Crisco - I know you have good points and I know you do a great job with your program. Yes, there are good AAU coaches and bad AAU coaches. There are good high school coaches and bad high school coaches. There are good parents and bad parents.

But...I would like to point out a massive difference between girls AAU and boys AAU. SHOE COMPANIES.

No, I am not just talking about sponsorships. My kid plays AAU right now and I can walk into any tournament and immediately point out half a dozen coaches that have no idea what they are doing, but are coaching some of the best, most powerful programs out there. Why? Some day hoping to cash in.

Examples -

Player 1 - AAU Coach forced him to go pro early. AAU coach got a cut of his contract and also a cut of his shoe contract.

Player 2 - Handler/wanna be agent got a cut of his contract, got a cut of his shoe contract.

Player 3 - Big time player - since he went pro, his AAU coach and shoe company contact pretty much follow him around the country, every city, every game. Hmm...why?

All three examples are different shoe companies. All three examples started here in Milwaukee.

You see so many crap coaches preying on young kids, usually those of single mothers. I was in a meeting for a 6th grade team a couple of years ago. Parents of probably 15-20 kids, where the coach said, "Every player here is good enough to get a college scholarship." Really? I could point to 13-18 of them that are not.

I can give examples of parents taking cash, I can give examples of parents taking cash for delivering someone else's kid. It all ties to the sleazy side of AAU, and I don't know that it exists as much on the girls side as it does on the boys side simply because of the potential size of the NBA salaries and shoe company contracts.

Again Crisco, I understand everything that you said and agree, but the potential 'gold mine' that a superstar with a shoe contract can be on the boys side brings these tools out of the woodwork.