After coming thisclose, Favre should (finally) hang up the cleats
By Adam Krebs
of The Lakeland Times

Rummaging through the WisSports.net message boards this past weekend, I read in Packer agony about last weeks’ loss and (gasp) the possibility of Brett Favre retiring.
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jake53098 said: “He cant go out like that ”

My short response: “And neither could Dan Marino after a 62-7 stomping from Jacksonville...”
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I’ve wanted Favre to retire since 2003 (my Packer distaste is well documented in the blogosphere), but this year he proved that he might have something left – besides, he and Derek Anderson carried my fantasy team to second place in my league with other sportswriters from the midwest.
Back to Favre (I still wonder how it is pronounced with the “r” before the “v”) – Brett hadn’t been the “same” since the Dallas game. The first few weeks of the season, No. 4 looked like the MVP of old, but after a funny-bone bruise and a banged up shoulder, he looked...normal.
Next year, at 39, will he be able to do the same things as he did this year at 38?
Many in Packer country would like to think so, but I’m more skeptical now than ever.
I’ve thought for the last 3-4 years now that if Favre is going to last in this league, he would have to learn to be a true pocket quarterback and take what’s given to him and not to force the ball into covered receivers. He did that for the most part this year.
Against New York though, with nearly the game on the line, his last shot at taking his team to the promised land, Favre was rushed and threw it into... triple coverage. Interception.
A worthwhile ending mark for one of the 10 best QB’s of all time? I would argue so. Hey, he might as well have thrown an interception on his last throw as much as he should have thrown a touchdown – two things that he holds records for.
But for much of the season, he was the renaissance man. He looked good. He looked young. Most of all, he looked like the ego was put aside. Granted, many a Packer fan doesn’t realize his ego, because they were too busy waiting to see a smile.
But does he have one more year left in the tank? I think so. Two? Possibly. But not to the same degree as he had this year.
I think he may have one of those “stuck-around-one-year-to-long” swan songs like Dan Marino, Joe Montana, and Jim Kelly all had.
Not everyone can finish a career like John Elway did, and I wouldn’t bank on Favre coming any closer next year than he did this year.
This is the NFL, where every team is systematically built by the NFL to finish 8-8. Those who produce better and have better coaching will likely have a better season than the rest.
Last year, Bears fans were thinking they’d be right back. Rex Grossman would get better they said. Cedric Benson could carry the load. The defense wouldn’t get hurt this time. Tank Johnson wouldn’t get into trouble. And Lovie Smith would continue coaching like Parcells/Gibbs/Walsh.
I know that’s what they were thinking, I lived there (Illinois) throughout the entire year, and into the offseason.
Unfortunately for my former neighbors from the south, the Bears season that never was never happen.
You can’t bank on anything in the NFL.
Who’s to say Ryan Grant doesn’t fall apart next year, and the other running backs produce like they did through the first eight games of this season?
Who’s to say that all the receivers continue their stellar play? Who’s to say the defense will not get hurt and Atari Bigby or nick Barnett won’t beat up a stripper or bar patron in the offseason, or that anyone on the team won’t pull a gat out at someone who dissed their street cred?
You can’t bank on anything in the NFL.
For that, I would tell Brett Favre to walk away from the game. He surpassed all the records he set out for. He got his young and talented team back to the NFC championship game. He turned everyone's heads with his stellar play, and the great play of his team. This was (nearly) the perfect season for him to walk out on.
Two years ago this team won four games. Last season eight games. This season 14. In the NFL, they could become an eight-win team again, and then a four-win team.
After only five losing seasons in a 41 year history, the Dolphins just went 1-15. Yeah, anything can happen in today’s NFL.
Favre has earned the respect from everyone in the game. His smile and competitiveness are that of champions. He doesn’t need to stick around too long like Marino, Montana, Michael Jordan, or the other heroes of yesteryear did.
Favre got thisclose to a third trip at a Super Bowl. Some of the greats never get more than one shot.
He’s done what he set out to do. Along with Barry Alvarez of the Wisconsin Badgers, Favre and Bucky have turned football back into Wisconsin’s sport – and rightfully so. His work here is done.
I say walk away.
Adam Krebs can be reached at akrebs@lakelandtimes.com.

I know this is mostly a sports blog... But...

