Sports achievement begins at the sperm bank

Bob Bigelow, a former NBA player and truly inspiring youth sports advocate, jokes about how parents are starting kids earlier and earlier in organized sports. It won't be long before we witness "pre-natal soccer," he told me not long ago. The players in Bob's theater-of-the-absurd league? "Padded pregnant women.”

I'm not laughing anymore, after watching a piece by ESPN's Tom Farrey. Tom visits a SoCal sperm bank that assists infertile couples eager to have sports whiz kids. At the clinic, they choose from donors with an array of desirable physical attributes: size, speed, exceptional hand-eye coordination and, as one donor notes on his questionnaire, huge calves. One dad is quite direct in saying he hopes this method will help his daughter someday hook a college scholarship.

Good luck to these moms and dads. Above all, good luck to the children.