One way (hoops alone) or another (endorsement stuff), the Ball boys will make a whole lot of money.

Or a whole, whole, lot.

Wouldn't most of us trade our situations for their prospects?

But their dad could step in front of their opportunities. Lonzo may not get a shoe deal. Kyrie Irving is getting $13M a year from Nike plus all the exposure that goes along with it. Even Paul George gets $7.5M. Hard to see how dad beats that. Incredibly heavy lifting required in the retail business.

If any of the sons perform to a level of being worthy of that much of a shoe deal, the back office and logistics for their own brand can be taken care of such that the family gets a lot more of the retail dollar spent than such as Kyrie or Paul George.

The father's a blowhard. But he's savvy on this deal. Very little downside to it; if it fails, the kids can fall back on the typical shoe/endorsement framework.

I'll say that the best running shoes I've ever owned were UA's. Snug, flexible, lightweight, and breathable.

Also, speaking as a basketball referee, you may actually be surprised how many AAU dads and even some coaches sound just like Lavar.

I was at Speice Fieldhouse last weekend for Summer ball. https://basketball.exposureevents.com/77419/2017-bill-hen...

I laughed as I turned to the Mom and Dad behind me yelling at Team Teague members and officials and said..."it is funny that some things never change..." alluding to the parents at the ends of the court.... that devolved into the entire parents group sitting there admonishing LaVar and his actions. The rest of the day I watched current parents from teams on 8 courts from that perspective.

Did not see any LaVars out there criticizing coaches for not winning or holding court talking about their sons... I am sure, on the court, you hear every patent barking about their team getting screwed and bad calls. Thankfully, having been going to events like that for a couple of decades I have only seen a handful of LaVars and really none on his level... I admire you for taking the abuse. Was interesting that this event was an officials clinic for prospective D2 officials..... there was some irony in watching guys like Buddy Mayborg watching games/interacting and evaluating "prospective" officials.

Even if I knew the intricacies and tactics of the sport, I would never consider being a baseball umpire. That's where the worst headcases are.

Basketball's fine. Parents are the rudest group but the easiest to ignore. Players, for the most part, are polite, unless you have to do an adult league or the rec league with high school boys. Coaches are the wild card because you do need to acknowledge them and you can't always tell if they are really pissed or will they move on.

BTW, if anyone is thinking of getting into officiating, I'm told there's a huge need for track and cross country officials across Ohio. How hard could that be?

I referee soccer. The parents are nutjobs. For the most part, coaches are ok but they can be very hit or miss. At the younger age groups, the players are absolutely fine. The players start getting nasty in higher skilled 16, 17, 18 year old games.
(Now Men's leagues are a different animal. They asked me to do a local Hispanic league. I declined. The Eastern European teams do not have water in their water bottles. If they start fighting (and they probably will) it's in your best interest to leave.)

Youth soccer refereeing is a great gig. Low supply/high demand... The biggest difference with soccer officiating compared to other sports is the high amount of running required.

I completely agree with Shab. Baseball is the last sport I would do. I want no part of calling balls and strikes hearing people moan about that.

Today, I announced by new shoe line. The M-Doctorin' line sells for $888.88 per pair.

pm me with your orders.




The price may seem high but I personally assure you that it's a fine value, that I worked really diligently to price the M-D's at a fair value for me as proprietor.

I've never umpired but have been a catcher in a 30+ baseball league for the last 21 years. It never ceases to amaze me the amount that batters gripe about balls and strikes. The difference between baseball and basketball is that you can hear nearly every comment in baseball. In basketball it's a lot noisier so the individual comments are easier to ignore. But, my goodness, the things parents will yell at a youth basketball game. And it's worse the younger the kids are. When my son was in 4th grade we had a parent from the opposing team challenge a ref to a fight. He took off his jacket and walked on the court...and did not get thrown out. It's significantly worse in certain areas. In the county we live in there is a zero tolerance for ref abuse. We had a parent get thrown out for turning to me and saying "And that's a foul?". That was ridiculous but it makes for a much better environment for the kids.

He didn't handle it that well, but wow did Fox Sports play right into that whole thing.

Leahy has been questioning his parenting and pretty much insinuating that he forces his kids to do things. Then, he goes on Cowherd's show and is sitting on a couch with a mic faces directly at Colin. Leahy throws some snarky questions his way from behind him and now they paint him to look like this terrible person.

He said "stay in your lane" because he's the parent of these kids. She's not even a parent. What she said was much worse. Then, I feel like it was pretty clear that his comment that she'll get what's coming to her is about karma, not physical abuse.

At the very least, how about you have Leahy facing him if you want him to talk to her? Why would a guest on a show be forced to turn completely around to talk to someone who wasn't really even part of the interview? Also, if she wants to spout off hot parenting takes, you don't think a guy who has next to no filter is going to take offense?

Good news is people actually found out what channel Colin Cowherd is on these days, and now we know who Leahy is for a few days. FS1 is loving this.

I have helped as a shot and disc official in the past and my experiences were generally pleasant. For me it depended mainly on how much the coaches trusted our judgments and/or how well those helping paid attention to where the shot put or discus first hit the ground (sometimes a discus would skip 4-5 or more times after first contact.

Typically there were more debates on whether or not an athlete committed a foul by the way he or she exited the throwing ring moreso that the mark of the distance on a throw.

But I also never worked beyond the conference championship meet level so I am sure it gets more intense.

100%

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/20...

For the second time in a week Ball pulled his team off the court. Nice message to your kids, Lavar. Embarrassing.