Thank you Iowan democrats for voting Barack Obama as your candidate for president. Seeing the results last night felt as if the Brewers had won the division, or if the Indians had ever pulled out ANY Game 7 in their playoff history....

News that Barack won 57% -- 57%!-- of the vote of peoples between the ages of 18-30 is astounding. This young group of voters is a demographic that has not really been reached out to for a while, other than the actual presidential election.

Obama nailed the demographic with his early rise on YouTube and Facebook -- two sites where the young people of today spend a lot of their time.

Also, listening to Obama speak brings out a bit of grace, confidence, hope, and life... I've said this to people in private conversations, but now I'm mentioning it to the world: Sometimes when Barack talks, he sounds eerily similar to MLK. His voice, his base, his hope, his optimism, his uniqueness.... I don't see how people can disregard him as not being a viable candidate.

To me, Obama's message is that he truly cares about not only this country in general, but the world, this country's reputation, the actual people of this country, and the future of our nation. He's not doing it to suck at the almighty power teet. He's not doing it because he is a famous woman whose husband was already president.

To me, Obama is the single most geniune candidate since Kennedy. His racial mix should be embraced, not scorned against. His father's native background of living in a Muslim country (Kenya), though he did not practice Islam, should not make people think that Obama is a Muslim. He's not. The only dirt other candidates have put on Obama are lies, his lack of experience (which, in terms of actually holding an elected office, he has more experience than Hillary, and more than Bill had when Bill won the presidency), and the fact that he doesn't have the "foreign relations" to lead this country.

I disagree with all of those. Your foreign relations is how you make them. The relations that we need to fix are Pakistan, Russia, North Korea, China, Iran, and Iraq with a few others in between. Obama's openness and willingness to at least talk and communicate with other countries shows that he knows we need to work well with these nations in order to grow our country, their countries, and humanity in general as a whole.

I'm not even dipping into other topics that could/should be talked about. However, I am very proud that those quarter of a million people that turned out to the polls voiced themselves and put the democratic candidates where they deserve to be: 1. Obama, 2. Edwards, 3. Clinton.

If Obama can win one of the next three (NH, Nevada, South Carolina), and place second in the other two, I think he has a great chance at becoming our next leader. And I could not be more happy.

Holy crap. I need cable.

Well, if I just get my house cleaned, then I may have time to watch Sportscenter every night. Instead I can't, and I have yet to watch any meaningful highlights of any games from any sport – except for what NBC 12 in Rhinelander puts out (which I really could not give two large craps less about).

With cable, I could watch Yahoo! Sports video feed, ESPN video feed, CBS video... YouTube.... I would be up to date! But until I get cable (with internet, that is) I will have none of this.

This entire college football season and NFL season blew past me. I'm not kidding. I haven't watched any clips of any college basketball or NBA game. Seriously, I'm reading that these events are happening...but are they really happening?

If I'm in the woods and I see a tree that has fallen, did it really fall, or was it placed there? Is there at least an audio feed I could listen to that would replay the brutal tumble of said tree?

Without this modern high-tech technology, I feel as if I'm living in 1978, BEFORE ESPN AND CABLE! Seriously. This is what my life consists of: spouse, kid, full time job, one working car, one telephone, no home internet, no cable, my "rabbit ears" antenna for my TV picks up only NBC and PBS (occastionally I can get ABC to come in clear enough for a very fuzzy picture and audio), we don't use the microwave anymore, we've gone all-natural as much as we could to stay away from lead and other dangerous household chemicals, as well as organic foods and we don't like plastic.... We celebrate Earth Day every day by recycling everything in the house, but yet can't find the nearest recycling center to actually recycle the items (so they are piling up in our basement and kitchen), we don't have a dishwasher, we have to use the apartment's coin-laundry machine, we only heat one room in our house (living room) and use the two bedrooms as storage and miscellaneous rooms.

Pretty much, a clean house and cable internet would make life much more bearable in the Wisconsin Northwoods when it snows everyday and the temperature sits at a *warm* 20ºF everyday with wind...

In the almighty words of Ricky Bobby, "Help me Jesus, help me Allah, help me Jewish god..... Help me Oprah Winfrey!"




