MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

Carroll...

* Kale Maupin, 6-3 PG/SG (Peotone H.S.) - 15.9 ppg, 7.1 rpg

http://www.russell-publications.com/articles/27757/peotones-maupin-inks-with-carroll-college

Yet another small-town newspaper that doesn't understand how D3 works.

[AndOne]

NCC RECRUIT:

North Central is happy to announce that they have received a comittment from 6'1" 185 lb. SG
Nick Chambers (39.4 FG%, 83.6 FT%, 74 three pointers) of Chicago Mt. Carmel.

[Smitty Oom]

Carroll...

* Kale Maupin, 6-3 PG/SG (Peotone H.S.) - 15.9 ppg, 7.1 rpg

http://www.russell-publications.com/articles/27757/peotones-maupin-inks-with-carroll-college

Yet another small-town newspaper that doesn't understand how D3 works.

Are you talking about the fact that the newspaper says "ink" and "signs"? Because there is a new D3 rule that allows for D3 student athletes to sign a non-binding letter of intent and be recognized at HS signings. So technically he did sign a "letter of intent" it just is not legal in any type of way.

[AndOne]

It's still not a Letter Of Intent, Smitty. The D3 version is officially called a Celebratory Signing Document. Technically, a student-athlete can now "sign" with a school, but you cannot correctly say he/she signed a Letter Of Intent, which is legally binding document as opposed to the Celebratory Signing Document which is not.
The CSD, and any associated "signing" ceremony, now provides future D3 athletes a chance to have some fun, get some recognition, and exhibit some pride that previously only future D1 and D2 (athletic scholarship) players could experience and enjoy.

[Mr. Ypsi]

It's still not a Letter Of Intent, Smitty. The D3 version is officially called a Celebratory Signing Document. Technically, a student-athlete can now "sign" with a school, but you cannot correctly say he/she signed a Letter Of Intent, which is legally binding document as opposed to the Celebratory Signing Document which is not.
The CSD, and any associated "signing" ceremony, now provides future D3 athletes a chance to have some fun, get some recognition, and exhibit some pride that previously only future D1 and D2 (athletic scholarship) players could experience and enjoy.

I think it is a plus that future D3 athletes can now get some kudos (and clippings for their [parents'] scrapbooks).

I think it is a minus that the 98+% of readers (and, alas 95+% of sportswriters) who know basically nothing about D3 sports will now have reason to be even further confused.

Since the latter-mentioned readers and sportswriters may be virtually uneducable anyway, I'd call it a net plus for the athletes and their families.

[kiko]

As far as Getting Things Wrong goes, this seems pretty meaningless to me.  It isn't 100% accurate, but captures the spirit of the kids' choice ("I have chosen to matriculate and play at SUNY Northeast Tech Baptist School of Engineering") reasonably accurately.

[Titan Q]

As far as Getting Things Wrong goes, this seems pretty meaningless to me.  It isn't 100% accurate, but captures the spirit of the kids' choice ("I have chosen to matriculate and play at SUNY Northeast Tech Baptist School of Engineering") reasonably accurately.

Agree.  Whether a newspaper says "Letter of Intent" or "Celebratory Signing Document"...who cares.

[Gregory Sager]

It's a brand issue, kiko and Bob. D3 schools do not offer athletic scholarships. That's not a liability as far as the people who are affiliated with our institutions are concerned, it's a virtue. Our division offers a vision of college sports that's based upon a very different philosophy of what intercollegiate athletics (and the college experience in general) is all about than is seen in the scholarship divisions (including the NAIA). Why encourage misleading language that would cause readers to assume that the opposite is true?

D3 is underreported, little-understood, and doesn't get much respect as it is. Accepting erroneous journalism concerning the division as being no big deal really isn't helping our cause. D3 needs better publicity than what it's getting.

[Titan Q]

It's a brand issue, kiko and Bob. D3 schools do not offer athletic scholarships. That's not a liability as far as the people who are affiliated with our institutions are concerned, it's a virtue. Our division offers a vision of college sports that's based upon a very different philosophy of what intercollegiate athletics (and the college experience in general) is all about than is seen in the scholarship divisions (including the NAIA). Why encourage misleading language that would cause readers to assume that the opposite is true?

