The Great Hype Machine

Did you guys see James Aldridge's performance at the Army All-American Bowl? Did any of you know that James Aldrige was at the AAA Bowl? Probably not, because despite supposedly being the second half of a running back tandem, Aldridge inexplicably sat on the bench and watched while Chris Wells toted the piggy thirteen times, including an AAA Bowl-record three short-yardage touchdowns.

Apparently, the only Running Back on East's roster

I don't mean to detract from Wells' accomplishment, he looks like a very gifted player. But there's a reason that three touchdowns is a record. You see, a normal coach calling a High School All-American game would evenly divide the short-yardage opportunities between the two running backs, as both of them are there to showcase their talent on the big stage. This was not the case with East coach Ted Ginn, Sr, who instead decided the AAA Bowl was his big opportunity to showcase Ohio State's talent and aid their recruiting push. This game isn't about you, coach.


Non-photoshopped picture of Ted Ginn Sr. at an OSU-themed birthday party.

Now I'm not taking a pot shot at Ginn, and this certainly isn't just a case of sour grapes. What Ginn has done at Glenville is very admirable, and I'm sure he's a great guy. Furthermore, having a recruit underutilized in an exhibition game is a very trifling issue, and will more or less be forgotten a week from now. The real issue here is that I'm just not comfortable with a High School football coach being such an explicit booster for a major University. In the ultra-sensitive, very-morally-questionable area of recruiting High School kids to big-time moneymaking college football programs, Ginn's blatant involvement in selling Ohio State from the role of a High School teacher/coach/mentor makes me feel very uncomfortable and slightly queasy.