Also, I would like to take this very brief moment and do something to you that I usually wouldn't. I would like to ask you to remember to register and vote in the upcoming caucus and primary season. Also, I would like to note (as you can see on my sidebar) that I suppose and endorse Barack Obama. I vote based on what is best for the country Today, Tomorrow, Next Year, In 5 Years, In 20 Years and in a century. I don't vote because someone offers tax breaks. I don't vote because someone has a name (Clinton, Giuliani). And I certainly don't vote for any religious reasons. Religion and government do not work (see: World, The history of the human) I vote for leadership qualities, unique qualities, and the future of my country. That is why I am voting, and urging others, to look at all candidates - especially Obama. If you don't care to look into anyone, just please don't vote for Hillary. If you want my advice, vote Obama, and let's change this country together.

OK, I'm done politicizing.

Sport’s ’07 year ends with a slim sense of hope after overall negative year
Dogfighting, refs, steroids, upsets, and disappointments plagued 2007

By Adam Krebs, of The Lakeland Times

When I look back in the world of sports over the the Gregorian calendar year of 2007, I tend to see a lot of negatives followed by little positives, some hope and a lot of interesting tidbits.
Over the past 365 days, we’ve witnessed the NFL’s most exciting player (Michael Vick) get sentenced for 23 months in federal prison because he led a dogfighting ring.
Not that I’m not offended by the abuse and murder of dogs, but the gambling that went on at these events seems debatably minimal when compared to the NBA gambling scandal that involved a veteran referee.
I’ve already discussed this in a previous column, so I won’t dip into it much more than I think this story alone is the most disturbing of all in the sports world to me.
The undefeated Patriots started their season with a cheating scandal. Since being caught in the first quarter, they have gone on to win every single game this season – and I don’t think they will stop anytime soon.
The one story that has seemed to grip the nation all year long, though, was Barry Bonds, steroids, and the Mitchell Report.
The day the report came out, I read through all 409 PDF pages in one quick sitting, analyzing every name involved – some surprising, most not.
Barry Bonds didn’t surprise me, but I still could not care less. Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens somewhat surprised me, but, like Bonds, I could still not care less.
To me personally, steroids don’t affect my love for baseball.
Sure, I would love to see everyone in the game clean, but I don’t mind if someone is using something to help them out. Football players do it all the time, no one says a word.
I take the 85 names in the Mitchell Report with a grain of salt. It’s mostly based on speculation, and many of the names came from a few rats, locker room attendants, and personal trainers.
Of the 85 names, over 60 came from three sources. Most of the rest were already busted, suspended, or talked under oath (Giambi, in which Mitchell watched in person).
What about the other teams and other players? It has been my estimation all along that over 80 percent of pro players used SOMETHING. Be it steroids, HGH, amphetamines or pain killers. Nearly everyone was on something.
Brett Favre’s famous pain-killer drug is now banned in the MLB, and includes a 25-game suspension, which is nearly 1/6th of the season. Say good bye the start-streak then.
The Mitchell Report was based off of steroids and HGH alone, that adds to the reason why the number of people listed were so low.
Had they counted amphetamine users, they wouldn’t have started their search in 1992; they would have had to start in the 1950s. From then until now, players like Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Pete Rose, Roberto Clemente, and various others had all used amphetamines.
They popped the pills like a doctor in Seattle downs Starbucks. It was so commonplace in clubhouses that reporters would bring in their own coffee, because the players “coffee” was juiced with pain killers or other amphetamines to help themselves play that day.
I’m not saying steroids, HGH, and drugs are OK, because they aren’t, I’m just saying that I don’t care. It happened, lets move on. It’s still happening, so we search for those who are breaking the rules and punish them.
There are no asterisks in the game of baseball.
Barry Bonds is the home run king. Roger Clemens is the best pitcher I’ve ever seen. And Brady Anderson is still the poster-boy for one-year steroid wonders.
I wasn’t worried about ‘roids spilling into JUCO baseball when I played. I’m sure there were kids juicing or using something, but I didn’t care. I figured if I was good enough, I would beat him and vice versa.
Regardless, the Mitchell Report of 85 names is likely only a mere percentage of the actual number. I’m guessing the real number for steroids and HGH alone is about 5-10 times higher. If you add amphetamines, the number is higher than 10,000.
In football, the cheaters are let off easier. Shawn Merriman and Rodney Harrison were each busted with steroids and HGH, yet we are chastising Andy Pettitte, Clemens, and Bonds on a daily basis? Completely unfair.
And I don’t buy this “integrity of the game” nonsense, either.
The Patriots were busted for recording the Jets defensive signals in the first game of the season – in the first half!
Season then, they have looked as unbeatable as any team - ever.
Even though I love the Miami Dolphins and the cherished ’72 season, I want the Pats to win it all. They are the greatest team ever assembled.
Say what you wish about being glad you Packer Fans don’t have Randy Moss. For a fourth round draft pick, you would be undefeated instead, and the favorite to win the Super Bowl.
The best thing that did happen to Green Bay this year was that they learned to play defense and Brett Favre has become patient and smart in the pocket.
Ryan Grant has been a nice surprise, but to me he is nothing more than this year’s Samkon Gado – except a little bit faster.
Miami has no one fast, except for that awesome first-round, ninth overall, selection of returner Ted Ginn, Jr. Thanks Cam Cameron, Nick Saban, and Miami upper management. I’m glad Bill Parcells in down on the beach these days – maybe the Fish can draft someone useable with the first overall pick in April.
In college football, this year was the upset.
It started with Michigan losing to Appalachian State and continues to this very bowl day.
I love upsets, but when they happen every week, it becomes too much and I lose respect for programs and the coaches who run them.
Then again, when coaches jump from team to team after signing long, lucrative contracts, I begin to get a little uneasy about a coaches ego. That’s when the coaching staff loses the players.
Thank your spiritual leader then for the UW-Whitewater football team. They bring hope to college football (and Wisconsin citizens) that quality team football still exists. However, so see it, you have to find the 2,500 capacity stadiums in small-town campuses throughout the states.
I don’t watch basketball anymore. Not because I don’t like the sport, but because I haven’t had cable since I moved to the Northwoods.
However, from what I’ve read, LeBron is the greatest thing ever in the NBA (I won’t disagree), the Celtics are phenomenal (I won’t disagree), and Kevin Durant is still the second-coming of Tracy MacGrady (I won’t disagree).
It’s because of the high-shot rate that he scores so many points. I’d rather have Chris Paul, or Greg Oden, or LeBron, or Dwight Howard on my team than Durant. In fact, I’ll take Travis Deiner, too.
Because I don’t have cable, I have almost no idea about what’s going on in college basketball. I couldn’t even tell you what the Badger’s record or ranking is right now.
I couldn’t tell you who’s number one, who’s a sleeper, and who’s a surprise team this year.
All this is new to me.
In fact, without cable, I can’t even watch the ESPN stat line for hockey scores to see just how well Sidney Crosby, the Penguins, or even my hockey hero Jeremy Roenick are doing. It’s a shame.
But throughout the year, the main headlines have been negative. Little has seemed positive. I sure hope this all changes in 2008. I feel we could really go for a happy and positive ’08.

