Did high-school program misrepresent itself to get on TV?

[Justin_Rice]

I think their insurance carrier would be interested in kids playing football twice in three days.

Yeah right.

There are travel teams playing three-game weekend tournaments.

"Hey the baseball and basketball teams get to do it!"

 

[Starman]

I think their insurance carrier would be interested in kids playing football twice in three days.

"Insurance carrier?"

 

[Inky_Wretch]

Somewhere, @Justin_Rice is giggling.

 

[maumann]

Number of bishops named Sycamore: zero.

However, there is a Sycamore Drive in Bishop, Calif., according to Maps.

 

[wicked]

I think the issue is on IMG's end. I'm assuming 90 percent of high schools will not play them. They're looking for warm bodies to play and these jamokes stepped up. If IMG does its homework, ESPN isn't on the bad end of this.

 

[Justin_Rice]

Somewhere, @Justin_Rice is giggling.

Just my favorite story of the year, I'm pretty sure.

 

[Justin_Rice]

I think the issue is on IMG's end. I'm assuming 90 percent of high schools will not play them. They're looking for warm bodies to play and these jamokes stepped up. If IMG does its homework, ESPN isn't on the bad end of this.

Stop doing this sports media. IMG is not a high school team. A high school team is at least somewhat subject to, "These are the kids who live in my area which I've got to work with."

IMG is an academy selling dreams of Free College! and NFL draft!, often to the people who can afford it least.

 

[wicked]

I said high schools will not play them. I did not say they were a "high school" team. That's who they're looking to play.

 

[Songbird]

The softball team I took over mid-2015 when the 3 coaches quit on the girls was called Sycamore.

We lost every game by 20.

We changed the name in 2016 and made the title game.

Changed the name again in 2017 and won it all.

 

[playthrough]

I don't see anything about this on ESPN.com, so I'm sure the whole story is overblown.

 

[Justin_Rice]

BS. Of course Bishop Sycamore is BS. Of course.

 

[NNDman]

My question is how the heck did they manage to book the Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium??

 

[Starman]

The battle has long since been lost, but I used to argue that our midsize daily should never cover any "prep sports" that isn't part of the long-established state athletic association.
And when our local prep athletes zoom off to play on one of the prep super teams, they're done too, as far as coverage in the local paper.

 

[tapintoamerica]

I don't see anything about this on ESPN.com, so I'm sure the whole story is overblown.

Their credibility takes a bad enough hit for being a party to this charade. The least they can do is investigate.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

 

[User 150927]

I think the issue is on IMG's end. I'm assuming 90 percent of high schools will not play them. They're looking for warm bodies to play and these jamokes stepped up. If IMG does its homework, ESPN isn't on the bad end of this.

Actually, IMG is a member of the FHSAA. So, they do have regular games with regular teams. The football team is "recruited" nationally, and as far as I know, those kids go to school for free and are ushered into elite colleges. IMG also has an elite lacrosse program, and that's more complicated. They have two high school (boys) lacrosse teams, and one that I guess is like a prep academy team. In other words, kids who've already graduated from high school. For a while, organizations like USA Lacrosse stayed away from rating them because you couldn't tell which IMG team was playing in any given game. My understanding is they've cleaned that up and the prep team does not play high school games anymore. There is an actual school at IMG. I've been on the campus, it's nice, it's well guarded, and the sports facilities are top-notch. They kids who are not athletes pay a f*** ton to go to school there. It is quite an interesting factory.

 

[Justin_Rice]

They kids who are not athletes pay a f*** ton to go to school there. It is quite an interesting factory.

Yeah so the not-athletes pay a **** ton to subsidize the athletes. I wonder what the profit margins are like on this sort of thing? Someone's getting rich off of it ...

 

[User 150927]

Yeah so the not-athletes pay a **** ton to subsidize the athletes. I wonder what the profit margins are like on this sort of thing? Someone's getting rich off of it ...

Yep. But if the parents can afford it and the kids like it, who are we to judge?

 

[Justin_Rice]

Yep. But if the parents can afford it and the kids like it, who are we to judge?

Fair. My biggest problem is the number of "academies" the concept spawns - a whole bunch of places like Bishop Sycamore who tell these kids, "Oh yeah - we're just like IMG."

 

[User 150927]

Fair. My biggest problem is the number of "academies" the concept spawns - a whole bunch of places like Bishop Sycamore who tell these kids, "Oh yeah - we're just like IMG."

I see your point, and I know that there are sleazy people taking advantage of families who can't afford this. But is that really IMG's fault? Not defending their business model or who they cater to, but they're a legitimate school even if they are an athletic factory. It's certainly not their fault that slime ball criminals rob from other kids without providing an actual product like a real team.