Open letter to all fans,
I know you think that your countless hours spent on XBOX Live or Ps4 give you credentials to be an expert in professional sports, but it doesn’t. To be honest, from the bottom of my heart, I truly appreciate all your support and enthusiasm for the game. Really. Y’all are what make the good plays more exciting, and openly fight the bad calls for us.
What I don’t appreciate is the ridicule of players for making mistakes.
There is nothing superhuman about them. They don’t automatically become unable to make errors, especially in a game where plays happen so fast that you have to watch a replay to see what happened. I know you think you can do my husbands job better than he can, but the truth is, if you could you would.
So let me break down the statistics for you.
“You have a better chance of winning an Oscar than you do playing professional basketball.”
Football
There are 1,121,744 high school players in the US
1 in 40 high school players will play in college
1 in 1,010 high school players will be drafted to the NFL
1 in 325 college players will be drafted in the NFL
Basketball
There are 535,569 high school players in the US
1 in 17 high school players will play in college
1 in 8,926 high school players will be drafted to the NBA
1 in 525 college players will be drafted in the NBA
Baseball
There are 474,219 high school players in the US
1 in 9 high school players will play in college
1 in 390 high school players will be drafted to the MLB
1 in 44 college players will be drafted in the MLB
Soccer
There are 412,351 high school players in the US
1 in 11 high school players will play in college
1 in 5,355 high school players will be drafted to the MLS
1 in 447 college players will be drafted in the MLS
Hockey
There are 35,732 high school players in the US
1 in 9 high school players will play in college
1 in 170 high school players will be drafted to the NHL
1 in 20 college players will be drafted in the NHL
What are the odds of a U.S. HS athlete making it to the pros?
Football: 1 in 4,233
Basketball: 1 in 11,771
Baseball: 1 in 659
Soccer: 1 in 5,768
Hockey: 1 in 598
If you played one of these sports in HS, your odds of achieving other things are greater than you playing that sport professionally. You have a better chance of winning an Oscar (1 in 11,500) than you do playing professional basketball. As a first time author, the odds of you publishing a manuscript (1 in 2,000) are greater than playing either football or soccer professionally. The percentage of HS players playing at any professional level is 0.08.
On the outside looking in, I’m sure it looks like all they have to do is play the sport they love and get paid for it, what could be better than that?! I mean come on, who wouldn’t want to do that? What most of you don’t realize is that these men work hard each and every day to be on their own respective teams. They weren’t handed this life on a silver platter. They sacrifice their body, mind, and time away from their families for it. They’re ALL human, they make mistakes but they have also worked ridiculously hard to be where they’re at. This lifestyle is not easy, nor is it ever guaranteed hence the acronym for NFL (Not For Long). I think one thing we can all agree on is that whether they play one year or ten, the amount of talent and dedication it takes to even step foot on this level is rare and sometimes under appreciated. So the next time you want to criticize, name call, or belittle one of them, just take a minute to reflect on the fact that we all have 24 hours in a day, what are you doing with yours?
