This past weekend, an unhappy parent at a Philadelphia youth football game became disgruntled with the amount of playing time his kid was getting. He attacked the coach and threatened him with a gun (see the following link for the full story).

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/15832557.htm#recent_comm

When the referee saw the gun, he herded the five and six-year-olds to a safe distance and had them huddle on the ground. Thank God one authority on the field thought of the kids and their safety first. The coach wasn’t helping, he allowed himself to be drawn into a confrontation with the parent that resulted in the brandishing of a .357 Magnum in full view of five and six-year-old kids. Shawn Henwood, the referee was later quoted: ``I cried thinking about the kids, I can see snapshots of their faces in my mind. ... They were dazed. Their eyes were wide open. They saw what was going on. Are they going to want to play ever again?'' Perhaps not, but psychologists will tell you that if the violence continues, a safety device in the brain will help the kids become desensitized to the violence. Another coach, Jermaine Wilson said, "We get parents like that all the time ... just an unfortunate situation." If we allow our kids to become desensitized to the violence and start to see it as normal, then the inevitable next step will only cause the problem to multiply as the kids start to emulate their parent’s behavior.

First we saw the Little League World Series broadcast nationally on ABC, then ESPN started broadcasting high school football games. Grade school spelling bees can be seen in prime time across the country courtesy of ABC. An eleven-year-old girl got the spotlight and a million dollars this past summer winning the competition, America’s Got Talent by belting like a seasoned Broadway star (ask any vocal teacher how bad that is for her future singing career).

Most of us are probably too young to remember the furor over colleges making TV money from their football and basketball games. Of course, the furor calmed down and the money went up. Now, every NCAA Division I-A college game is not being contested for pride, but big ratings and big bucks.

The trickle down continues.

Some high schools are finding budget-bolstering income from TV. Some high school football teams are, reputedly, earning, as much as, tens of thousands per game. Networks are even paying for the teams’ travel for the right to broadcast the game. It is not just TV getting into the act, but the sponsors, as well. One coach estimates that Nike has put $20,000 a year into his high school football team.

Now, high schools are no longer playing for team pride, but for the Almighty dollar. Is this a bad thing? Is it wrong for budget-starved school districts to take money simply for the right of broadcasting a football game that is going to be played anyway? Of course not, at least, not on the surface. This money is a welcome relief to school districts that have had to cut music and art programs just to keep the base curriculum alive. But are the athletes ready for this? Big money and the potential loss of it is serious business to the adults. But, the athlete is young, and still learning the game. Making mistakes on the field, in front of family and friends, is bad enough, but when you add a national audience, and your mistake becomes fodder for the evening news it has to be devastating for the young player.

These were the same issues parents were arguing back in the fifties when the new networks took an interest in college football. Will opposition stop the trickle down of big network and sponsorship money? I think opposition to the flow of money will have the same effect today that it had in the fifties. Nil. The professional-ization of youth sports is well underway from high school down, hmmm, down how far? Well, when Nike and their kind are pouring millions into sixth-grade basketball teams, then I don’t think there is any limit to financial exploitation in youth sports.