Wake Up, Look Up

Hello everyone, and thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch, and in today's episode, we're asking the question, who sold childhood? This is prompted by an interesting article I read in the Atlantic recently by Senator Chris Murphy, who wrote the article about his son's hockey team. And basically it goes like this. his son's hockey team is a part of larger youth sports organizations in the country, particularly part of hockey organizations which are increasingly being bought by private equity groups, groups like in this case, Black Bear Sports Group, which is buying up the league and then as a consequence, able to really raise the prices to. So that participation in youth sports is getting increasingly more expensive. In fact, they're even. He says this is. I'd never heard of this. He says they're even selling streaming rights. So, like, if you can't make it to your child's game, you're not allowed to film it on a phone and show someone. You actually have to pay for the streaming service, which will show you your own children's hockey, game, by the way, don't worry, they offer a helpful subscription fee. Murphy's point is that youth sports are now mimicking professional sports culture. It's all about status and performance and achievement, trying to get that elusive college scholarship. Get your kid on the most advantageous team. And we're losing, he argues, some communal value, of the local rec team, of playing with the kids you grow up with, of forming community bonds that will last into adulthood, of being poured into by local dads and moms who do the coaching. And we're losing civic pride. We're losing neighbor connection. We're losing childhood rituals because private equity, as you know, doesn't care. They just want to make more money. And he points to this is indicative of a broader spiritual and kind of political crisis in our country, which is we no longer really think about or care about the common good. And at a time when we really need to be coming together even more, when now separating further into the haves and the have nots, whether the have is athletic ability or the money to pay for the league. And I gotta say, I think he's spot on. You know, one of the best books I've ever read was written by a guy named Richard Weaver. It was called Ideas have Consequences. It's written in the 1950s. And his point was that no decision is made in isolation. That when you make decisions like this, it leads to a ripple effect. That's Murphy's point. Punting on civic engagement, punting on neighborhood, community and pride, in the end, is going to cost us. And it's going to cost us more than paying for college would have, at least as a society when we chase that D1 offer. Listen, Paul says it this way to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6. You know this verse. He says, for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. What Paul is saying is when what drives our action is a love of money above all else. To love money more than we love our neighbor, to love money more than we love our children, eventually it costs us. It leads to justifying all kinds of things. Like, for example, a childhood that has really lived on the road. You're in school all week and your weekend is flights and bus trips to this tournament or that tournament. And do we really think that our kids are going to look back on that childhood and say, hey, mom and dad, thanks so much for watching Living in All the Days Ends and Best Westerns and Hiltons with me. I really appreciate it, man. Sorry I couldn't come through and get that D1 offer. Is that really what we think? Or in the end are they going to say, man, I never had many of the experiences, mom and dad, that you talked about in your childhood, and none of my friends live in the area, and I never really feel attached to the place I grew up in. Which, by the way, as parents, it's going to come back to haunt you when you hope they stay local. My point is this. Is money really the most important thing? Like, does it really matter the most in youth sports? And by the way, I'm not just poking at private equity. They exist to do what they exist to do. I'm talking about you and I. Because even chasing the scholarship in the end is about what? It's about money. It's about me saving money on college. Listen, we're justifying robbing our kids of their childhood. I'm not telling you travel, sports are bad. I'm not telling you having a, child who achieves athletically is a problem. I'm just saying. Can you stop for just a second and ask? Are, these really the decisions I want to own 10 years from now, 20 years from now? Is this really the life that I want? Is this even the life my child wants? Because I think as parents in every generation, we just get swept up in the zeitgeist of our generation. And right now you can feel like a lousy parent if you don't go down the youth sports rabbit hole. But here's my question. What if in 10 years you're going to feel like a lousy parent if you did at least stop and take stock? What Murphy is saying is that these equity groups will rob your children and you of every dollar they can get. That's what they do. They're accountable to shareholders. Their goals are not yours. Their values are not yours. They so why let them drive in decisions about your kid's childhood? Own the decisions you're making now and what they're going to lead to years from now. Hey, thanks for watching this episode of Wake Up, Look Up. 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