A losing game

Re “Taking a pass on a basketball star,” May 4

This story is just another example of parents sponging off their kids, hoping to hit the lottery with a professional sports contract.

These opportunistic parents are not looking out for their son’s best interest, just their own financial well-being.

Steve Owen

San Diego

According to your story, on the day Fairfax High senior Renardo Sidney announced his college choice, “the gymnasium floor ... was filled with 13 tables decorated in white linen with rose centerpieces, where more than 100 family members and friends dined on a catered meal.”

The odds of a high school sports standout successfully parlaying that talent into an eventual professional sports career are low, yet we continue to witness the unabashed genuflection toward these high school sports stars -- the majority of whom will exit college with neither a professional sports contract nor the completion of a college curriculum necessary to prepare them for a viable career.

It’s a safe bet to assume that an academically talented senior graduating from the Punahou School in Honolulu in 1979 was not feted at a similar celebration when he announced that he would be attending Occidental College the following fall.

Darcy Stamler

Los Angeles