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01-03-2008, 06:13 PM | #1 | |
Demiurge
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 36,365
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Or someone working minimum wage with 3 kids. I played in most of the city soccer leagues and little league when I was young. Demographics were almost all-white, despite there being a sizeable minority population in College Station. Taking the family to a nice restaurant is a luxury that many people can't afford. Putting your kid in a basketball league is the same for many. |
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01-03-2008, 06:37 PM | #2 | |
Charon
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: In the heart of darkness (Provo)
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But to characterize our league as a rich-kid league is funny. Feel free to call it a "middle-class" league if that makes you feel better. Many of the local soccer and volleyball elite teams charge $700 per kid. Our b-ball league (and my assistant and I) goes the extra mile to keep costs down.
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"... the arc of the universe is long but it bends toward justice." Martin Luther King, Jr. |
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01-03-2008, 07:08 PM | #3 | |
Demiurge
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 36,365
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Many have-nots cannot afford $74 for a basketball league. How many have-nots are in your league? Probably few if any. The point is, at least in Texas, it would be folly to rate your kid based on a league or system that tended to exclude anyone below the middle class. |
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01-03-2008, 07:36 PM | #4 | |
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01-03-2008, 07:49 PM | #5 | |
Demiurge
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amare_Stoudemire Hakeem Olajuwon didn't start until he was 15. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakeem_Olajuwon I would take that bet. AAU leagues are a step above city leagues in terms of cost and availability. Believe it or not, many 6th graders now in the NBA were playing on playgrounds and local park gyms as kids. Maybe in white-bread Utah it is different. |
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01-03-2008, 08:11 PM | #6 |
Charon
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: In the heart of darkness (Provo)
Posts: 9,564
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LOL. Ya think?
Mike, it is fun to see how earnest you are about convincing us that Texas is different from Utah. I am not sure why you think we need convincing, but thanks anyway.
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"... the arc of the universe is long but it bends toward justice." Martin Luther King, Jr. |
01-03-2008, 08:23 PM | #7 | |
Demiurge
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There is a whole different world outside of Happy Valley. I was a national champion in the AAU. But I had no illusions that I was even top 20 in my state. Because I knew that AAU was just a thin slice of a very big pie. |
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01-03-2008, 08:31 PM | #8 | |
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01-03-2008, 08:36 PM | #9 |
Demiurge
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01-03-2008, 08:51 PM | #10 |
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I wasn't trying to challenge you. I was curious. That must have been a rush to win a national championship in something as a youth no matter how competitive the field was. I went to Little League baseball playoffs in California after winning the state championship and it was a blast. The rich white kids from Cali kicked our ass. Rich 12 yo white kids throwing heat mixed with breaking balls that dropped two feet. A lot of the rich white kids even had dark skin and afro's or spoke Spanish.
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