This is a true, but the identities are hidden to protect people. Two brothers move to a town in the Midwest together. Both raised in the same home, stuck together like glue. Sports fans. Best friends as well as brothers. Then they married.
One brother loved sports more than the other. Raised his children (two) to love sports. They played ball as soon as they could walk. When his children (boy and a girl) grew up they had become accomplished at throwing and catching any ball, of all kinds. They both excelled in High School sports. Whatever they touched they did well at. They both got full ride scholarships at major universities. They both played at divisional sports levels. They both graduated college with degrees in whatever didn't interfere too much with sports. Sports degrees which the NCAA colleges have developed so that the college sports industry of the university isn't interfered with by academics. Now that they are out of college both took a run at the big time. Nothing much happened. Now well into their twenties.. they both have college degrees but what they really know how to do is throw a ball. They are unprepared for life. No direction. Unfocused. Frustrated. Working retail. Dead end. Good athletes with no outlet for what they know how to do.. throw a ball.
The other brother was a small business owner. His kids (a boy and a girl) helped him out as they grew up. Not a big company. Small form contracting. BUT when it came time for college they picked schools that could prepare them for something. Not the fancy division one stuff, focused schools. Both paid their own way, not much debt, worked thru college, got whatever help grants and scholarships as were available. When college was over one had a degree in medicine and the other in business finance. One now works at a high level in a hospital chain for mid six figures (the girl) the other (the boy) makes a good living as a financial services executive. They have carved out significant niches in life.
What is important to remember, this is all about choices made. They were living in the same town, same opportunities, same last name, living 5 miles apart, same age kids, same genders, same birth orders. Yet the outcomes for their kids are radically different.
My caution:
Be careful of the trap of believing in sports as a path for preparation in life. It might be fun to watch, but sports does not prepare you for life.. look at the recent tragic stories in the news. We need to learn to start raising our boys in particular differently. We must stop letting the colleges harvest their physical abilities in exchange for a worthless education and then turning them out to the world unprepared for a lifetime of excellence.
One brother prepared his children for a life and they are living well, the other taught his kids to throw a ball and they are on a downward spiral. The saga of the ex athlete on the street is legendary. It's time to rethink this whole deal. College sports is dangerous to your child's future if you drink the college sports koolaid.
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