Happy Festivus; my airing of grievances
My ’07 year could have been better if baseball had instant replay.
That way Kenny Lofton would have been correctly called safe on his double against the Red Sox. Cleveland then may have won he ALCS and then the World Series.
This next year will hopefully involve another Tribe postseason run, and hopefully *crosses fingers* a Brewers postseason run.
Ned Yost still owes me $100 for specifically losing over nine games himself because of managerial mistakes this past year. Had Milwaukee finished with more wins than Chicago, I would be able to play the cable bill for a month.
With David Riske, Salomon Torres, Eric Gagne, and Guillermo Mota, the Crew has the relief help (in names at least) to make a run.
All Milwaukee needs now is one more bat to put them over the top.
I say Kenny Lofton. If Milwaukee signs Lofton to play LF, the Crew can keep Billy Hall at CF and Braun at the hot corner.
Lofton would then bat second behind Weeks to have back-to-back leadoff hitters in the lineup. That’s great small-ball before the big bats come in.
Maybe then next year I won’t lose that bet with my Cubs fan friend.
Speaking of coaching mistakes costing me money, Gary Kubiak, the Houston Texans coach and longtime John Elway backup decided NOT to play Ron Dayne in the NFL’s Week 16.
Not a big deal to most, but to me, it’s a HUGE deal.
Kubiak listed Dayne as “probable”, and work leaked out that Dayne would “most definitely play” against the Colts last weekend.
Only two other times in the history of injury reports (OK, I’m guessing here) has someone listed as “probable” not played.
Dayne didn’t play.
Had he played, all he had to do was get one carry for just three yards, or catch one pass for three yards, or throw a pass for six yards, or score a two-point conversion and I would have won my fantasy league and $150 dollars.
Sure, I took second and $50, but the extra $100 would have gone towards my Brewers bet, with the other $50 going towards my new cable bill.
Three yards. I lost by .26 points, which is the equivalent in my fantasy league of 2.6 yards. Three yards. That was all.
One more extra point by Mason Crosby would have given me the win. Thanks, again, Brett Favre for leading that meaningless last minute scoring drive.
I am done venting now, just in time to go cover some more Lakeland sports. Thank God, Allah, Zeus and Jupiter that 2008 will start with some pure high school athletics. Karma knows I need some positive vibes during the snowy season.
I hope all your holiday went well. See you in the stands, sports fans.




