QueKay09

Quaffing Knave
The Quick Kid

[Gary Hershorn @GaryHershorn]

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on mission Starlink Group 10-49 passes over lower Manhattan and One World Trade Center in New York City about 15 after launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida, Tuesday morning before sunrise #newyorkcity #nyc #newyork @SpaceX #sunrise

[ABC News @ABC]

A truck driver recreated the iconic Toy Story scene with Woody and Buzz Lightyear toys spotted dangling from the vehicle near Tampa, Florida. https://t.co/xbBTCkjeFE

[New York Magazine @NYMag]

Around 5 million children in the U.S. now compete on travel teams. Parents find themselves trapped. They know the benefits of sports and want that for their children, yet giving it to them often means buying into a sports ecosystem that’s inherently flawed.

The modern-day hydra of youth sports can partly be traced to the pandemic. While many public programs were put on pause, privately owned sports leagues had the capital to get back up and running soon after lockdown. Parents who could afford the fees were more than willing to pay if it meant returning their children to some semblance of normalcy. Investors saw an opportunity. Private investment firms began buying up teams, facilities, software, camps, apparel, and media streaming in a roll-up strategy that allows them to profit from almost every aspect of a family’s participation.

In 2024, families spent 46 percent more on a primary youth sport than they did just five years prior, according to Project Play. It estimated that youth sports generate up to $40 billion in annual revenue — nearly twice as much as the NFL. Meanwhile, profits for investors in youth-sports companies are growing significantly.

One reason parents accept these expensive and hypercompetitive conditions is they’re anxious about what will happen if they don’t. In a time of justified concern for children’s mental health and unease about the future, parents have latched on to sports as a lifeline. And in their pursuit of a competitive edge for their children, parents can inadvertently take the positive effects of sports and turn them inside out.

“Every day, it was soccer, soccer, soccer,” said London, who joined a travel team at age 9. “It could be so bad that I would start playing soccer and then start hyperventilating and have to sit down. I was so scared that I wasn’t doing good.”

Caitlin Moscatello reports on the increasingly commercial world of travel sports: https://t.co/r1qvlr29S0

[Pablo Puente @SoyPabloPuente]

Memoria.

[RacingReplay @RacingReplay]

Por mucho que se escondan, las ratas siempre vuelven a su agujero.

@DAZN_ES @DAZN publicar esto después de comentar el partido es lamentable.

[J•MOMENT$ @AmiBothereD]

@Variety If this was Lincoln square the UWS people would riot

[Bryant Park @bryantparknyc]

Prime outdoor movie weather ☀️🍿😎.

Don’t miss a beautiful evening of @paramountplus Movie Nights at Bryant Park! Tonight at 8pm, we’ll be showing King Creole on the lawn 🌱.

More info: https://t.co/MPfwmZeg2m

[Amtrak @Amtrak]

time to celebrate our almost 1-year-old 🥹🎉🎂

[DoroRM @DoroRM_]

Como esto no es roja?

[New York Magazine @NYMag]

‘Travel sports,’ a term that has come to encompass all sorts of private teams, leagues, and clubs, used to be for the truly exceptional young athlete. Now, they’re for anyone willing to pay — an expensive, exhausting commitment that has become popular not necessarily because millions of parents want them for their children but because it can feel like there’s no other choice. Rec programs are underfunded and struggle to compete with for-profit leagues for prime field, rink, and court times. And the level of play is diluted, often very early, as travel teams are incentivized to enroll children at young ages.

Around 5 million children in the U.S. now compete on travel teams. Parents find themselves trapped. They know the benefits of sports and want that for their children, yet giving it to them often means buying into a sports ecosystem that’s inherently flawed. As the pay-to-play model increasingly takes hold, so does the idea that kids should start competing at younger and younger ages, risking their sense of self along with their shoulders and ACLs.

“I never want my kids to look back and say I didn’t do everything I could to help them live their dreams,” a mother of three soccer players said. She’s hired professional photographers to take action shots for her 12- and 13-year-olds’ Instagram accounts — the platform has become a recruiting tool — and they’ve both asked her to pay for personal trainers.

“I think the word isn’t ‘specialize’; you are ‘professionalizing’ your kid early. You are exposing them to everything professionals have to deal with — I’m talking injury, time, schedule, everything,” said John Van Benschoten, a former MLB player and travel-baseball coach.

It makes one ask: All this for what? And for whom? Read Caitlin Moscatello’s cover story on how travel leagues have made youth sports more expensive, hypercompetitive, and all-consuming — and the investors who are making a killing: https://t.co/zHcKsPYfeC

[Aviation @xAviation]

A photo that can never be taken again. The Space Shuttle riding atop NASA's modified 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, while the Concorde slices across the sky in the background. (1983)

[Tribunero Verdiblanco💚🤍 @Tribunero1913]

Es una vergüenza que uno de vuestros comentaristas se ría de nuestros aficionados, mucho de ellos clientes. Espero que @DAZN @DAZN_ES @DAZNFutbol tomen medidas y prescindan de Casquero

[Laliga News @laligaa_neews]

💥 | Martínez Munuera lo tiene muy claro en el Coliseum. 🔵🇪🇸

📌 Sazonov se desentiende del balón y agrede a Salinas de manera intencionada con el antebrazo, ES PENALTI

✅ Acierto del colegiado

🏟️ Getafe - Racing de Santander

[Miguel RRC💢 @MiGu3L83]

Sazonov se olvida por completo del balón y le pega un manotazo a Salinas, penalti de libro y encima era la segunda amarilla.
Todavía tienes que leer a gente diciendo que es un robo😂

[𝙼𝚊𝚜𝚘𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚜𝚖𝚘ℤ𝕦𝕣𝕚𝔾𝕠𝕣𝕣𝕚 (hackeado)🏆 @andeerATH]

Los de DAZN gritando a los cuatro vientos que están forcejeando por balón y es un contacto sin querer. De verdad que yo estaba flipando, les ponen esta toma y dicen: "Es imposible que sea penalti".

[Nottingham Panthers @PanthersIHC]

Happy Birthday @thechasepearson 🎂

[Pablo Puente @SoyPabloPuente]

Aquí no me parece ninguna locura sacar la segunda amarilla. Era penalti y el Racing se quedaba en superioridad… En cualquier caso, el golpe psicológico producto de la parada de Soria inclinó la balanza a favor del Getafe.

[🇵🇷 Johnluke Chaparro @JLChaparro8]

Bernie Nicholls! #NYR

https://t.co/pIr6OQU0da

[Hannah @babybergy37]

Zdeno Chara leaves his skates on the ice as he walks off with his twin boys one last time

[MARCA @marca]

¡VIVIR PARA VER! 🤯🤯🤯

🥹🥹🥹 Los ultras del Olympique Marsella celebran que España eliminara a Francia en semis del Mundial

Homenajearon a La Roja con un tifo antes de su partido contra el Estrasburgo 🫶🫶🫶

#Marseille #OM #España #Roja