Make fun of the guys who will spend all morning and early afternoon in their phones or computers if you want.
But do so on your own peril, and know this: National Signing Day matters.
It make not matter in terms of five-stars or three-stars on specific players since the ranking system is far from an exact science.
But it does matter because without the horses your team can't win consistently regardless of the level.
Certainly talent development has a lot to do with program progression, but to even suggest teams can remain among the heavyweights - be it in the SEC or the SoCon - without top-line talent is foolish.
And, as more and more underclassmen declare for the NFL draft, adding impact freshmen has never been more important.
Look around, and the teams standing at the end are almost always the healthiest and the deepest.
Those traits can be co-dependent. Staying healthy obviously helps depth. Conversely, if your team is deep, alternating playing time and keeping kids fresh helps to prevent injury.
Alabama has become the Michael Jordan of Signing Day. Yes, they may not capture the No. 1 overall class today, but they are going to close quickly.
That the Tide are not atop the rankings has more to do with numbers than stars. Alabama welcomed back a host of big-name players that many thought were headed to the draft, including projected first-round defensive lineman Jonathan Allen. That limits the size of Alabama's class, but certainly not the impact of the 'newcomers' considering most everyone expected Allen, O.J. Howard and Eddie Jackson for sure to move to Sundays.
Alabama's skills on signing day past is more than simply luring the best classes almost every year since Nick Saban overtook the SEC.
Alabama rarely misses on elite prospects, landing five-star players who play like they deserve five stars. Other than a couple of off-the-field incidents - and those happen to everyone regardless of star power - Alabama's five-star misses barely fill up one hand.
Then there's how Saban has developed and perpetuated that star system into a real and contributing difference maker.
irst, he has never shied from playing freshman, although he rarely has needed to at Alabama because of the talent level. Still, if you are a
Julio Jones or an Amari Cooper or a Cam Robinson, and you deserve to be on the field, you get on the field. This is not lost on prospective recruits.
Second, Alabama has more future NFL talent on special teams than any team anywhere outside of the NFL. Granted, almost all of it is young, but a multitude of the names you know in Alabama's class today will be covering kicks and trying to block punts next fall. It's the Tide's five-star cycle of life.: "Come to Alabama. Dominate special teams as a freshman. Become a starter as a sophomore. Get drafted and make coin. Rinse and repeat." Forget Timon and Pumbaa. This is Saban's pattern to the Alabama Pride Land, his own "Big Kahuna Tada" if you will.
Third, the multitude of star power allows Saban to be even more demanding of his front-line players. Think of it this way, if Derek Barnett or Carl Lawson consistently jump offside for Tennessee or Auburn, those coaching staffs are forced to try to work through the situation because the talent level of Barnett and Lawson is so far superior to the rest of his teammates. It's not an uncommon scenario and one certainly not limited to football.
Alabama, though, is different. If most players make silly mistakes, they simply find their way to the end of the line. Playing time is so precious and the difference between first and second string is so scant in most positions, that Saban can demand better.
It allows him to be perfection's guardian in a lot of ways, and if you think about, it's hard to remember the last time Alabama had trouble with presnap penalties or foolish turnovers. (Yes, the five turnovers against Ole Miss was an outlier, and if the rest of the college football world is going to need five Alabama turnovers to win, well, that's a powerful statement on its own.)
Alabama's power comes from its talent, plain and simple. Are they accomplished at developing that talent? Sure.
But the path to the top for Saban and the Tide was paved with a whole lot of victories on the first Wednesday in Febraury over the last decade.
Still think it doesn't matter?
Super Bowl
We are counting down the days until the Super kick off.
(And apologies for not updating the Super Bowl Rushmore plan we started last week. That's on us. Today, and since we watched a special on it last night, we'll go Super Bowl commercials. And yes, Mean Joe and the kid and the Coke are definitely there.)
There have been media circuses and bus crashes. There's been a ton of discussion about quarterbacks and skin color, quarterbacks and legacies and futures and even quarterbacks and rodeo clowns and $900 Versace pants.
There also has been considerable talk of the two defenses. Denver is the best group in the league statistically; Carolina is ranked sixth in total defense.
Each is filled with super stars.
