And Americans have truly lost their minds when it comes to sports. I coach and it seems like it gets worse every single year. No, sir, your 9 old is NOT going to be playing in the NFL, so please don’t spend $4,000 on a QB camp this summer.
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Talking about culture, I think there a certain madness about parenting these days. People think their kids will join major league sports, become movie stars, or famous singers.
The sports and the talent shows on TV have driven people crazy.
I remember reading about how parents are naming their kids “Star” or other unusual names reflective of parents’ ambitions for their kids to stand out.
As we know, most kids will turn out to be ordinary people. I worry that the letdown will be painful.
Soon, half the population will be on SSRIs. More money making opportunities for the drug companies and corporate America.[/quote]
Brian: On the sports side, it’s due to what I call the “ESPN Effect”, wherein parents (and coaches, too) have been gulled into believing that, yes, their child will “beat the math” and become the next Peyton Manning, or A-Rod or Lebron James.
When I was a kid, I’d get up on Saturdays and watch whatever morning college game was on (generally a Big-10 or Pac-10 game.) and then go about my day following.
Nowadays, I can get up on Saturday morning and literally watch college football analysis/reportage/games from around 6:00a till as late as midnight, if I choose. I can watch ACC, SEC, Mountain West, Pac-12, Big-10, as well as Div-1AA, Div-2 and any of the other conferences that might catch my fancy. I can then turn around on Sunday and do exactly the same thing with the NFL. That’s just football. MLB, NBA and other sports are covered with just as much rabidity on any one of the 100+ channels I can order through DirecTV.
The money that now runs through the various systems (college and pros) is stupefying. Look at the pageantry of the Superbowl now. Even 20 years ago, it was nothing like it is now. Same thing with college bowl games. Millions upon millions of dollars are at stake, so that college football is now a hugely profitable industry (as well as farm system for the NFL.) You wonder why parents are going batshit? Hell, you USED to send your kid to college to get an actual education. Now it’s about the potential payday for Little Johnny, especially if he has a modicum of talent. The parents blissfully ignore the math, fervently convinced that, if they only spend the necessary money and push him into the “right” programs, well, miracles will happen.
Yeah, there are a LOT of people in for some major disappointment.
