National signing day

Dre Kirkpatrick picked up the Texas hat and said, "This hat ain't got no swagger."
The top-ranked quarterback in the country then reached under the table where he was sitting Wednesday afternoon in a packed high school gym in Gadsden, Ala., and pulled out a black duffel bag. He plopped the bag atop the Longhorns hat and unzipped it, revealing a red gift box inside. With flashbulbs popping, Kirkpatrick removed the lid from the box and produced a small black bag. After a few moments of fumbling, Kirkpatrick fished out a black hat.
It bore a signature "A" logo. Kirkpatrick would be going to Alabama to play football.
What a perfect charade for national signing day.
On the surface, the day is a symbol of the best blue-chip prospects announcing where they will spend their college years. Except that essentially it's just another media fabrication, a manifestation of a culture obsessed with superlatives and celebrities. Many top prospects had made up their mind weeks ago, while a few (remember Terrelle Pryor last year?) won't decide for a while. Some top programs have wrapped up their recruiting of seniors and moved on to making phone calls to juniors.
But don't tell that to the media. The NFL Network, Comcast SportsNet and CBS College Sports all had coverage, but nobody outdid ESPN. ESPNews, ESPN360 and "SportsCenter" all gave continuous updates, while "ESPN First Take" even got in on the action. The centerpiece was ESPNU's Super Bowl-like nine hours of coverage (10 a.m. to 7 p.m.), an increase from seven hours last year. Among a host of analysts and coaches droning on about "playmakers" and "big winners" — with heavy doses of "may be," "could be" and "possibly" — the network found time to squeeze in live coverage of 10 players' signings. Kirkpatrick, the ninth, got his face time just after 3 p.m.
After more rounds of pseudoanalysis, the network cut to Marlon Brown, anointed the No. 5 wide receiver in the country, sitting in a gym in Memphis, Tenn. Next to Brown were four people wearing hats representing four of Brown's choices. Upon prodding from the ESPNU anchor, Brown reached to his right and plucked the Georgia hat to signify his decision. He said he had made up his mind sometime Monday (he couldn't remember).
It was 3:45 p.m. For the final three-plus hours, there was little else to do but continue the charade.