When you mill out the concept of overcoming and breed entitlement into kids, this is what you get.
Your “thankful to have committed” posts need to come with an asterisk.
You’re thankful for the attention and the retweets.
The same thing you’ll be thankful for in a year or so when you hit the portal.
Committed doesn’t mean what you think it means.
It’s not your fault, though.”
-Ray Zingler on Twitter
I have said for a decade that there are very few kids who love football anymore.
I have since (unfortunately) expanded upon my belief as I have watched this notion bleed into other sports as well.
Thanks social media, immature adults, and instant gratification.
But back to football.
Look at the transfer portal.
Not in the sense that everybody else is, making common sense comments like “everybody is transferring!”
But look at what it’s affirming.
Notice I did not say teaching, but affirming.
We’ve already milled out the lessons of overcoming adversity, sticking to your word, and anchoring in when things get tough.
Adults have taught them from very young ages that if they don’t get their way, they just simply pick-up their ball and go play elsewhere.
Adults have taught them that if they run into any adversity, within hours they can erase it for them.
Adults have shown them there is no real value in a community, much less being a part of a (real) team.
Adults have quite literally taught and created exactly what we are seeing in the transfer culture we know today.
The entitlement isn’t the kids’ fault.
Kid’s are selfish by nature.
The entitlement is the adults fault for not harboring and nurturing environments that provide them the opportunity to learn otherwise.
What we’re witnessing is not off-chance exception. It’s the expectation. It’s supposed to be happening. It’s the norm. Why would the kid’s act any differently than the way they were raised?
Then you factor in the fact that the most exciting part of football to most of these kids, is the attention that comes from social media.
The visits, the clout, the photoshoots, the “chase” from coaches (who will happily lie to their faces and don’t care about them as people, but only their athletic ability).
“Wait, a minute… If I pick a big school out of high school, and things don’t work out perfectly, I can just hit that portal and experience the most fun part (recruiting, not the actual game) again?”
Cue “Jim Bob has entered the portal, 247Sports articles, and ‘my recruitment is 100% open’” posts from kids, who again, are simply doing what they have been conditioned to do..
Make it about themselves.
What we’re witnessing isn’t the kid’s fault.
The adults and “progressive” society bred it into them.
