Kids don't watch enough TV...

I know you are thinking I've lost my mind, kids watch way too much TV.  What I'm talking about is sports on TV. In that regard they don't watch enough and when they do, they don't watch it correctly. 

When I was young we only had three channels. The NCAA tournament was tape delayed and shown during late night. On Sunday you could watch the Cowboys and then change over and watch the Oilers. For the NBA you got a couple of weekend games, usually featuring the Lakers, the Celtics or both. 

I watched it all. But I didn't just watch, I absorbed.  I paid attention to what Al Michaels, Frank Gifford, Dandy Don and others said. As a result, as I grew older I instinctively knew what to do with 20 seconds left and down by one point. I knew that if our ace shooter had four fouls and the whistle blew to raise my hand. I knew when the other team would bunt. I learned the subtle rules buried within the games that could make the difference between success and failure. My sports IQ was high. 

I don't see a lot of that in youth sports today. I see talent and raw ability beyond what I had, but I see a waning sports IQ amongst them all. And it isn't something they can achieve with a couple of practices and a game a week at school. And I also don't think they need to play 82 games a year on select teams either (that's an entirely different story).  When they do watch sports on TV, they don't really watch. They text or FaceBook during most of it. 

So in my view they should give up the drama laced reality shows and watch more sports. Hopefully the reality of sports is more in tune with their actual lives than something like Naked and Afraid. 

Does it really matter though? I mean, I can also build you a car out of coconuts and bamboo, but what good does that do me?  As usual, It's just my opinion...

Next post I plan to take on a more challenging topic. Stay tuned... 

Oh, and feel free to visit my website, www.starvt.com