D3 is underreported, little-understood, and doesn't get much respect as it is. Accepting erroneous journalism concerning the division as being no big deal really isn't helping our cause. D3 needs better publicity than what it's getting.

I guess I'm just saying that now that there is actually a form kids can sign in Division III, I honestly don't think there is any brand impact on a newspaper writing "letter of intent" vs "celebratory signing document." In reality, the average reader would never distinguish between the two -- he/she is simply learning that little Johnny has officially decided to go to [insert school]. 

Division III has plenty of brand battles to fight...I just don't really think this one is worth the time and attention.

[kiko]

My POV is similar to Q's.  I'm not encouraging misleading language -- in this case, I just don't care enough to agitate for greater precision.

There are plenty of battles that D3-philes should wage in the quest for respect and validation.  This one is far enough down on the list that I will save my arsenal for other battles.

[Gregory Sager]

I just don't agree. Neither D3 as a whole nor most of its member schools are well-known enough for the general public to understand that the words "letter of intent" would mean something completely different for D3 student-athletes if it was applied to them, so they will always assume that the student-athlete in question is getting a scholie and that the school in question gives them out.

Journalists need to do their homework and find out that a "celebratory signing document" (which is a bit of a clunker as far as names go, admittedly) is not called the same thing as a "letter of intent" for a reason. And, heck, some journalists (like the one in Peotone) need to get their facts straight in the first place and call the document what it is.

[sac]

I think what Greg is trying to say is there will be no media passes to North Park athletic events available to the Peotone Daily Journal.



On a more serious note, this allows kids to partake in the high school signing days along with its other athletes where in the past D3 kids were usually excluded.  For parents its nice to see their kids face in the paper and have a nice ceremony particularly to celebrate a pretty nice moment esp. for those who might be the first kids in their family to even go to college.  Its not really damaging to anyone in D3 if the general public etc. has no idea its not an actual athletic based scholarship.  Chances are pretty good anyway they are receiving some form of financial aide.  So sign away.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I don't think it is a big deal.  While annoying, I also find it a useful 'red flag' when 'journalists' make such a mindless error - if they are that clueless about a distinguishing characteristic of D3, what else don't they know and have gotten wrong?

[Gregory Sager]

I think what Greg is trying to say is there will be no media passes to North Park athletic events available to the Peotone Daily Journal.

Not unless NPU lands a good ballplayer from the Peotone H.S. Blue Devils.

(For the record, I don't remember any NPU student-athletes ever hailing from that particular high school.)

On a more serious note, this allows kids to partake in the high school signing days along with its other athletes where in the past D3 kids were usually excluded.  For parents its nice to see their kids face in the paper and have a nice ceremony particularly to celebrate a pretty nice moment esp. for those who might be the first kids in their family to even go to college.  Its not really damaging to anyone in D3 if the general public etc. has no idea its not an actual athletic based scholarship.  Chances are pretty good anyway they are receiving some form of financial aide.  So sign away.

I don't think that anybody objects to the signing ceremony. Anything that: a) encourages a kid to enroll at a D3 school; and b) gets the kid and his chosen institution into a newspaper of any sort, is a good thing in my book. And, no, it's not a crisis if the local birdcage liner gets the facts wrong and says (either explicitly or implicitly) that the kid is going to get an athletic scholarship from a school that is actually a D3 institution. But stuff like this is incremental. It's another small element that adds to misconceptions about the school involved, particularly since, as I said, most D3 schools are not well-known among the general public, even within their targeted recruitment area. Over time these misconceptions pile up if unchecked by someone in the know, especially when they're done by a journalist who isn't doing his or her job by checking the facts. (And what Chuck said about journalist error is true; the more mistakes a media outlet makes, the less likely I am to accept anything it publishes or transmits as being factual.)

[sac]

I don't think it is a big deal.  While annoying, I also find it a useful 'red flag' when 'journalists' make such a mindless error - if they are that clueless about a distinguishing characteristic of D3, what else don't they know and have gotten wrong?

Unfortunately today's journalists don't have the space to provide a definition of differentiation for D3 schools every time an athlete commits.   Just something we have to live with.