The end goal gets in the way of how we get there

Does it make me un-American to possess a strong distaste for the Little League World Series being on television?  It has dominated the airwaves over the last week.  Throughout each day over the past six days, the LLWS has controlled ESPN.  Today, it's live on ABC.

The LLWS moving to network television over the weekend opened the slot for high school football to take prime sports real estate on ESPN.  Switching over to ESPN 2, I found highlights from a high school quarterback camp followed by more high school football.

Frustration turned into anger.  What are we doing?

With a professional sports culture that is riddled with performance enhancing drug scandals and a college sports culture that is chockfull of violations, it's no surprise that the high school and youth sports machines are marketable on a national scale.  Viewers are fed up with the grown-ups.  It all makes sense from a business standpoint, however, they're not selling us the same thing.  The difference is now it's children and teenagers.

The pressure to perform at an elite level is greater than ever at every age.  Professionals are cheating.  It's fairly clear that a majority of big time college programs are cheating.  It's only a matter of time when performance will out-weigh the competitive experience at younger levels, too.  That culture will soon be poisoned as well.  There's always been pressure for youth and high school athletes, however, championing the performance levels on ABC and ESPN makes that pressure even higher.

The Little League World Series does great things for kids and provides unique opportunities that change lives.  There is an important element of sportsmanship and handling adversity that doesn't go unnoticed (especially the Matheny Manifesto), however, the focus on television is winning.  Make no mistake, though, these kids aren't the future of baseball.  The LLWS is the crowning achievement of nearly every one of their sports experiences, which is alright if that's what's being sold.  According to the Baseball Almanac, there are only 11 athletes that have played in the Little League World Series and the Major League Baseball World Series.  The LLWS started in 1947.  There is no one in the Hall of Fame who played in the LLWS and one MVP and one Cy Young award winner are LLWS alums.  These statistics prove there is little focus on the long-term development of these athletes.

I'm very cynical of youth sports and often share my thoughts on it.  What I fear most is how a team jersey can transforms adults (not kids) and cause them to treat children in a horrible fashion.  It's on full display when I see high school football on television.  The more we see high school and youth sports on television, the more we've lost our way.  The end goal gets in the way of how we get there.  Encourage kids, obviously, but let them be kids.