Customs of American Sports

When you type in on Google something along the lines of "Christian French signs with Oregon" a page will pop up that looks something like this. When you get a whole page or more of topics that are actually what you were intended to find, you know it is a widely discussed topic. However, what I don't understand, is how a senior from John F. Kennedy High School in little ol' CR manages to get so much publicity.

Okay, I'm not stupid... I understand why that is so and I'm not necessarily saying I am against it but let me just play devil's advocate for a second here. Is it really necessary to have a press conference in the cafeteria of our high school to announce it? They had the tables and the microphones and the news cameras and all these important looking people just so French could announce what school was is going to be going to for the next four years. When I decide what school I'm going to be going to, I highly doubt the press will be filling the room with their cameras and microphones pointed at me anxiously waiting my decision... just saying.

Like I said, I was just playing devil's advocate so let me just clear something up. I am not the type of person who is jealous of the treatment that any young athlete signing with a college gets. In an issue of our school newspaper that came out the week French announced his decision, there was a whole page devoted to his choice and the choice people thought he would make. And as you can imagine, there were those students who said "I don't understand why he deserves a whole page just for this." or "Why did there have to be a press conference for it?" and when people said that it just made it seem as though they were jealous of the recognition he was receiving. I feel any athlete who is good enough to sign with a top notch team deserves to be recognized for that achievement and I think it reflects greatly on their family and their high school. I appalled those kids who devote so much time and effort to the grueling responsibilities that come with being a student athlete.

I am not trying to single out Christian French, by any means, but what I am getting at in all of this is how did the tradition come about that the rest of the country cares about where a particular student ends up going to play college football, especially if they may or may not even start out playing initially? Who decides what athletes are worthy of the press conference and coverage? What schools are considered good enough for people to care about who they sign? These are the questions that go through my mind when I am trying to figure out this absurd custom we have come to adopt.