Imrem: Another black mark on college football calendar
The first Wednesday in February is the Super Bowl for levels of football scrambling underneath the NFL.
It's also when I have an annual dream that we can wake up from one of college football's many nightmares.
That would be the horrors of the verbal commitment.
Wednesday is National Signing Day - also known as Liar's Poker Day - and it should be rendered meaningless.
Instead let every day of every year be National Signing Day for college-football recruiters and high school football recruits.
You know that cute grade-school phenom who says he wants to go to State U. and for whom State U. says a scholarship is waiting?
End the wait and allow both sides to make it official.
Seriously, let the preteen and his parents bind themselves in writing to the school and its coach. And let the school and its coach do likewise in writing to the kid.
If a family is sure the youngster's declared destination will remain a particular school, and a school is confident the kid's potential will remain tantalizing … everybody sign on the dotted line and live with the decision.
Overall, make verbal commitments against the rules.
If a kid publicly expresses devotion to a school and the school leaks that he was promised a scholarship but they didn't seal the deal with signatures, rule them ineligible to ever get together.
No more verbal commitments; no more decommitments; no more naked reverses and double reverses.
Rampant reneging leaves an especially dark mark on college football.
It's as smarmy as improper inducements like the suitcase filled with cash, the coaching job for a prospect's uncle and the coeds entertaining visiting recruits.
Shower once, Mr. Booster, shower twice, Mrs. Alum, and keep showering, Mr. and Mrs. College Football Fans.
Ideally, a person's word would be as hard to erase as a tattoo. In this game it's more like a mustache that can be shaved when convenient.
The local story is that at least six high school players decommitted from Illinois.
Makes you wonder whether they also will stand up their prom dates when better options became available.
The national story is Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh pulling scholarship offers from players who verbally had accepted them.
Makes you wonder how long it will take for Harbaugh to stand up Michigan when the right NFL team calls.
In Illinois' case, players thought they could move up in class. In Michigan's case, the Wolverines thought they could move up in class.
Creating upward mobility is the American way, isn't it? Certainly more so than fulfilling a commitment is, right?
Harbaugh takes the strategy to an extreme, but players and coaches have been reneging forever.
As a USA Today article put it, "In the world of recruiting, it's every man for himself."
One way to blunt the madness is for the media to ignore verbal commitments. If a young man tweets that he's going to the University of Wherever, file it with other social-media silliness until he signs to make it official.
Again, the way to end this particular brand of naughtiness entirely is allowing a player to sign with any university at any time.
Then a kid who committed to Northern Illinois couldn't back out when Ohio State called. Nor could a coach who offered a free ride to a 300-pounder back out when a 330-pounder visited.
The system would be a little less smarmy, though it's unclear whether college football cares whether it is.
mimrem@dailyherald.com