Eating their own

Unless you're a basketball recruiting guru or a University of Kentucky fan, you've probably never heard of Dakotah Euton.

Euton is a 6-foot-8 high school senior in Kentucky who committed to UK in June 2007, just after his freshman year. It was a dream come true for the lifelong Kentucky fan. One day, he'd be wearing Wildcat Blue -- or so he thought.

Things have changed since then. For one, the coach he hoped to play for, Billy Gillispie, was fired. And then there was the harsh criticism from some of the ''fans" he hoped to play for. They tore into the kid's ability on internet message boards and questioned how dare he think he's good enough to play for their beloved UK, the be-all and end-all in college basketball -- in their minds, anyway. After Euton announced his commitment, opposing fans heaped verbal abuse on him during his high school games.

Here's a sampling of what's been written about Euton (any spelling or punctuation errors are those of the poster)

''dont quite understand what BCG (Gillispie) sees in this kid he is super super super slow"

"If we dont cut this guy i see it as a huge downfall of bcg's recruiting. We are UK  and don't need to take a chance on this guy.''

"Slow is not a strong enough word to describe his speed ... Looked like he was wearing 20 pound ankle weights.

''painfully slow"

"very poor inside"

One poster, Will Lavender, said he never heard anything negative about Euton until after he committed to Kentucky. All of a sudden, Lavender noted, he was "slow and unathletic and a bust.'' He added later in his post: " ... it seems like we eat our own a whole lot around here.''

Euton isn't the only one getting flak, either. Rick Robey, a former Kentucky basketball star, has a son who's a standout high school football player. When Sam Robey committed to Florida, some on UK message boards slammed the family for being disloyal, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader. Let's see, you could play football for Florida (currently ranked No. 1, two national championships in the last three years) or you could play football for Kentucky (0-2 in the SEC after a 38-20 loss to Alabama). Duh.

When Euton announced earlier this week that he would attend either Eastern Kentucky or Akron, the critics found fresh fodder.

"The Mad Scientist has THIS guy on UK's radar? Sheesh.''

"What, he dropped Duke, UNC and Michigan St from his list?"

"EKU and Akron. Hmm...I'm so glad they fired Gillispie. What a nut."

To be fair, numerous posters thought Euton worked hard, some liked his shooting touch and others were willing to cut him some slack and give him a chance to develop. One even said, "The more I see of this kid, the more he reminds me of Larry Bird.'' Makes you wonder if they're talking about the same player. Another thought it was puzzling that a kid who committed to a big-time basketball school was now looking at mid-majors. But he added, "Either way, I wish him the best wherever he attends.''

Everybody has a right to his or her opinion, but good grief, we're talking about a high school kid. Can't you give him a break? If you're a fan of a particular school, shouldn't you be pulling for your recruits to become good players instead of jumping all over them for their perceived weaknesses? Why would a kid want to go to a school whose fans are ridiculing him before he even gets there?

To me, this is partly the result of our public discourse being dominated by talk show loudmouths. Everybody has to rip on someone or something. And with the internet, they have a worldwide forum, which isn't always a positive development.

I don't normally read message boards, but I'm sure this kind of stuff is posted on many fan sites. I just happened to land on Kentucky because I'm in Louisville this week and read an article about Euton in the Courier-Journal. Plus, Kentucky fans make themselves an easy target because it seems like they think their school invented basketball, as exemplified by this post: "No other program is favorably comparable to the greatness of UK.'' (All you Kansas, North Carolina, Duke, Michigan State, Indiana and Connecticut fans can gag now).

Today's paper contains a story about new Kentucky coach John Calipari's appearance at a Tip-Off Luncheon in Louisville. There's a kicker on the front page about that story: "UK coach helps fuel Wildcat fever."

Sometimes I think that fever in college sports turns into a real sickness.