*note, this is my column for our New Year's edition of the Lakeland Times. Sorry for the delay in updating. My internet capabilities have been slim to none, and hopefully with my new cable/internet being installed today, updates will get back to as close to daily as I can get them -- at least weekly...

Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2007, 3:40 p.m.
I need to update this more often...

The MLB Winter Meetings are under way in Nashville. Everyone is talking about where Johan Santana will be traded to... Personally, while that is a whole week's worth of stories in itself, I like to look at all the small trades and signings going on throughout the week. Not only small, but some big trades (or trade talks) that are getting completely bypassed because of the whole Twins/BoSux/Yankees/Santana thing.

-For example, the Nationals have had a decent offseason. Trade away a sub-par catcher (Schneider) and lifelong journeyman outfielder (Ryan Church) for future stud Lastings Milledge. Then they trade for Elijah Dukes of Tampa Bay. Those are two awesome young outfielders with loads of potential. The only drawback is that Milledge is a future head case and Dukes may just be play crazy.
-Speaking of Tampa, how about that trade with the Twins that works out great for everybody? Tampa gets Matt Garza and Bartlett plus a minor leaguer for Brendan Harris, Delmon Young, and a prospect. Each team wins. Young is now out of the talented-killing infectious field known as Tropicana Field, Harris is practically a black Bartlett, and the Twins now have a few more pieces of the puzzle filled since losing Torii Hunter. Tampa, meanwhile, loses a talented headcase and their shortstop, but picks up pretty much the same shortstop in return as well as a pitcher who will start the season as the team's #2 or #3 starter. If I were a Rays fan, I wouldn't mind this deal at all. Same goes for the Dukes trade. The Rays also signed former stud closer Troy Percival, who had a great year last year in middle relief for the Cardinals. Am I seriously thinking the Rays may be a .500 team next year? (Don't I say this every year, though?)
-The Braves acquired pitcher Will Ohman and infielder Omar Infante from the Chicago Cubs for pitcher Jose Ascanio. Atlanta gets a bullpen piece and a young (Infante is only 25?!?!?!?!) infielder to come off the bench. Chicago loses an inconsistent arm and an infielder that was expendable. I don't know if this trade is necessarily a win-win trade for them (I think they would lose with either these players), but the Braves continue to make good moves. I don't think the ATL will miss Schuerholz that much, now...
-The Tigers traded for pitcher Denny Bautista from the Colorado Rockies for pitcher Jose Capellan. As a former Brewer (and Brave) Capellan had tons of talent and potential. Now he's a head case. Maybe that high altitude will lighten his head a little. The Tigers got a veteran pitcher that the Rockies had no use for, so good news for them, too.
-The White Sox got Carlos Quentin for top 1B prospect Chris Carter. Which says either Connor Jackson is trade bait or the D-Backs are moving him to a new position.
-The Astros signed Kaz Matsui, who will do everything that Biggio did in his final 3 years -- hit under .280 with 10 dingers and play solid defense.
-The Yankees keep A-Rod, Mo Rivera, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettite, and Jose Molina. Had they lost those five, this team would be half the team of a year ago, and I would have been willing to go as far as saying a sub-.500 season could be possible.
-Yorvit Torrealba is an idiot. That is all.
-The Angels are having a solid offseason, trading away some good talent for some better used talent, as well as signing Torii Hunter. Now if they can get Johan or Miguel Cabrera in a trade – look out for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of Orange County of California of the United States of America of North America of the Northern Hemisphere, of the Western Hemisphere of Planet Earth of this amazingly crazy large (yet relatively small) solar system of this galaxy of this universe.
-Fransisco Cordero will save 35 games next year for the Reds. Then 30, then suck, then will get traded. Serves him right for leaving the crew for the extra $4M without even consulting with Doug Melvin on a price. (Though compliments to him on at least getting paid)
-Finally, Milwaukee signed Jason Kendall, probably David Riske, and might be trading for Scott Rolen. I love the Riske signing. You know what you're getting from him out of the bullpen. I don't mind the Kendall signing (he'll get paid less to do exactly what Estrada did last year, except hustle more). Rolen I am a little iffy about. Depending on how much Doug has to
trade and how much of Scotty's large contract the Crew will have to eat depends on how worth a trade will be for a guy who will play 115 games, bat .260 with 15 dingers and drive in 65 runs (with solid defense). Honestly, I'd rather shop around for an outfielder, keep Braun at third, and keep Capuano who may have a bounce back year. In no way am I saying Cappy is good – he's nothing more than a decent lefty without power. However, he was more unlucky last year than just being bad. Another trade I hope the crew pulls a trigger on, Hall (and pieces) for Joe Nathan. I would hit that up in a second. A certified closer for a transition utility player. With Milwaukee's outfield becoming increasingly gap-happy (besides Hart and Hall, Mench, Gwynn, and Gross are the only OF left, and none of which should start), I would suggest getting rid of another piece of the puzzle (Gwynn packaged for pitching) and go after either Mike Cameron (despite his suspension), Aaron Rowand (despite his payday), Carl Crawford (why not package a nice deal for this top outfielder – who is younger than Gwynn – to be our new CF/LF and leadoff hitter), or [gasp] offer Geoff Jenkins a one or two year free agent discount contract. With Jenks, a platoon of him and Mench again would not be a terrible thing.

