One discussion I find myself revisiting quite a bit is the increased
hype of college recruiting.
Go to any message board or social media feed and you’ll read, “School
X, Y or Z just signed the No. 1-rated linebacker in the country.”
These kids haven’t even played a single minute of college athletics and
in some cases have yet to finish their high school career, and they are
already being tabbed the savior of their program. I can’t blame the kid
in this situation because they don’t ask to be put in this position.
There were a few times in my former career of sports journalist where I
have covered a game and was told beforehand that a player involved
either had a full-ride scholarship to a Div. I school or was being actively
recruited by such.
After the game when I have conversations with people it amazes me the
comments I get from various people: “That kid really impressed me,”
or “Eh, I wasn’t impressed,” or “In the game I saw, he/she didn’t do
squat.”
Of course, we live in a world where making snap judgments is more of
the thing to do as opposed to letting things play out. To that end, we
tend to forget that a person’s resume is their body of work over a period
of time, rather than just one game.
When you think of Joe Montana’s Hall of Fame career, what do you
think of first? The three-year stretch where the 49ers were eliminated in
the first round of the NFL playoffs with decisive losses, or the four Super
Bowl titles he led them to?
The latter, definitely, but the truth of the matter is that his Hall of Fame
status is based on his collective resume over his 15-year career.
I was fortunate enough to cover sports at every level from little league to
the NFL. There are three examples that I keep coming back to that are
stark reminders that a person’s resume is their body of work:
Steve Skinner
When people think of great high school baseball players in Napa County,
the ones that immediately come to mind are without even batting an eye
Brett Wallace, Todd Pridy and Bill Buckner just to name a few. Pridy
and Buckner are Napa High graduates, Wallace graduated from Justin-
Siena. I could go on, but in the interest of space I’ll keep it to those three.
When I first moved back to California in 1998 I landed a job with the
Napa Valley Register. I heard various colleagues raving about then-
Vintage High shortstop Steve Skinner.
Several months later, baseball season rolls around and I am sent to cover
a Crushers game. Skinner goes 0 for 4 and makes three errors. At first I
thought, “What the hell is all the fuss about? Skinner looked like a hung
tooth.”
So I interviewed Vintage head coach Rich Anderson after the game and
he said something to the effect of that possibly being the worst game of
Skinner’s high school career.
Every game I covered thereafter, Skinner showed why he was the player
my cohorts hyped him up to be. Years later, I say to myself, “Good thing
I listened to my own advice and didn’t make any snap judgments.”
Granted, Skinner did not have the same success in baseball after high
school as Wallace, Pridy or Buckner but anyone who watched him
regularly in high school would concur the guy had an outstanding
career.
Dallas Bernstine
I had the opportunity to cover Bernstine’s junior and senior seasons at
Jesse Bethel High (Vallejo, CA) for a now-defunct internet news service.
Suffice it to say, Bernstine was as spectacular as any high school athlete
that I have ever had the chance to witness in person, including Napa
High great, who went on to star at the University of Oregon star John
Boyett.
During his junior year, I remembered Bernstine rushing for a Northern
California-record 551 yards rushing in a 59-38 win over Vintage in
2001.
Bernstine was such an impressive athlete that at the annual Nike Football
Training Camp on the campus of Stanford University, he rated ahead of
Reggie Bush. Yes, that Reggie Bush.
As in the Reggie Bush that won multiple collegiate awards, including
the 2005 Heisman Trophy — but allegations that he received improper
benefits were central to a controversy surrounding the USC program
that led to severe NCAA sanctions against USC, including a two-year
postseason ban, the loss of football scholarships and the vacating of
wins in the 2004–05 championship season. In September 2010, Bush
voluntarily gave up his Heisman Trophy.
Anyhow, that’s a completely separate matter.
Bush played 11 seasons in the NFL for five different teams, including
the 2009 Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints. For whatever reason,
Bernstine’s talents did not translate beyond City College of San Francisco.
By no means is that meant to disparage Bernstine but it serves as an
example of how things are not always as they appear.
Jahvid Best
Best starred at Salesian High (Richmond) before playing his college ball
at the University of California. He also played three years in the NFL
with the Detroit Lions.
Best faced both St. Helena and Justin-Siena High in 2004, and the
former again in 2005.
In 2004 when facing both St. Helena and Justin, Best was the second
-best running back in both games based on performance. St. Helena’s
Robert Covey rushed for a school-record 266 yards on 29 carries and
five touchdowns. In that same contest, Best (then a sophomore) rushed
for 89 yards on 16 carries, including a 63-yard touchdown. I remember
covering that game, and Covey looked like a high school version of
John Riggins.
Later that season in a 68-14 loss to Justin, Best was limited to 46 yards
on 21 carries, along with one catch for minus-2 yards. Once again, it
was another running back that outshined Best that day — Justin’s
Bryan Patton, who had 149 yards on nine carries and two scores. That
2004 Braves team, however, went 12-1 on the way to winning the CIF
North Coast Section Class A title and was the most dominant in former
head coach Rich Cotruvo’s 19-year reign.
The point of my rambling, we live in a world where people like to make
snap judgments, but just remember that resumes are a body of work over
a period of time, not just one game.
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