Not Batman

Just a dude who tweets sometimes. Thunder, OU, USC, and MUFC fan. Proud dad to an autistic kid. Soccer nut. Ill advised smartassery. Not a jockey.

[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.

[Yes THAT Person @KatEmigh]

Messi.

[Nic @ClawForThatInch]

https://t.co/kLb9eob1dn

[Not Batman @NoImNotBatman]

Cabo Verde.

[Jacob Kniffen @JacobKniffen]

These foreign fifa refs are about to watch Joey Chestnut hammer 100 glizzies on Saturday and overturn that red card.

[greg @greg16676935420]

Shoulda pulled this move when the ref handed him a red card

[Not Batman @NoImNotBatman]

#USMNT

[Not Batman @NoImNotBatman]

#Sooners

[Not Batman @NoImNotBatman]

Looks like Paraguay has had only 5% of the possession in this game, but has 100% of the goals. That’s…something.

[Not Batman @NoImNotBatman]

I might rename my child Alex Caruso.

He’s 20.

[Thunder Film Room @ThunderFilmRoom]

I am naming my first child after Alex Caruso.

[Not Batman @NoImNotBatman]

I’ll be damned. Paycom Center broke NBC’s microphones. #Thunder

[Not Batman @NoImNotBatman]

@JacobKniffen

[Not Batman @NoImNotBatman]

@Xbox If I’m at the credits, I finished the game. If I finished the game, it means I enjoyed it. If I enjoyed it, seeing the names of those who contributed to that enjoyment is the least I can do. Also, sometimes stuff is hidden in/after the credits.

[Not Batman @NoImNotBatman]

Dear @OU_MBBall, would it be possible to disown Austin Reaves, at least for the next week or two?

[Not Batman @NoImNotBatman]

@Jhickness9

[Not Batman @NoImNotBatman]

@JacobKniffen

[Not Batman @NoImNotBatman]

Yup. Most definitely a foul on the guy being hugged.

[Boomtown Hoops @BoomtownHoops]

Flagrant Foul 1 by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

[Not Batman @NoImNotBatman]

That was absolutely ridiculous.

[Brandon Rahbar @BrandonRahbar]

Chet Holmgren's hit in the face streak is nipping on the heels of SGA's 20 point game streak.

[Not Batman @NoImNotBatman]

@TallyOkie Spammed the SGA button.