2015 RB Recruit - Damien Harris, Not Sidd Finch
You need ESPN insider credentials, but the read about this 2015 kid from Kentucky is worth it: http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/colleges/michigan/post?id=6724#more
When I read it I felt like I was reading the "Curious Case of Sidd Finch" SI article but then I realized it was no April Fool's Joke. Watch out if we get RB talent like this kid in the class early or on the team in general. Looks like we are early leaders for him, so GO BLUE!
Crazy stats as Fresh & Sophomore.
September 6th, 2012 at 12:50 PM ^
and I somehow inadvertently plugged in a poll that makes no sense. Hmm. Sorry fellas.
September 6th, 2012 at 12:59 PM ^
Not sure what level of competition he is playing against, but hard to not like this:
"He had 254 yards and five touchdowns on 16 carries for us in our first game, and he only played two quarters."
September 6th, 2012 at 2:05 PM ^
September 7th, 2012 at 7:03 AM ^
Hey, that's where I played high school football. Madison Southern is a break-off from Madison Central, where I played. He's the first big-time prospect I have ever heard of coming out of Berea, a pretty small and rural place. Good for him! (I'm impressed as well that they have a coach with those credentials -- we sure never did.)
September 6th, 2012 at 1:03 PM ^
we landed this kid we would have to replace Fred Jackson because I think his head would assplode.
September 6th, 2012 at 1:46 PM ^
He's like Barry Sanders, but with more upside.
September 6th, 2012 at 6:49 PM ^
Meh, my inner Fred Jackson would say he is more like Jim Brown but more dominant...
September 6th, 2012 at 7:32 PM ^
He is like the love child of Barry Sanders and Jim Brown but runs with more power, has better vision, and is more elusive.
September 6th, 2012 at 7:41 PM ^
And he knows things that Bo doesn't know.
September 6th, 2012 at 1:09 PM ^
September 6th, 2012 at 1:36 PM ^
I think you are right, since he coached at Auburn while Borges was there
September 6th, 2012 at 1:10 PM ^
I'd like everyone to say whether or not they knew who "Sidd Finch" was, without having to Google it. Be honest. Just for fun. It's not like you needed to know, to pass high school civics. I just wonder how many people know that story.
One big +1 for the OP.
September 6th, 2012 at 1:22 PM ^
I'm the philistine.
September 6th, 2012 at 1:44 PM ^
It was a great story at the time; an incomparable prank in sports journalism. But it was a long time ago, and it was from way before the digital age.
So you're no "Philistine." You're just not old.
Just please say that Googling the name turned out to be sort of fun and enlightening.
September 6th, 2012 at 1:51 PM ^
It was a great read, and I don't even especially care for baseball.
And the fact that SI gave an "update" the following week before revealing the hoax in the edition two weeks later?
That takes gumption.
September 6th, 2012 at 2:25 PM ^
September 6th, 2012 at 3:34 PM ^
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1119283/inde…
Note the first letter of each word in the sub-headline.
IIRC, they wrote another Sidd Finch story several years later, where they claimed to have found him again in Tibet, or something, and claimed that their original admission that it was a hoax was a hoax itself.
September 6th, 2012 at 1:40 PM ^
I had to google Sidd Finch. My excuse is that the article came out before I was born.
September 6th, 2012 at 1:42 PM ^
September 6th, 2012 at 1:46 PM ^
But I think I'm older than the average person on this site
September 6th, 2012 at 1:46 PM ^
If this were a Sidd Finch piece, that'd be bad anyway since in the story Ol' Finchy decided not to play anyway. Still, you'd love to hear a quote like this someday talking about this kid:
"You know, you'd run even faster with shorter cleats."
"I do not wish to embarass anyone."
September 6th, 2012 at 1:48 PM ^
I knew. I think I still have the magazine somewhere.
September 6th, 2012 at 1:49 PM ^
September 6th, 2012 at 1:55 PM ^
But that's neither here nor there.
September 6th, 2012 at 2:03 PM ^
I am old enough to have actually had that April Fools SI edition, and even before I knew it was a joke, I suspected as much.
September 6th, 2012 at 2:24 PM ^
What I think is even more strange is that SI and something called the "paper" was the way we consumed sports back then.
September 6th, 2012 at 2:50 PM ^
I was absolutely fooled by it, couldn't believe a guy with so much talent was just going to walk away.
September 6th, 2012 at 2:07 PM ^
Yep, never heard of Sidd Finch before. But what an awesome story!
September 6th, 2012 at 2:18 PM ^
September 6th, 2012 at 2:45 PM ^
read that back in the day..funny stuff
September 6th, 2012 at 3:08 PM ^
I read it while an undergrad at UM. Hilarious.
There was an article in the last year or so about the guy who posed for the pictures accompanying the article. Amazingly, people still remember him and ask him whether he is Sidd Finch. Some of them do not remember that he was a hoax.
September 6th, 2012 at 3:27 PM ^
....since I read that article (I don't think it was the original SI but the same story posted in a much later issue). I completely forgot that "Sidd Finch" was the name of the fictional protagonist.
September 6th, 2012 at 6:57 PM ^
Had no idea until a google him about 3 years ago.
September 7th, 2012 at 1:52 AM ^
168 mph fastball if memory serves. Gary Carter grimacing and clutching his catching hand.
September 6th, 2012 at 1:19 PM ^
September 6th, 2012 at 1:37 PM ^
I had a flash of dyslexia and was wondering why a 22 year old needed a baby sitter.
September 6th, 2012 at 1:42 PM ^
September 6th, 2012 at 3:10 PM ^
September 6th, 2012 at 7:09 PM ^
Sorry if my comment offended you. I will try my hardest next time to read your post correctly so that you are not offended.
September 6th, 2012 at 1:48 PM ^
But she just turned 18 and needs money for freshman year books. #SmoothJazzBeatStarts
September 6th, 2012 at 1:22 PM ^
Knew the Sid Finch refernce immediately. That was a really great prank by SI.
September 6th, 2012 at 1:23 PM ^
Devin Smith though.
September 6th, 2012 at 1:23 PM ^
...EVAR. They fooled me.
September 6th, 2012 at 1:59 PM ^
September 6th, 2012 at 1:46 PM ^
He could throw 110 mph!!
September 6th, 2012 at 3:36 PM ^
168 mph, actually.
September 6th, 2012 at 1:49 PM ^
Look out for TACOPANTS JR. I hear he's a real baller.
September 6th, 2012 at 2:05 PM ^
(The ESPN 30/30 profile of Marcus Dupree; the absolute best high school recruit I've ever heard of.)
September 6th, 2012 at 2:26 PM ^
September 6th, 2012 at 2:30 PM ^