As a child, the happiest day of the year is usually Christmas. Waking up at the crack of dawn, sprinting down the stairs to see all of the Christmas presents that Santa has left underneath the beautifully lit Christmas tree is on of the best feelings a child can have. The hardest decision on Christmas day can either choosingbetween which gift to use first. Well, college football coaches experience the same feeling, except it happens on a Tuesday, in February, and isreferred to as National Signing Day.

For that one day in February coaches are a nervous wreck, but at the same time just sas excited as Ralphie was to open up and use his Red Ryder B.B. gun in A Christmas Story. None of this would be possible without the use of the old fashioned fax machine and FoIP.

FoIP stands for Fax over IP and refers to the process of sending and receiving faxes via a VOIP network. With fax over IP (FoIP), schools no longer have to sit at the old fax machine anymore – with FoIP, they can get those letters of intent delivered to anywhere on their connected devices.

Until an athlete signs and faxes that binding contract into his school of choice, nothing becomes official, and that was never more apparent than this week. Alex Collins, a FL native, decided he would rather play football at Arkansas than the University of Miami, but unfortunately his mother, who had other plans for him, refused to allow him to fax his letter to Arkansas. She went as far as taking his letter, running out of the school, and disappearing for a few hours, leading her son and others on a wild goose chase.

A high school athlete is able to verbally commit to a school whenever he likes, but it does not become official until he/she signs the national letter of intent and faxes it into his prospective school.

National signing day has turned into somewhat of a spectacle in the last few years. High school students are put on a stage with a podium and microphone and cameras, filming to a national audience, just so a 17 year old can announce which school he will be playing football at.

Its even gotten to a point where schools hire a “Fax Girl." Her sole duty is to retrieve the signed faxes and kindly walk them over to the coaches. Of course she is also there to look good, as one Tennessee Radio Station proved this past week, as their Fax Girl was dressed in a bikini.

With all of the technological advancements with smart phones and tablets and computers, the fax continues to remain one of the most important tool for a college football program’s future.