Great series in Boston Globe concludes today

Don't know if it has been discussed here yet, but the Globe has been running a great series on the sneaker companies' pollution of youth basketball. . .

Some really good reporting. . .and i think an example of why we need to give reporters the time and resources to do these stories. . .

http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/articles/2006/07/25/are_you_kidding

 

God, I feel dirty just reading that. Some of it is unintentionally hilarious and utterly disgusting at the same time.

Great series.

 

thanks for the link, daemon. that was a great read.

 

I'd love to hear Hohler talk about what type of work went into this story...The scope is just so huge.

This story has always been out there in the open (you see it in the story, nobody denies it is going on), but I can't imagine the type it took the reporter to immerse himself in this world.

 

There was a damn good book about the same subject a couple of years ago. "Sole Influence" by Dan Wetzel and Don Yaeger

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0446608947/sr=1-5/qid=1153866315/ref=sr_1_5/104-4425694-5164735?ie=UTF8&s=books

 

Did anyone ever get the feeling Dan's book was supressed? It was hard to find at Borders, Barnes & Noble, etc.

But nothing has changes in 50 years, if you read the Connie Hawkins book, Foul; a lot of what was going on in Telander's Heaven Is a Playground. College basketball recruiting is and has always been corrupt, and exposing the latest sleazes on the circuit won't change anything. It is mildly tittilating though.

 

An interesting read, and even more interesting when coupled with the WaPo's "Player Chase" series. Saslow's story earlier this month about the 10-year-old just made me shake my head. Friggin' sneaker scouts.

 

High school basketball as we know it will not exist in 10 years.

The cream of the crop, the class of players who think they have D-I college potential (i.e., about 2/3 of all players) will play all year round, 200 games a year, on club teams.

The kids who will be left playing HS basketball will be the castoffs and the also-rans. The kids who are OK players in gym class. Anybody better than that will want to go big time, and go play club ball.

 

God willing.

 

You could say the same thing about HS baseball, HS soccer and HS hockey.

This is a tremendous series and a tip of the cap to the Globe and the writers involved but as somebody pointed out, this has been going on in some shape, form or fashion for decades. Hell, I remember hearing about Sonny Vacarro back in the 80s. I guess the big change is that they're drilling down so far to find kids now. I mean, how the fuck can adidas, Nike and Reebok possibly think it's a good idea to have their street agents hustling sixth graders?

 

Ugh. I'd rather cover high school basketball than club basketball. More people in the stands, less scum on the fringes. I remember covering a Mount Zion (N.C.) game when they came into town to play a school that aspired to be a Mount Zion, and watching the post-game glandhanding from parents who wanted to get their kid into the program ... ugh, made me want to move my monthly shower up. Yeesh.