In an article about Notre Dame and the NCAA football championship hunt, Michael Hiestand of USA today quotes current Fox studio analyst Joey Harrington:

Harrington, an ex-Oregon quarterback, also has an explanation for how the Ducks have gone from so-so to a perennial national title contender: "It was a combination of the (flashy Nike) uniforms, which gets them in the door with recruits, and coach Chip Kelly, that got them to the top.

Isn't the trope supposed to be that women are vain and insincere? If Joey Harrington's argument has an element of truth to it, then NCAA football recruits are the most struttingest of peacocks, dazzled by anything fashionable, the Beau Brummels of sports.

Clearly, this has major ramifications for women's basketball. A video on our women's basketball thread had an Ole Miss player pining over the gray-colored shoes that the North Carolina men's basketball team was wearing. Perhaps the women's game hasn't paid enough attention to dazzle. (Kim Mulkey and her haute couture on the sidelines is clearly fashion-forward enough for Baylor recruits.) Expect Tim Gunn to be getting a call from Holly Warlick or Geno Auriemma realllll soon, and for catwalks to be a major part of recruiting visits.