Who knows what's in the deck of cards for the rest of this week's Winter meetings, but I can't wait to find out...

I killed a deer on Saturday night driving home from the Lakeland/Ashland hockey season opener.

I was going only 55 on Highway 2 coming up to the Hwy 51 interchange in Hurley. Dawn was looking at the big mountain (or hill rather next to the road) and I glanced at some construction sign for about a second.

Then a doe literally jumped out from the side of the road and into my car. The doe hit my front right bumper (giving me only a four inch cut on my bumper -- that's it) and flew backwards 10 feet, snapping its neck on impact with the pavement, and flipped and twisted and slid through the snow along the side of the highway.

I drove back to see it, called it in to the Policija, and investigated the body myself. It's head was spun around, its leg bone went through the skin and fur, and there was very very very little blood -- if any.

Seriously, my damage is that of a car backing into me with a trailer hitch and this deer was all folded up like a pretzel.

Either way, it was pretty freaking cool. However, it ruins the fact that I had never been in an accident before... I knew, though, that moving up to the Northwoods would likely mean I would hit a deer before Christmas. However, I was gaining confidence when I saw how little the deer up here run across the road, compared to down in the south. In the south, they run all over, and routinely run into the side of people's cars. Up north, they usually just stand there in bewilderment of a car speeding by.

But yeah, I'm fine, my lady is fine, and my '02 Taurus is fine. Perla was being babysat at the time and missed the whole thing.

Just thought I'd throw that all out there....

My revised and ready for print column on AAU.
*note, when I first typed out my AAU column, I did it in the heat of the moment with no editing. After re-reading it, it kind of sucks and is somewhat hard to read at points. Here, I have developed some of my ideas and have done some editing on my own. However, it is not New York Times ready... That will come later... hahaha


