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Disgusting ESPN/High School Story

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YSU and Steve...thanks for the kind words.


Some of the specific potential problems we saw were coaches and/or players not being themselves. People might play it up for the camera. Or kids might be playing for the wrong reasons, or it may have run some kids off. In some situations, there are players that need FB more than FB needs them. We have a few kids that will never see the field, but they dint miss a work out or practice from December on. It feels good to them to just be a part of a team. Our program is on a big upswing, and we didn't want ESPN focussing on the last few years, that weren't very good. Our kids are expecting big things this year, and we are trying to keep everything positive.

It basically came down to us not wanting the perception that our administration, coaches, players and our community were involved with high school football for any other reason than developing young men and the love of football (we could all name a million reasons to play or coach HS FB, but I'll save that for another day)

IMO, HS FB is part of the soul of America (especially where we are from) and it would be a great injustice to everyone who has strapped it up on Friday night to have ESPN water it down with money and ratings.
 
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Montour School Distrect is not hurting for funds I assure you on that. It is one of the more wealthiest areas in Pittsburgh. Hoenstly, I think the article is right if you want to look at a place where football is life in a community, you should have gone to Butler, almost any school in Beaver County (Aliquippa, Blakhawk, Ambridge, etc) to get a better story. Montour is just a joke now, sad. I wonder if some kids who live close enough will not join Bob Palko at West A? I am not sure on the transfer policies here, but there is no way in hell I would want to be a prt of this if I was playing.
 
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RugbyBuck said:
Admittedly, it's been almost twenty years since I played hs football, but looking back through the mists of time I think I would've been totally on board with something like this. I don't see the problem and I certainly don't see how it's screwing with the educational process, whatever that means.
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1. if you thought rotatting qb's was a nightmare for a football team. how about rotating coaches! woot!! much fun, not to mention mass confusion, for all!
:groove:
2. your taking what will amount to many of these kids last chance to strap on pads and go hit and turning it into a soap opera. don't believe me? read what i quoated in my post above please.

3. by creating a disfunctional environment that is sure to get plenty of ratings (ie attention) you are teaching a child that the more disfunctional and inept you are while screaming the loudest the more attention you will receive.

4. a direct result of #3. this will promote individualism and destroy any sense of "team". these types of smut shows caters to the individual and the disfunction that results from a "me me me" mentality. which is the exact opposite lesson you should walk away from football with.

5. team cohesion will be severely lacking due to a lack of proper leadership, lack of control overall, and by players who will have little to no real oversight being more interested in being on tv than playing football. cerro will not have the power to keep them in line, one of the main themes is mr. butkus "putting him in his place". butkus will not do so because this is the exact drama that espin will seek to create to sell the show. sure he will yell at kids and "put them in their place" in front of a camera from time to time. but if he has control of the program... would it be needed in the first place? not likely and in which case you loose one of your main "drama" draws to the show now don't you? after their first loss this "team" will cease to exist for all practical purposes.

6. none of these kids are likely to be guys who are going to be offered by anyone at the next level. yet we are going to shove a camera in their face and lead them to beleive they are something special in order to create yet more drama in order to further sell the show. at the end of the day you have a "team" full of kids who honestly believe they are something special because of all the attention they are getting only to be setup for a very brutal let down. kids who might have spent more time studying and making it in the classroom because they had no light at the end of the tunnel on the football field won't because they think they are king shit. and why shouldn't they? espin is all about sticking a camera in their faces. surely there is a reason right? how many legit prospects have suicided themselves because of the media spotlight before ever stepping foot on a campus? now we're going to be putting the same pressure on a joe nobody who had no spotlight leading up to this? yeah... that should end reeeeaal well :rolleyes:

you want disfunction? go watch springer. leave a bunch of kids who don't know any better out of your desire to mock someone who is worse off than you.
 
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i have a question: even though the school is getting the money, how can the players NOT be compensated for their involvement in the show? are you telling me that 50 kids are all going to sign on to participate on a TV show for free? i really don't see that happening... which brings me to the NCAA: say there is a kid on the team that has D-1 offers... would not the compensation for participation in the show construe as getting payed to play in the eyes of the NCAA? would not receiving compensation violate the amatuer status of the participants?

WTF is ESPN thinking... screwing with the lives of a bunch of kids in the name of entertainment is exploitative at best...

i don't think that ANY good can come from this...
 
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Is there a better example of how ESPN thinks they are bigger than sport itself? Congress should get involved. That would serve ESPN right if they were brought before a special investigative panel to explain their actions! ESPN needs to get back to just covering sports, not making their own news!
 
