Fair point... I just know OU has lost ALOT of recruits going national, because of the reasons I specified. It does seem to be more of an issue in football though, I agree.
Casey Arent
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Fair point... I just know OU has lost ALOT of recruits going national, because of the reasons I specified. It does seem to be more of an issue in football though, I agree.
I see what Mender is saying. It's all about perspective. I've lived in Oklahoma most of my life, and plan to stay in Oklahoma now that I have kids. It is a great place to raise a family. However, when I was 18 I wanted to get out and never come back. I wanted nothing more than to go live in some exotic (to me) place and see the world. As I've gotten older I realize the great things about living in a place like Oklahoma (or Texas, or Missouri, or any of the "flyover states"), but as an 18 year old kid with limited experience of anything outside of Oklahoma, I just wanted to get out and see the sites.
AdaSooner
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Well said! I get what Mender is saying, too. My wife and I love Oklahoma and Ada in particular. That's why we stayed when we could have left well over 30 years ago. I have no desire to live anywhere else.
That's not always true of the young people in this town. Some of them leave when they're old enough to make that call on their own. Interestingly, many of them return years later when they're older, and when they wake up to the fact that small town life, especially when you have children, wasn't so bad after all.
I understand the lure of the "bright lights," whether it's in the form of a big city, a high-profile school, or just the desire to get away and be on your own for a change.
Big Old Booger
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Well, living in the old Phi Kaps (fall 89/ spring 90) house with Creekmore as your roommate qualifies as exotic to me. :ez-roll:
MenderofRoads
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Yep.
Athletes are some of the last remaining "normal" kids (i.e. not born into means or ridiculously smart to get full scholarships) who can experience college and their early adulthood like older generations did, when it didn't take five-figure loans to go anywhere. They get to go out and just live in the world, however they see fit.
I didn't fully get this until recently. Grew up in Columbia, Mo. and went to Mizzou. 27+ years in the same college town. I occasionally wished I'd left, but I had no real regrets.
Then I moved to Denver for about a year. And now I'm in L.A. I have no intention of moving back to Missouri anytime soon.
As college fans, especially those of us who are alumni, I think we have a tendency to live in a bubble a bit and overlook the opportunities these kids have. Is their value in staying at home? Absolutely. But you can't blame a kid for choosing a different path, and you can't hold it against a coach if an in-state kid leaves to do that.
As sperry pointed out, this isn't as true with football. Those kids don't spend their teenage years traveling, as he said. Plus, they have a third as many games, always on the weekends. The opportunity for their family to come spend a weekend and watch them play is very real. But in basketball, you've got a ton of mid-week games that are much harder to get to. Even if they stay home, the experience of watching your son isn't quite the same. This is really a situation unique to basketball.
That said...Mizzou lost a hometown kid to Arkansas. Best player to come out of Columbia in 30+ years, and he's playing for Mike Anderson. Screw that kid.
