There is an absurdity to National Signing Day in the way it is presented and covered. For many, this annual segue from high school to college football is an exciting and glorious thing. For me and perhaps others, it is closer to National Sighing Day — an exercise of excess that makes us shake our head and wonder how it got to this point.

The perfect National Signing Day story, for me, happened around this time in 2008, in a high school gymnasium in Fernley, Nev. There, a burly prep offensive lineman named Kevin Hart revealed to a large crowd and to local TV cameras his college football choice by dramatically choosing a Cal cap to wear instead of an Oregon cap.

The one minor flaw was that Hart had not been recruited by Cal, Oregon or any other school, but had decided his 15 minutes of fame outweighed the resulting shame.

My next-favorite signing day story happened Wednesday, right here, as highly recruited South Plantation running back Alex Collins prepared to sign his National Letter of Intent with Arkansas at his school as fans and media looked on. The glitch here? His mother, preferring he go to Miami, not only refused to sign the letter but also ran off with it!

Collins on Thursday got his father to sign his letter to Arkansas while Mom considered legal action by engaging the law firm founded by O.J. Simpson counsel Johnnie L. Cochran. (If the letter of intent does not fit, you must acquit!)

Over stiff competition did I choose these two tales.

I could very easily have gone with the former Tennessee recruit, Derric Evans, who lost his scholarship after he signed his letter while sipping wine in a hot tub.

Might also have mentioned how Miami Carol City’s Willie Williams revealed all sorts of lavish treatment in a 2004 recruiting diary for The Miami Herald, which led to a violation of his probation, which in turn led to the revelation he’d been arrested 10 times.

Originality points also are due 2009 recruit Bryce Brown, whose adviser, an ex-con, charged $9.99 a month for Internet updates on Brown’s status and college leanings.

Answers sought

The common thread in all of this invites a few questions, such as:

Why are TV cameras on in the first place when 17- and 18-year-old students decide where they’ll play college ball? Why did ESPNU nationally televise 18 signing day ceremonies Wednesday?

Why is there a cottage industry of recruiting websites feeding the mania that forced capital letters on National Signing Day and made it a metastasizing phenomenon of too, too much? (And when will these websites realize that speculating on where top 11-year-old athletes might star in high school is an as-yet untapped market?)

Why is The Miami Herald (we’re not alone) devoting all or most of seven pages to signing day coverage?

And finally, this question:

What are we, nuts!?

I guess the general answer to the excess is that “the interest is there.” But is it, really? I rather think we’re just Pavlov’s dogs. ESPN is ringing the bell and therefore we convince ourselves that somebody named Robert Nkemdiche choosing Ole Miss is national news of the highest import.

Sure, college fans should be interested in who their school signs.

I can see Miami Hurricanes fans being excited UM landed Oakland Park Northeast receiver Stacy Coley, or being disappointed because Miami lost Booker T. Washington linebacker Matthew Thomas to Florida State.