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On the TUNNEYSIDE of SPORTS
October 21, 2013 459 Up next...For Whom?
After further
review...Yesterday, October 20, 2013 may have been a benchmark day!
However, that touchstone may be in the wrong direction. At 8:00am PDT
(the announcement stated PST, but since the west coast is still on
daylight savings time more accurately it's PDT), anyway, a two hour live
event took place at South Bay (California) BMW-the title sponsor of this
event/game.
The game? Yes, the "West
Coast Bowl" is scheduled to be played on January 26, 2014 at
Redondo (California) Union High School Stadium. So, the questions are:
why and for whom? Is it BMW who will profit? Is it for the glorification
of high school players, most of whom are 16-18 years of age? Is to
eulogize two high school coaches who will draft these players? It
seems here that perhaps this event places young athletes into the center
of public interest too soon!
The West Coast Bowl draft
worked thusly. Two west coast coaches actually drafted players
from a pool of 200 nominated high school football players. The two
coaches are David Dunn, recent San Diego CIF coach-of-the-year and head
coach of Lincoln High School, and Manuel Douglass, head coach of
four-time CIF Los Angeles City Section champion Narbonne High.
The draft process was
touted in the announcement as similar to an NFL draft-"full of
excitement and competitiveness". There have been all-star games for
many years; yet, this drafting of players is a first! Coach Dunn
said, "Being able to actually draft my own players is so exciting. I'd
much rather hand-pick my team versus being given a roster to work
with". The concern here is: are we exploiting young athletes with
too-much/too-soon? Is this a good idea?
All league and all-star games
have been in existence since they pumped-up the football--not always
benefiting the players. Having coached high sports and being fortunate to
have good players, post-season playoffs were icing-on-the-cake! This may
be taking "icing" too far!
High school football season
ends in late November. Then, some two months later-January 26th,
selected players from all over the CIF Southern Section will have to
"lace-'em-up" again. Even with sufficient practice-time, will
it benefit the players?
Will you log-in your thoughts
about the idea of drafting players for this West Coast Bowl?
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