CJ Oliva

[Aakash Gupta @aakashgupta]

In Germany, a talented 14-year-old earns his club money. In America, his parents pay the club $15,000 a year.

That single inversion explains why "we will not" is the most accurate line ever written about US soccer.

FIFA built a global system for this. Training compensation and solidarity payments send a cut of every transfer fee back to the clubs that developed the player, from age 12 onward. Develop one future pro and your academy gets paid for a decade. Barcelona's La Masia, Ajax, every Bundesliga academy runs on this logic. The kid is the asset.

US Soccer refuses to enforce those rules. When Seattle's Crossfire Premier claimed its $60,000 share of DeAndre Yedlin's transfer to Tottenham, it got nothing. Claims on the Dempsey and Bradley transfers died partly because the federation couldn't even produce the youth training records.

So American clubs earn zero dollars when a kid turns pro. They earn when a kid enrolls. Which makes the parent the customer, and the product is whatever keeps the parent writing checks: travel tournaments, hotel weekends, $500 showcase events, private training at $100 an hour. Elite pathways run $8,000 to $20,000 a year. A comparable academy spot in Italy costs about 120 euros.

Follow the incentive one level deeper and it gets darker. A club dependent on fees can't cut its weakest paying players, so rosters optimize for retention over development. The scouting pool shrinks to families who can afford the cliff, which appears around age 11, exactly when development matters most. The country runs a talent filter sorted by household income instead of ability.

Every four years someone proposes fixing this. The proposal always requires the people profiting from the $15,000 model to vote themselves out of business.

They will not.

[Peter Appel @PeterAppel23]

@RedsDM2020

[Peter Appel @PeterAppel23]

I feel like I’m taking crazy pills

Everyone is complaining these runs should have been earned

That this should be ruled a hit

All I see is an error. He dropped the ball when he would have been out

[Ben Jacobs @JacobsBen]

Two relatively similar incidents...

Flo Balogun: red card.
Lionel Messi: unpunished.

[CJ Oliva @CJ_Oliva]

TILLLLLLMANNNNNNNN

[PFT Commenter @PFTCommenter]

Fuck this ref. FIFA rigged

[Taylor Twellman @TaylorTwellman]

Red card for that means you’ve lost the plot. Completely lost the plot. #USMNT

[Pardon My Take @PardonMyTake]

FIFA RIGGED

USA gets a red card for this

[Jeff Passan @JeffPassan]

The best team in baseball in June, by a decent margin, is the Miami Marlins. They're about to go 20-6, have outscored opponents 129-78 this month and have the lowest CBT payroll in MLB. The Marlins' third-highest-paid player is Giancarlo Stanton, who last played for them in 2017.

[Mikey Jimenez @Mikey_Jimenez]

This is blowing up so give it up for my son, Andre Daniel Giannis Antetokoumnpo Jimenez.

[Mikey Jimenez @Mikey_Jimenez]

Brady Tkachuk Sunday

Giannis Antetokoumnpo Monday

It’s Tuesday @Marlins

[CJ Oliva @CJ_Oliva]

@FIUBaseball @Jalvy18 Congrats Coach!

[Steve Trombly @tromblybaseball]

How many good coaches have we lost because parents refused to hold their own kids accountable?

The answers might surprise you.

[Jared Perkins @JaredCP1]

44 wins
28 RPI
Top 3 in Home Runs
Win over Georgia Tech

I still can’t figure out how @MercerBaseball didn’t get in. They did everything that would be asked of a team and get snubbed from the NCAA Tourney.

[Jacob Rudner @JacobRudner]

Mercer missing the field is bad for college baseball.

If a mid-major can win 44 games, finish top 30 in RPI, rank among the national leaders in homers and still miss, what exactly is the path supposed to be outside the power conferences?

Column: https://t.co/S37EUPSVzn

[Referee Brandon Tolle @RefBrandonTolle]

Very nice. Very shiny. Very rare.
2026 Topps Chrome Sapphire WWE hits different… and history gets made tomorrow night 👀🔥
Color. Chaos. Monsters. Massive pulls. Watch The Zebra Breaks!
You WANT to watch until the end, or.. YOU.. are.. 😉
https://t.co/TOHND1HzTD https://t.co/90L1c5IJ8S
#wwe #topps #sapphire #danhausen #wrestlingcards #cursed
@midwestboxbreak @trojancollects @wrestlingcards @TheNotoriousGPB

[CJ Oliva @CJ_Oliva]

This dude don’t miss

[Hayden Collins @Hayden_Collins8]

In my time of college baseball I played with and against some elite players. All Americans, draft picks, and conference award winners. Here are a few things that I noticed and picked up on that separate the good players from the Elite players. (1/2)⬇️

[Next Level Baseball @nextlevelbb]

Coaches spend as much or more time with players during the season as they do their own families.
As coaches get older they realize being around immature players that can't be trusted is miserable.
Players.
Be the guy they want to be around.
Hard Working.
Mature.
Competitive.
Reliable.
Dependable.
and most importantly.
Trustworthy.

[Aaron Cunningham 🇺🇸 @HPBAac]

Something a lot of folks don’t realize in the recruiting process…

College coaches are trying to figure out if they want you around their building everyday for years to come. It’s so much more than talent. Talent is easy to find. Makeup, character, personality, and energy are the hard parts.

Practice your people skills as much as you practice your baseball skills.

I can’t tell you how many kids have missed out on an offer because the college coach didn’t like a kids vibe.

[Hayden Collins @Hayden_Collins8]

Yesterday I wrapped up my college baseball career as well as my playing career. I was reflecting on some things that I wish I knew coming into college or somethings that I would tell younger players interested in playing college baseball. So here they are in no particular order⬇️