boards, and believe what is written there, and if they do, they are, again, your choice of word, idiots, ....... there are people in this world that suffer from depression, they have self esteem issues, crticism and sarcasm devastate their psyche. I seem to recall a fifteen year old that believed in a contrived on-line romance. When she was spurned, she took her own life.
If indeed it is true Stevie Hicks suffered from depression and self-esteem issues, I hope that not one thing ever said on this message board took one moment of happiness from his tragically shortened life. People read message boards, and words do affect them. God bless the Hick's family and everyone who cared for him.
I didn't say that recruits who end up signing with the first school that recruited them are idiots, just that doing so for the sole reason that you were the first school that talked to them is an idiotic thing to do.
Yes, that's probably true. It's a pretty obvious thing, I think. I don't know anyone took him seriously as a lineman, and he brought that on himself. I don't know the kid. I'm sure he's a nice guy, and I'm sure he worked hard, but I can assure you that he will be remembered more for waving towels than for playing football. The alternative would be to be a nondescript 3rd string lineman and graduate with pretty much nobody knowing who he was.
And, quite frankly, if they are choosing to play D1A football - especially BCS football -, you better get used to living life in the limelight. You're making the choice to be a celebrity, and there's a bunch of stuff that comes along with it - positive or negative, 18 year old kid or not.
I'm not going to, and I don't think anyone should, tiptoe around words just because someone might have emotional problems. They need to get help for their emotional problems, not have everyone pat them on the back constantly and have every word they say or type lay on pins and needles to keep from offending.
The comparison to the poor girl in Missouri is nuts. That girl killed herself over relationship problems because she was led on by some crazy woman pretending to be a 16 year old boy. That's way different than people mad that Jason Scales is playing running back instead of A-Rob because he's not as good of a runner.
Look, this board is full of people who fly off the handle for no real reason and make unreasonable, borderline psychotic statements about players and coaches - both positive and negative. If they don't want to deal with that, they ought to stay the heck away from the message boards (like the coaches all say they do). Again, if you take to heart what crazy people say on the internet, you're an idiot.