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Forcing teens onto camera, juggling a demanding but excellent coach (Cerro) and a overzealous moron (Butkus)... and doing this at a school with very little success lately is just plain horrendous.

How much crap can ESPN spew out before they realize we hate everything they've become? I loved espn 5-10 years ago, back when they were funny, sportscenter was about sports (and not how to keep the redsox bullpen happy), and they didn't produce horrendous ESPN original shows.

They clearly wanted to outdo their horrendous pattern of terrible programming this time around.

I really hope that fox sports listens to the complaints of the public (they already are viewed as the anti-espn.com)... so that when they start covering CFB in a few years, they do it right and skip the crap. Sure you can have touchy feely features at times during games for the ladies, but please stick to what you know how to do and don't dabble in crap like this.
 
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Why are people ignorantly criticizing ESPN? They are a company interested in making money. The school is the one to blame 100%.

" screwing with the lives of a bunch of kids in the name of entertainment is exploitative at best..."

comments like these are laughable. Explain how ESPN is exploiting anyone.
 
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MililaniBuckeye said:
They are exploiting the players (and new head coach) by putting them in unrealistic positions and creating false drama solely for ESPN's financial gain..
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isn't it the school that is going to be gaining financially? I guarentee you that whether or not this show is on or not, affects ESPN's parent company's bottom line very little.
 
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You're ignoring the issue. Sure, maybe the school agreed to be compensated for this stupid idea. But that doesn't change the fact that its exploitation of kids that will probably just want to play football by the time the "being famous" high dies down.
 
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tibor75 said:
Why are people ignorantly criticizing ESPN? They are a company interested in making money. The school is the one to blame 100%.

" screwing with the lives of a bunch of kids in the name of entertainment is exploitative at best..."

comments like these are laughable. Explain how ESPN is exploiting anyone.
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who is to blame for your death? the assasin? or the person footing the bill? clearly the school is just as guilty. but trying to defend espin by stating "they are just out to make money" is crap. all companies are out to make money last i checked, however most companies try to avoid trifling with the future of a minor in order to do so.

ex·ploi·ta·tion - Utilization of another person or group for selfish purposes
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Tibor, do these count as exploitation? B/c I'd say some if not all are very possible in a scenario like this:
- Taping kids breaking down on national TV
- Kid being picked on by the team, on national TV.
- Sensationalizing conflicts, leading to harsher confrontations and tarnished friendships
- Sculpting the staff to cause conflicts, ie the two coaches including one guy who knows nothing
- Doing it at a school which struggled to win before all of this extra junk
- Their record stays exactly the same, no better, no worse. And their mediocrity is a disappointment to a national audience; they will be letting down all of the viewers besides their regular fans.
 
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martinss01 said:
however most companies try to avoid trifling with the future of a minor in order to do so.
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Trifle with the future of a minor?

Spare me the ridiculous meladrama...

jwinslow said:
Tibor, do these count as exploitation? B/c I'd say some if not all are very possible in a scenario like this:
- Taping kids breaking down on national TV
- Kid being picked on by the team, on national TV.
- Sensationalizing conflicts, leading to harsher confrontations and tarnished friendships
- Sculpting the staff to cause conflicts, ie the two coaches including one guy who knows nothing
- Doing it at a school which struggled to win before all of this extra junk
- Their record stays exactly the same, no better, no worse. And their mediocrity is a disappointment to a national audience; they will be letting down all of the viewers besides their regular fans.
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Please. Do you have a problem with ABC/ESPN televising the national spelling bee or the Little League World Series?
Funny, I don't remember the outrage from you guys when you watch these on TV. :roll1:

For every kid who cries on TV, there is a Chris Drury or (insert name of most recent Indian American spelling bee winner here)
 
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I'm not gonna argue that doesn't tamper with kids at all, but those are competitions where they know ahead of time they are going to be on TV.

Familes can't just pick up and go to another school necessarily, especially if the right fit is the current one. What if I want to just go out and play football, and not have cameras in my face every day at practice? I have to transfer?

What if I do drop a bunch of balls in practice? If I'm a good recruit, I should be able to get better during practice, and then perform at combines or on the field. It doesn't even have to be a matter of the pressure; if it were me the cameras would tick me off and that would be the distraction, not the pressure.

Is it or is it not exploitation of those players to make them suffer under an incompetent coach just b/c some rich "boosters" paid you to do so... in order to sell commercials based on the ensuing drama?
 
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