Interesting post on why US athletes don't win as much

[rsdsharp]

8. I live in Iowa. I had a partner who's twelve year old son

went to the Chris Everett Lloyd tennis academy in Boca Raton, Florida. His mother moved down there, too, because he was too young to be on his own.

Another partner built a batting cage in his backyard for his baseball playing kid, and the kid also had a personal coach. One December my friend came into my office with two catcher’s mitts. These were professional level mitts, both Wilson’s; one an A2000 series, and the other an A2K. He had custom ordered one as a Christmas present for his son, and when it didn’t turn out the way he wanted — the kid’s embroidered nickname was done in the wrong colored thread — he ordered the other mitt. These mitts ran about $500 a piece.

Neither of them became professional athletes, but the mind boggles at the amount of money spent trying.