(Side note: Not to undo what we wrote above, but three of the bigger names on these Super defenses were far from high-star talent back in their signing days. DeMarcus Ware, Denver's future Hall of Fame pass rusher, went to Troy. Carolina's All-Pro duo of Luke Kuechly - a three-star recruit who went to Boston College - and Josh Norman - a no-star recruit who walked on at Coastal Carolina - certainly were not the toast of signing day as high school seniors. That said, the individual success story, no matter how inspiring, does not alter the narrative of team value on signing day.)
Is the game as simple as which defense is best? Maybe.
But the pressure is certainly on Denver's defense, considering the margin of error for the Broncos' offense is so slim. Plus, the challenge Cam Newton presents is staggering.
It's hard to fathom that Newton and a collection of less-than-heralded skill players are the league's highest scoring offense.
So Denver's defense has as much pressure as anyone this side of Cam come Sunday. Can they pressure the passer is a big question?
Can they handle the pressure of dictating the game is a bigger question.
Big and blue
Not sure what to make of college basketball this year.
Duke is unranked for the first time since 2007. Kentucky is schizophrenic. (OK, we have rarely been as wrong as we were predicting the
Wildcats to roll through Knoxville last night. Well, we were right for the first nine minutes as UK built a 21-point lead, only to collapse. Here's some excellent coverage from TFP aces Downtown Patrick Brown http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/sports/college/story/2016/feb/03/vols-top-kentucky-after-trailing-21/348150/ and Mark Wiedmer http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/sports/columns/story/2016/feb/03/wiedmer-vols-wone-ages/348153/.)
The schools littered around the top 25 are far from household names. Xavier, Providence, Texas A&M and SMU were a third of the top 12 in Monday's AP poll for Pistol Pete's sake.
So what does that mean? Nothing. And everything.
It means the path to the tournament is filled with potholes. It means that once the ball is tipped come March, the madness will be Jack Nicholson in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" crazy. It means that in no sport like college hoops can one season completely flip the script.
So it goes, and in a year this unpredictable, maybe UK blowing a 21-point lead is not that crazy.
Nope, it's still really crazy.
This and that
- This is pretty cool http://www.cbssports.com/golf/eye-on-golf/25470981/watch-stewart-cink-makes-94-foot-putt-to-win-gt-student-25000. Yep, that's Stewart Cink drilling a 94-foot putt on Georgia Tech's basketball floor to win some kid $25,000.
- This is tragic http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/14702227/jibri-bryan-23-year-old-mercer-bears-guard-shot-killed-convenience-store-macon-georgia. Mercer starting guard Jibri Bryan was shot and killed Tuesday afternoon at a convince store. He was 23.
- UTC basketball coach Matt McCall was on Press Row on Tuesday afternoon, and he paid tribute to the efforts of previous coaches Will Wade and John Shulman for crafting this talented roster. McCall is a class act and we've said this before and sadly believe it more everyday: UTC will be lucky to have him beyond the 2017 tournament. (And in truth, that extra year may even be a stretch depending on how these Mocs do in the postseason.)
- It appears that the Cleveland Browns are ready to part ways with Johnny Manziel. All jokes aside, here's hoping that dude gets his act together.
- Here's hoping everyone is healthy after the Denver bus had a fender bender this week http://nypost.com/2016/02/03/broncos-more-banged-up-after-bus-crash-than-first-thought/.
- Man, this would be the ultimate NBA dream team, right? Can the Warriors possibly sign Kevin Durant http://sports.yahoo.com/news/how-the-warriors-can-afford-to-sign-kevin-durant-043710075.html? Man, that would seem unfair.
Today's question
Feel free to weigh in on the Super Rushmore above.
Also of note, today is the day that the music died when Buddy Holly and Richtie Valens and the Big Bopper's plane crashed.
It's also Fred Lynn's 64th birthday. Man Fred Lynn was fun to watch when we were young. Dude was sneaky fast and roamed centerfield like few in his day. (That Boston outfield of Jim Rice-Lynn-Dwight Evans was awesome.)
In honor of Fred Lynn (Shout out Spy), let's go with a Rushmore of athletes with two first names. (Not counting Jim Bob Cooter; we are counting Marcus Allen.)
P.S. Remember the mailbag.