Category Archives: Social Media

College Basketball Recruiting During the Coronavirus Pandemic

July 28, 2020 By in College Athletics, Social Media, Uncategorized Leave a comment

This is a unique era… Since March, college athletic departments have been effectively shut down… The NCAA has halted ALL face to face recruiting for Division 1 college basketball coaches… Since March, D1 Basketball recruiting, both men’s and women’s, has been in a dead period…

Shit is at a complete standstill…

During a dead period a college coach may not have face-to-face contact with college-bound student-athletes or their parents, and may not watch student-athletes compete or visit their high schools. A “dead” period is a time when coaches cannot have any contact other than phone contact with players they are recruiting. Coaches can’t scout, visit players’ homes, bring recruits in for visits, talk to them in-person. Coaches may write and telephone student-athletes or their parents during a dead period.

We are approaching the 6th month of the current extended dead period. It’s seems likely that the dead period will be extended through the fall.

This begs the question: What should class of 2021 boys and girls with D1 scholarship offers do? How should they proceed?

If kids have scholarship offers that are real, meaning the head coach would accept a commitment, the kid should carefully weigh his options and accept one of the scholarship offers sooner rather than later. Bear in mind, college coaches are constantly engaged in the roster management process. While they may have offered kid A a scholarship, most likely they have made similar offers to kid B, kid C and kid D. Even if kid A is the preferred target, the coach has an obligation to his staff and his team to effectively administer the roster management process.

If the team needs a point guard and kid A is the primary preferred target, but kid B is acceptable and ready to commit, the coach will likely take the commitment from kid B rather than risk not landing an acceptable point guard prospect.

In such a scenario, the options for kid A will be reduced over time as kid B, kid C and kid D accept scholarships. If kid A knows where he wants to go to school and they have offered him a scholarship, he should accept it.

Sometimes, people advising kids want to keep the process open to help other kids in an AAU or HS program. The thought is that having college coaches coming out to see the star player will help increase the visibility for lesser known players in the program. In many instances, that is true…

Not today though… The coaches ain’t coming out…

The advisers may also argue that other “higher profile” programs will eventually offer and the kid shouldn’t take the offers on the table.

Maybe… maybe not… It’s truly a crap shoot this year…

We are operating in truly unforeseen circumstances. Ordinarily, college coaches would have had an opportunity to evaluate kid A in April, June and July during AAU/Grassroots live periods, NCAA camps and HS live periods. Those evaluation opportunities were nonexistent this year. In normal times, college coaches would be able to visit high schools in September and October and evaluate kids in “open gym” settings. It does not appear that D1 coaches will be allowed to do so this year.

The dead period is likely to continue through the fall… It is what it is…

So… If kids have real offers, they have to be creative and find ways to gather the information necessary to make a decision. While they cannot take official or unofficial visits to campuses and engage athletic department staff, they can visit the city and tour the campus on their own. If they really want to see what the campus looks like, get on a plane or gas up the car and go check it out on your own. Ask people questions while you are there. Do what you can do without assistance or contact from the basketball staff.

It’s a big decision… Treat it as such…

Do NOT wait for permission from the NCAA to take official or unofficial visits… It’s probably not coming…

Again… If kids have scholarship offers that are real, meaning the head coach would accept a commitment, the kid should carefully weigh his options and accept one of the scholarship offers sooner rather than later.

Don’t let kid B, kid C or kid D take the scholarship you really want…

Social Media and Dumb Muthafuckas: The Gift and The Curse…

July 8, 2020 By in Social Media Leave a comment

One of the greatest joys I have experienced is to have my ideas and thoughts read and responded to by thousands of people across the globe in just a few hours. Last night, I wrote a piece that was read 2,849 times in less than 24 hours. It reached folk in Canada, Thailand, Afghanistan, Switzerland, Lithuania, Isreal, Ecuador and Spain. This was not possible 25 years ago.

Social media has allowed writers, photographers, videographers and other content creators to share their work quickly and directly with a wide ranging audience. By social media, I mean the sum total of websites and applications that are designed to allow people to share content quickly, and engage with the public efficiently, and in real-time. The ability to share ideas, opinions, videos and photographs in real-time has transformed the way we live and address social phenomena.

From the outset of my “Black Cager” social media journey, I’ve always wanted to make my content accessible. I make it a point to use common (some say coarse) language. I find common everyday language is inviting to people that may not ordinarily spend 10-15 minutes perusing an opinion piece. As a result, I’ve pulled in some “non-traditional” readers. Lately, I find that this strategy may have costs that outweigh the potential benefits.

There has emerged a crew of critics that mistakenly assume the accessible and common language form unsophisticated arguments. Key points go over their head like Vince Carter’s dunk on Frederic Weis.

It’s becoming more and more frustrating. While I welcome their readership, these clumsy, crude and childlike thinkers have repeatedly proven themselves incapable of grasping even slightly nuanced and subtle lines of reasoning.

Indeed, I am sure a few of them they are working their way through this essay. So… Let me take this opportunity to be perfectly clear… I want them to grasp the thesis of this particular essay…

Y’all some real dumb muthafuckas!

Over and over, their responses to points raised in different pieces display an astonishing lack of intellectual rigor. Simply put, they wade into the deepest end of the pool and they can’t swim a fuckin’ lick.

Honestly, I’m waiting for one of them to start a feeble retort with “I stayed in a Holiday Inn Express last night…”

For several years now, I’ve been hoping to see even a glimmer of clarity in thinking… I await anxiously even the faintest display of an ability to think carefully, deeply and with rigor when faced with new knowledge and arguments.

Alas, I have come to the realization that it is not forthcoming… ever. It cannot come… Like my ol’ heads said back in the day. “you can’t get blood from a turnip.”

They lack the capability of engaging constructively and methodically when exploring ideas, theories and philosophies. They can’t think at the conceptual or societal level. Hence, they resort to and rely upon “I just don’t like him… He ain’t shit… He’s getting a bag” and other tired personalized insults and tropes.

FUCK ‘EM…

I’ve come to the sad conclusion that they simply do not possess the ability to analyze and construct knowledge with depth, insight and intellectual maturity. It is apparent that they never applied themselves in school. Sadly, they never learned how to learn. For a large number of Blacks, these attributes are acquired via the challenge of ongoing and systematic study at places like Hampton, Howard, Spelman, Fisk, Lincoln, Cheyney, Morgan and Delaware State. Intellectual rigor is encouraged and nurtured in learning communities designed to expand and strengthen young Black minds. The challenge for faculty at these institution is impart into students the ability to consider other points of view and make a thoughtful argument.

I have resigned myself to the fact that countless hours spent playing Madden and NBA2k or hanging out at Danny Wok’s, Jim’s Steaks and Sneaker Villa is simply not an adequate substitute for reading a book.

Please note that I fully realize that formal education does not necessarily lead to intelligence. Indeed, some of brightest and most thoughtful brothers I have encountered spent considerable time learning, reading and studying while incarcerated or developing and refining their skills working one of the trades. What separates these guys from the pack of dullards is their ability to recognize and acknowledge when they don’t know something.

The dumbest muthafuckas really, truly think they have THE answer. They are quick to grab a mic or go live to “call it how they see it”… Huh?

Ignorant and ill-formed folk have been inspired by the singular ascendance of one of their own to the highest office in the land in 2016. As a result, they really believe they are experts and capable of expounding on a wide range of topics… It’s America… Have at it… Dumb muthafuckas…

All I ask is that you stay over there and leave me the fuck alone…