I just listened to it this weekend, and it was a good, albeit sad listen knowing what happened to Dixie earlier this year.
One point that I wish was made a little more explicitly (it was implied, maybe accidentally, when discussing Operation Varsity Blues) is this: It may not be fair to compare dollars spent on youth sports to the cost of college itself. The argument is always that parents could just save/invest that money and they could pay for college themselves. That's true! But the book discusses how much easier it is for athletes to get into college in the first place. So parents are not "buying" a scholarship that's worth less than what they spend. They're also buying a greater likelihood of their child getting accepted to their preferred schools in the first place.
I don't know that that completely justifies the insane dollars some families spend, but it's not necessarily as simple as just spending money when you could just save it. That argument also ignores the value of the experience itself.
One point that I wish was made a little more explicitly (it was implied, maybe accidentally, when discussing Operation Varsity Blues) is this: It may not be fair to compare dollars spent on youth sports to the cost of college itself. The argument is always that parents could just save/invest that money and they could pay for college themselves. That's true! But the book discusses how much easier it is for athletes to get into college in the first place. So parents are not "buying" a scholarship that's worth less than what they spend. They're also buying a greater likelihood of their child getting accepted to their preferred schools in the first place.
I don't know that that completely justifies the insane dollars some families spend, but it's not necessarily as simple as just spending money when you could just save it. That argument also ignores the value of the experience itself.