There are many things in society that simply don’t fit sometimes. Hats. Shoes. Sweaters remind you of the saying “You can’t stuff a 2lb Bologna in a 1lb bag dude.” After a few Holidays, you notice things start to look like Chris Farley in “Tommy Boy” during his “Fat guy in a little coat” song. When you get older though (and presumably wiser) you also tend to recognize other things that don’t fit. Like ignorance, arrogance, and corruption.

I used to think growing up that it was a given that adults tend to screw it up for the rest of us kids just when we were starting to have fun. Nowadays, I couldn’t feel any stronger about that. At least in a few instances. Maybe I was never in the right working environment, or maybe I was too naive, but nearly every classroom setting no matter how unruly the kids were, it was always my peers that seemed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Granted I’m not an angel, but everyone reading this knows what I’m talking about.

The stories of corruption within Booster Programs at Countryside and Sickles are beyond disturbing. Head Coaches at schools where the last thing needed is another example of cheating are essentially acting like real life versions of Alonzo Harris from “Training Day”. And we’re not even talking about some of the priceless gems from the Recruiting Trail this year. Yet.

Now if you’re thinking that this “rant” is about you, then I’d say you’ve got a little too much Carly Simon on the brain. Or James Taylor. Whichever side of that lovers quarrel you take. What’s also going on can be borrowed from one of my favorite movies “Cool Hand Luke”: “You see….what we have here….is failure…to communicate.” Coaches are following in the very footsteps of the kids they are blasting and jump ship at the first sign of disagreement with other coaches, parents, players, or administrations. (That last component may be the biggest group of questionable characters on the block, but the one group you’ll never beat. Just saying.)

By now, if you haven’t thrown something at the computer screen over me calling out adults, then let me leave you with this little diddy about Jack and Di…what a second, about Natalie and Cyrus, and Gene?!

So for those of you that don’t know Auburn, Alabama has now reached the same level as New York, Paris, and South Beach. I mean WHO WOULDN’T want to pack the house at Chameleon of Auburn? Nothing says you’ve made it until you’ve played Radio City Music Hall, or the Chameleon. Somebody had to set this up. I doubt it was Colin from the Alpha Tau Omega house that wants to be a Street Agent some day trying to put his stamp on the program. My point is that Cecil Newton was an adult, the promoters involved in this are adults, it takes adults to influence kids on this kind of scale. Just take a look at the pictures, even the dudes LOOK like adults. I’ll let you decide when enough is enough on this, but here’s the link:

http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/reality-star-cast-for-aus-last-recruiting-gasp-29450

Perception is reality folks. We saw it with Jay Cutler, and we’ll see it more as we start to treat kids that look like they’re older than us actually like they’re older than us. There are are kids begging to do the right thing. They’re just not going to scream it too loud because they don’t need the hanger’s-on knowing that they actually have some sense of ethos. Are you listening? It may not even come in the form of spoken dialogue. If you see adults acting worse than the kids, you let them know. That’s YOUR job. Kids will watch what you’re doing to the adults closer than other kids. If you don’t believe me, then keep doing it your way. My experiences tell me something completely different. That goes for everyone involved from the equipment managers, to concession workers, and beyond. Accountability. Get into it.

Feel free to respond to Pugh’s Views via email at pugh@bigcountypreps.com, or on Twitter @pughsviewsBCP