You are looking, live, at the Internet chatroom of a Web site called rebelgrove.com. It is 4:40 on Friday afternoon, 20 minutes before the biggest event in the history of the world, er, Ole Miss football.

rebelman: "I JUST WANT SCHAEFFER TO COMMIT TO THE REBS!"

marinerebel: "me too."

marinerebel: "badly."

rebelman: "I'm going crazy here."

draelius_2: "i think the internet is going to blow up this afternoon."

The Internet did not blow up. Sources say it was close. Because a young man named Brent Schaeffer announced where he'd be attending college next year. Schaeffer is a particularly promising physicist who ...

Har. Of course he's not a physicist. He's a particularly promising quarterback who played one year at Tennessee, didn't win the starting job, got arrested for misdemeanor assault, transferred to a junior college in California and was now ready to pick another Division 1 school.

memphisreb04: "a whole season and remainder of a potential recruiting class can change with one commitment."

chadstory: "I HAVE TO PEEE."

marinerebel: "I am shaking."

chadstory: "I can't shake I will pee all over myself."

Schaeffer had narrowed his list to three colleges before Friday. As you may have guessed, Ole Miss was one of them. North Carolina State and Wisconsin were the others. Supersports 930, a radio station in Jackson, Miss., said it would carry the announcement live. Many more Ole Miss fans flocked to the Internet.

grovie: "Radio Server is overloaded."

rebelman: "Damn, I can't get the freaking live audio to work.

marinerebel: "I need a seditive."

marinerebel: "sp?"

chadstory: "I rRRREally have to pee."

chadstory: "997 on board."

That is to say that at 4:54 on a Friday afternoon, 997 doctors and lawyers and butchers and bakers had logged on to this particular message board to find out about Schaeffer's decision.

Ole Miss coach Ed Orgeron already had a stunning number of commitments. After a dismal first season in Oxford, he was winning back the fan base one talented high school kid at a time.

Most of those kids wouldn't have an impact right away. Schaeffer would become an immediate starter. He'd arrive on campus, unpack his bags and report immediately to the Ole Miss huddle.

thenoth: "BRENTS ARRIVED."

draelius_3: "brent has wisconsin, nc state and ole miss helmets."

draelius_3: "hard decision."

draelius_3: "had to do what's best for my family."

draelius_3: "playing in the sec was my dream but that part of my life has passed."

grovie: "doesn't sound good."

draelius_3: "stay tuned to the next episode where we learn where brent schaeffer is going to finish his college career!"

thenoth: "AHHHHHHHHH."

thenoth: "not cool."

thenoth: "NOT COOL."

chadstory: "I peed myself a little."

marinerebel: "you are playing with my emotions."

Draelius_3 got 'em good, didn't he? He could do that because they cared so much, because their emotions were so accessible.

Which is nutso, of course. Go ahead and say it. If someone puts together one of those time capsules to let future humans understand what life was like in 2006, they should include an excerpt from a sports message board.

But don't say recruiting doesn't matter. It matters exactly as much as winning matters. Ask USC and Texas. Every year, they land top 10 recruiting classes. Every year, they win a lot of football games.

Reggie Bush was just a name on a recruiting list once. So was DeAngelo Williams. Did their decisions matter?

crossingdixie: "Don't worry guys, it's just the future of Ole Miss Football at stake."

draelius_2: "Historically, this is the point disappointment stabs us in the heart."

crossingdixie: "1132 online now."

chadstory: "1258."

crossingdixie: "1269!"

draelius_2: "the spirit site just crashed."

bigjohnreb: "supersports930 link doesn't work."

draelius_2: "this could be the end of the world."

That's what he typed. The end of the world. Or, maybe, just the beginning?

Because that's what this is all about, at the core. It's about hope, about possibilities.

Make fun of recruiting all you want. Make fun of the this day in history.

But recruiting is so popular because hope is so popular. That's a good thing, isn't it?

Ole Miss is the only team in the SEC West that has never made it to the SEC championship game. That's even with a player like Eli Manning.

A realist might find this to be discouraging. A college football fan says, "Oh, yeah? Wait until we get Brent Schaeffer."

chadstory: "brent is about to announce."

chadstory: "Ole Miss."

chadstory: "!!!!!!!!!!"

wma2323: "is this a joke?"

wma2323: "Ole Miss!!!!!"

wma2323: "Hotty Toddy!"

draelius_3: "sweet jesus."

marinerebel: "i just ripped my shirt off and punted the cat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

draelius_3: "where is my dog?"

grovie: "where are all the O bashers now?"

So it was a grand day for Ole Miss, a day that changes the outlook for the program and the season.

Schaeffer isn't just a quarterback to Rebel fans. He's the promise of perfect Saturdays to come, of friends gathered round in The Grove, of laughter and romance and victory.

True, Schaeffer still has some things to prove. He completed just 18-of-37 passes at Tennessee.

So what? Or, rather, can't that wait until another time?

This day was not for the skeptics, it was for the believers, or those looking for reason to believe, wherever they were gathered.

nelli37: "i might cry."

joebobb: "I WISH I WAS IN THE LAND OF COTTON."

draelius_3: "happy days are here again."