Leading off today: So you think your son or daughter is on the way to pulling down a college scholarship worth $50,000 a year ... if the stupid varsity coach would just do a better job of showcasing all that amazing talent?
Well, you're probably too delusional for anyone to be able to help you at this juncture. As for the 99.5 percent of parents who are a bit more reasonable when it comes to college ambitions and expectations, Lynn O'Shaughnessy of CBS recently listed eight things parents and athletes need to know about scholarships.
Some is basic math -- as in only about 2 percent of student-athletes actually are awarded scholarships. And even many of those athletes only get partial scholarships. At any given time, the list of lacrosse players getting more than a 50 percent free ride is shorter than the list of your Facebook friends who aren't currently annoying everyone with partisan political rambling in their postings.
O'Shaughnessy also talks about how the number of hours spent on the field and in the weight room more or less makes it impossible for all but the most disciplined students to major is a library- or lab-intensive discipline such as engineering or pre-med.
As an aside to that, I had a memorable lunch with a player's father last year. My longtime friend had little reason to exaggerate since his son was a legitimate prospect at the time of his recruitment. He told me how one major college head coach expressed interest in his son but still advised him to pursue other avenues because they considered him a bit bookwormish -- which would have made him an awkward fit with his teammates.
O'Shaughnessy also advises against hiring recruitment services or producing slick highlight videos. To that I would add one more related bit of advice I've offered before: Don't obsess about all-star teams selected at the end of the season by league coaches or media. Those teams, including our own New York State Sportswriters Association all-state picks, are 99 percent useless to Division I coaches.
I do know Division III coaches who've done a nice job of getting in on the ground floor by scouring such lists for underclassmen -- former St. John Fisher College women's basketball coach Phil Kahler, a small-college legend in the sport, subscribed to numerous Ohio and Western Pennsylvania newspapers in the pre-Internet days to start laying the groundwork for some impressive recruiting. That can lead to a minor windfall of need-based financial aid at the lower levels, but coaches with scholarship money don't do it that way.
One tough hombre: Baldwinsville running back Tyler Rouse is well on his way to finishing near the top in many career categories related to yardage in scoring. On Friday, he showed some of the toughness and ambition that make a good player great.
The Post-Standard reported that Rouse missed the entire third quarter of a 59-28 victory over Rome Free Academy while at a nearby hospital to get stitches in his lip.
That, though, was not the end of his night. He returned to the field and went back into the lineup, scoring on a 50-yard run in the fourth quarter to finish with 26 carries for five TDs and a season-high 366 yards.
Rouse's four-game totals stand at 1,214 yards and 18 touchdowns.
More football: I posted a recap of some noteworthy
