Next step for Ohio State Idol: Living up to the hype

Somewhere near the Yucatan Peninsula there is a giant underwater crater. Some scientists believe a meteor impact kicked up enough dust into the atmosphere to kill off the dinosaurs.

Terrelle Pryor says he made his Buckeye decision Wednesday morning. (AP)

And some recruitniks swear it was the imprint of Terrelle Pryor trying to get one foot inbounds before scoring another touchdown.

This just in after the nation's No. 1 high school player finally picked a college: Paul Bunyan wants his deal reworked.

Yeah, Pryor's legend is that big. His upside is a space walk. The most protracted, celebrated, confusing recruitment in the history of Tom Lemming ended Wednesday with the Jeannette (Pa.) quarterback choosing Ohio State.

If you've followed the Pryor timeline, you're as winded as the defenders who tried to catch him. Forty-two days and two news conferences later, we have the same result we thought we had on Feb. 6: Buckeyes uber alles.

If this is a sign of how decisive the kid is going to be with an audible, Jim Tressel just signed another Justin Zwick. None of us know that for sure, of course. YouTube, rivals.com and shadowy boosters still agree: Pryor is a franchise quarterback.

But we sure as hell can think it. The next, great American high school phenom has embarked on a journey to who knows where? He is one part athletic (6-5½, 220 pounds with a rocket arm), and one part charismatic with a dash of American Idol.

Which means he could be making millions real soon or be the next Ruben Studdard.

This country loves The Next Big Thing. What it loves even more is seeing those legends fail. It keeps cable news and Congressional hearings in business. Don't forget that in the sports arena alone, a certain haughty pitcher has gone from Rocket to Roidger.

At this rate in our culture, if Nike hasn't signed the nation's No. 1 recruit to an endorsement deal -- pausing briefly as the ink dries on the Ohio State scholarship papers -- Phil Knight deserves to be smacked upside the head with a waffle iron.

Wait. Nike deal? That would make our new BMOC a professional. We'll pause for a moment while those of you who believe that Pryor hasn't been, ahem, "well taken care of" catch up.

This is not a specific indictment of Nike, Ohio State or anyone else. We don't have names, just common sense. Pryor's coach is so disgusted with the process that he's glad this was a once-in-a-lifetime deal. That's because his life can move on.

The waffle iron is symbolic of the first pair of Nikes, the soles of which were made with the breakfast appliance. But there's a fine line between genius and the stink of burning rubber.