I almost threw up my breakfast all over the newspaper this past weekend like I was eating a bowl of beerios for a fraternity hell week.  There it was, in black and white, with several large color pictures to boot.  A massive, Nikolai Valuev sized spread smack in the middle of my Sunday paper titled "Clausen effect" with the sub-headline "Oaks Christian QB has gone from prodigy to can't miss NFL prospect."

The LA Daily News article written by Vincent Bonsignore goes on to smooch more than Bob Sugar.  "96 touchdowns, 7,064 career passing yards, three Southern Section championships and a perfect record as a starting quarterback, Clausen's legend continues to grown."  Hold up a second.  Kill the engine of this monster. 

Since when are high school football players worthy of spreads larger than Jay Cutler's traps in both major market papers (LA Daily News) and the USA Today within the same week?  Spare me.  Disband the "next Peyton Manning, Joe Namath, Dan Marino" garbage. 

High school sports are amongst the most difficult to compare on a national scope- especially football.  If you're going to go Oregon on me, lets do it at a professional level.  At worst, do it at a collegiate level.  Give me something tangible.  Something measurable.  At least in pro sports there are homestands and road-trips where the best of the best duke it out.  In collegiate sports, at least we have March Madness, Bowl Games, and the College World Series to sort matters.  In high school sports, especially football, the comparison is immeasurable. 

This kid plays football for Oaks Christian in Westlake, CA, not even against the top competition of the city.  What division are they in?  They meeting up against tough schools like Long Beach Poly, Crenshaw, or Dorsey?  These are schools that produced the likes of Willie McGinest, Mark Carrier, and Keyshawn Johnson.  Has he played against top schools from Texas, Florida, Jersey?   

Back-tracking for a second here, it's not a personal attack on Jimmy Clausen, nor the Clausen family at all.  Praise them for having raised what will be 3 Division I college football quarterbacks.  Commend them for establishing a college football quarterbacking brand- albeit not quite akin to Manning, but maybe on par with Booty. 

Rather, this is an attack on the mass media for making a high school quarterback into a national story.  A tremendous high school football player like Jimmy Clausen, with the aforementioned credentials, is a story for the school paper, local paper, and Sports Illustrated's Faces in the Crowd.  Nominate him as the Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year.  Immortalize his shrouds in the school gymnasium.  Make him the Prom King and Homecoming King.  I don't care, just don't give him multiple full-page articles in major newspapers. 

The Hype Machine is on fast and furious with no seeming end.  The poor kid has the legacy of Joe Montana to live up to before he begins his first spring practice.  What if he becomes Rick Mirer, great in college, terrible in the pros.  What if he becomes Ron Powlus, arriving with tremendous hype and not producing.  What if he becomes Casey Clausen, arriving at the perfect time to become a four-year starter who couldn't win a big game.  Or worse, what if he becomes Rick Clausen, who went far across the country on his brother's name, transferring schools to the tune of no playing time either place.

Already, the scene is set for failure.  Again I'll say that my intention is not to bash Jimmy Clausen.  Unfortunately, whether he enjoys the attention (as the articles seem to indicate), or not, he is primed for the utmost criticism or praise before even taking a single collegiate snap.  This is the media's fault; it's the fault of USA Today and the LA Daily News, and any other big-time publication who's chronicled the story and legend of one Jimmy Clausen before he's even thrown a pass in a college or NFL jersey. 

I have no problem reading about success stories in my sports section.  I do however, have a problem with reading gigantic articles about high school football players instead of vastly successful collegiate or professional ones.