Tonight, one of Indiana's own will have the chance to showcase his basketball talent in front of a national audience. This won't be the first time he has been in the spotlight. He also played in front of a national audience last year and earlier in this season. He has been adorned on the front covers of magazines across the nation and is already being called one of the best "big men" in the country. No, he doesn't play for the Pacers. In fact, he's not even a professional. Neither does he play for IU or Notre Dame. Rather, he plays for Indianapolis' Lawrence North High School.
Seven-foot senior Greg Oden will be the main attraction of tonight's Lawrence North-North Central game being broadcast on ESPN2. Oden has used his size and athleticism to dominate high school competition as the number-one ranked prep player in the nation. He will be attending Ohio State University next season, but many believe that if it wasn't for the National Basketball Associations's new age restrictions, Oden would be the consensus number-one pick in the NBA draft.
The No. 1 ranked Wildcats of Lawrence North will be facing another quality team, the No. 6 ranked North Central Panthers. The Panthers are led by junior shooting guard Eric Gordon, who is the top-ranked player at his position for the Class of 2007. Make no mistake about it. This game is not about Lawrence North, North Central, or any other player. It is solely about Greg Oden.
Many argue that high school sports should not be shown on national television. Critics say young athletes face enough pressure as it is from parents and other adults without the added burden of the whole country watching them. High school athletes are still kids who just want to hang out and have fun. That is why many feel that putting high school kids on national television is nothing more than adding undue pressure on the athletes if not flat-out exploiting them for their talents altogether. They have a valid point. But there is something that these critics are overlooking.
It is hard to argue that high school games televised by ESPN exploit the athletes unfairly. Only a handful of games are ever televised and the games that are televised showcase only the premier players in the nation. Maybe when a fan can purchase a Dish Network pay-per-view pass for every Lawrence North basketball game things will have gone too far, but that isn't the case.
The high school athletes featured on ESPN are already going to be attending top-notch basketball schools when they graduate, where they will face even more pressure and exposure. Odds are, in the not-so-distant future, they will even be playing in the NBA. Additional ESPN coverage should only make these super-athletes stronger both mentally and emotionally.
This is all trivial compared to the two main reasons why it is a good idea to broadcast high school games. The athletes who the broadcasters focus on will have many more opportunities to bask in the media spotlight, but what about their teammates? Many high school athletes never go on to play at the collegiate level, and those who do sometimes finds themselves in Division II or Division III athletics with games never shown on television. I am willing to bet the vast majority of former high school athletes would love to tell their children and grandchildren about how they played on ESPN. I am pretty sure more than a handful of Panthers and Wildcats players will be recording the game tonight. For Oden, this might be just another game. For his teammates, this will be one of the highlights of their four years in high school.
The other reason is the opportunity the schools have to receive additional income. In their December game versus Dayton, Ohio's Dunbar High School, they received $15,000. While they will receive nothing for tonight's game (North Central will receive $1,500), it is clear that they are earning substantial revenue out of the whole process.
Tonight, sit back and watch some of the best basketball the state has to offer and don't feel guilty. The athletes are loving it, the students are loving it, the schools are loving it and you should too.
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