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At what cost?
With the pureness that was high school athletics for so long decimated, the question that begs to be answered is: At what cost will a school go for a great chance to win a championship?
It appears for many the answer is – “whatever it takes.” For the longest time, high school sports were the last, pure vestige of athletics.
College athletics have gone straight into the toilet as we see college football and basketball the worst, as those two sports have turned into imitations of the NFL and NBA.
While the money is certainly not at the level of the professional teams, it has grown and is continuing to do so at alarming rates. Most major university universities have brought about general managers for their respective schools and/or specific sports.
It’s turned collegiate sports into a money-making industry not just for the colleges but individual athletes as well. Name Image Likeness (NIL) has turned college athletics upside down.
I get the fact it was unfair for the schools to be cashing in while the athletics offered a free education, and room and board.
But while we righted that wrong, it escalated quickly to something we’d never thought we see – a lack of integrity/loyalty in collegiate athletics.
What made it palatable was that we still had high school athletics. It was fun to look forward to kids growing up in town and representing their local high school, driving the community.
Ha.
Friends, those days are long gone as well. High school athletics have gotten to the point where players are now changing schools from season to season, going to the highest bidder or program that can offer the most to these athletes.
At this point parents are blinded by what they perceive are decisions that are going to net their athletes more money when they get to college.
That brings me back to my original question – at what cost?
I have had more complaints on this issue than any other issues combined over the last five years. There is not a week that goes by without at least three or four complaints, usually asking if there is something that can be done.
Not realistically, and it’s worse than you think. There is money changing hands – yes at the high school level – whether it’s cash or other things such as rent subsidies.
The truth is out there and if you really wanted to dig deep enough, there would be shocking evidence unearthed, exposing situations with local coaches and parents.
But it’s not worth the effort.
Initially when it became commonplace for the schools violating transfer protocols, I thought the respective sections and the CIF State organization needed to step up and get schools back in line.
That feeling was short-lived and if you look back a few years ago, I did a deep dive into the CIF transfer rules. Going rule by rule, it was clear as day rules were being violated on a regular basis.
Despite the violations being obvious, the respective organizations were not doing anything. It couldn’t be any more obvious but the sounds from our high school governing bodies – crickets.
After that I thought school administrators were the last line of defense, but that turned into a joke as well. School districts around the state have turned a blind eye to the travesty that is taking place, worrying more about their own cush jobs and paychecks than rather what was best for the students.
There is no other explanation.
That left the respective school administrations with no support from their districts, meaning if they tried standing on their own, a lawsuit from overzealous parents would ensue.
Try to responsibly react, and mommy and daddy would threaten to bring in their high-priced attorney and take an ounce of their flesh, as well as possibly their jobs.
This has happened and will again.
I know there are principals and some athletic directors who find the transfer mockery personably reprehensible, but their hands are tied.
And that’s where we stand today – what’s going on is wrong, we know it’s wrong, and it is turning high school athletics into a joke.
The worst part: There is nothing we can do about – nothing. I guess one start would be not to allow any club/AAU coaches to run high school programs, but they would probably threaten to sue and we know where that would end up.
It drives old-school sportswriters such as me nuts. What was once unheard of has now become commonplace and in fact glorified by ignorant younger writers.
The problem is that younger writers come from a culture where this is normal and in their bliss, they are missing out on one hell of a story.
I recently read a story that was arguably the worst story I have read in my 40-plus years covering high school sports, but it is also a sign of where we have arrived.
I hold nothing against the players, as they are relying on the decision-makers in their lives to do what’s right. They just want to play ball but get swept up in the greed of the adults around them.
It’s a joke, but it appears to be a joke we are stuck with.
The real crime is against the athletes who grew up in a town where they always longed for the chance to wear the uniform of their school. Spots for those dreams to happen are disappearing by the year in favor of rental players.
Gone is legit pride in your community, your school, and your life-long friendships. What was great about high school sports is gone, replaced by phony school/community pride.
It’s caused a crisis of consciousness for me many times. But instead of giving up, I look for the good stories on homegrown athletes and hope that a miracle can happen to restore character to high school athletes.
I can hope, but most of the time I feel like I’m fighting windmills alongside Don Quixote.
And still, I look for an answer – at what cost?
Editor’s note: Dennis Miller is a contributing sports writer for the Pleasanton Weekly. This column originally appeared in Tri-Valley Preps Playbook, a weekly sports e-newsletter published by Embarcadero Media Foundation. To sign up for free, visit here.
Well said!