It only becomes "out of hand" if it begins to hurt the sport. It has not. This is about the most important event in the lives of most of these recruits. Be happy for them as they enjoy their moment in the sun. Pretty soon that moment will turn into blood, sweat and tears as they begin moving toward their next goal - actually seeing the playing field.
I am happy for him, and we'll just have to agree to disagree, but my issue isn't about hurting the sport. he got a scholarship to Alabama to play football...that's great. I bet some kids at that school got academic scholarships to top-flight schools and that probably warranted little more than a mention in the school paper and maybe the local rag.
I will always find the concept of national press conferences to announce that "i'm taking my talents to state u" ridiculous.
the local paper in my town published a list complete with photos of the local kids who were signing to play ball in college...some of them were going to d3 schools. that's great...but they didn't even mention that one of the kids in the same class got a scholarship to MIT. I found out about that from my neighbor, who is a teacher.
sorry, but getting a full-ride to study at MIT is (at least in my book) every bit as impressive (and probably even more so) than getting a chance to play football at Alabama or LSU...and it is certainly more impressive than playing football at Randolph Macon.
i'm happy for any of the kids that get the chance to play college ball, especially at the highest levels, but it's out of hand in my book.