AAU basketball is slowly ruining athletes and sports

AAU is slowly degrading sports.
I stand by that statement.
I grew up playing traveling team basketball in the mid 1990’s. Our team – started when we were in fifth grade and ran until eighth grade – was from our town, not from great players from around the area or state getting together to play. We played as a team representing our school and our town. This traveling team helped us grow together as a team and as friends before we got into high school.
I didn’t think it was that bad. I didn’t think any youth traveling teams (AAU) were bad until I started finding out just how much it costs to play AAU.
I’m glad, now, that my parents disliked it. It cost them loads of money. My team didn’t even play in tournaments in Las Vegas, Indy or St. Louis. We played in Evansville, Beloit, Madison and Oregon, WI.
We played area teams on Saturday’s and the occasional Sunday in the winter months. Our traveling teams didn’t keep us out and away from playing other sports or doing our homework. We had practice twice a week for about an hour and a half or so at a random gym in town.
However, in today’s world (the world of AAU), parents drive their kids many miles just to practice with kids from other schools. They do this year round.
Why?
So that the kids have 1/1000th of a better shot at playing college basketball? What’s the benefit then? The NBA? Not really.
For the amount of money that parents are pouring into AAU, be it into coaches, league, shoes, and tournaments (hotels, foot, gas, traveling expenses), the money they would save if they weren’t sending these kids everywhere would essentially pay for college.
I love college sports. I played baseball in college. There is a different commitment that you learn as a college athlete in order to handle both your sport and your schoolwork. That commitment is not taught outside of the school year during summer ball.
The only out-of-school league I played in during high school growing up was Legion baseball, in which whoever from our team wanted to keep playing some more played during the summer.
We didn’t play fall ball as other schools and teams do. We didn’t travel to Florida in December. And yet, some of us played college baseball.
With the AAU-fest of today’s world, we are ruining our children of being allowed to play what they want to play and to play just for the love of the game and the love of being with friends.
Kids used to be two or three-sport athletes. Today, those kids are rare. It’s especially worse in basketball.
Boys stay away from football because they don’t want to ruin their basketball career. They don’t want to disappoint their coach – or their parents.
The parents, the coaches, and the colleges. They are the ones who benefit. AAU makes the sport more of a chore to some, rather than a fun game.
Slowly but surely, our kids will be playing only one sport.
Why? Because otherwise no college will call on them. Lets face it, playing a college sport is the only way to live life, right?
Oh, it’s not?
Wait, you’re right, living your life through your child is what to do in case you failed growing up. So why not get your kid involved in AAU right away?
My daughter is 19 months old. Does anyone know if there is a local 2-year-old AAU basketball team in the area? It could sure teach her to love basketball, and it will help me pay for her college expenses.
Getting back to my original thoughts, I started “traveling team” when I was in 5th grade, the first year it was available to any one in the town. By the time I was in 8th, our town had it down to 3rd grade. Today, I’ve heard kindergarten and 1st graders are playing traveling and AAU hoops.
This is just wrong. Kids don’t develop their bodies until they’re are in their teenage years.
I had a teammate who was six feet tall in 6th grade. Guess what? He was 6’1” as a senior in high school. He went from a dominant post player during traveling ball into a guard/forward with an outside jump shot.
He didn’t even play basketball after his junior year of high school. I quit my sophomore year. I was wore out, and I was the one pushing myself.
My parents never pushed me to be the best basketball player I could be. They knew I loved to play, so they let me play. When I was done, I was done.
My little brother didn’t get into sports until he hit high school. He hated being dragged to every game of mine, or of our oldest brother.
When he hit high school, he realized that he could run – fast. He doesn’t have the eye-hand cooridnation to hit a 90 mph college fastball and he couldn’t juke a 200 pound linebacker – but he could run fast in a straight away, so he joined track and field.
Knowing that he is not a great “athlete,” he has since developed a love of sports that he didn’t have growing up when he was forced to go to all of my games.
Now I wish I hadn’t played every sport that I did. He is slowly becoming a good guy to talk to about sports, and he is relatively new to the subject.
I have a feeling this is happening more and more in the world than just in the Krebs household.
Until we as a community start to ease back on this whole “Let’s find the next Michael Jordan at age 7,” it is only going to get worse.
Despite my disgust for youth being exposed, I am a fan of the NBA drafting players out of high school. Many great players have come from there – Kobe, Kevin Garnett, LeBron, Amare Stoudamire, and Tracy McGrady.
But I am not a fan of recruiting and offering scholarships to players who are 14 (coughUSCcough).
We as a social group (or even the athletics commissions from around the states) need halt our kids from playing these sports all year long, each kid in America will turn into an exact replica of a kid in China: One kid plays basketball, one plays baseball, one does gymnastics, and the one who can’t do any works either in a rice paddy, toy factory, or jeans factory.
I was originally a fan of the AAU world. The idea is great: Give kids a chance to play all year round against other great players.
But since I’ve developed my brain and developed how to think for myself, I can see that the AAU cause in general is slowly taking away America’s truest sports hero – the all-around athlete.