Sneaker Wars

[DanMcQ]

Boston Globe starts a series about Shoe Company influence (and clashes of shady personalities) on HS and AAU basketball:

$neaker war

[DanMcQ]

Part 2 of 3:

Wading in cesspool


Officials for amateur teams admit doling out cash to players

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- It's a sleepy Saturday afternoon in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains, and Rakim Sanders, a 16-year-old hotshot from a Rhode Island housing project, has created a buzz at a Boys and Girls Club on the edge of town.

Recruiters from major colleges across the country have trekked in April to the gym on a dead end street in northwest Arkansas to pay respect to Sanders, a sleek, 6-foot-5-inch shooting guard. Assistant coaches from Boston College and the University of Connecticut anchor a group watching Sanders from one end of the basketball court while rivals from Providence, Syracuse, and other Division 1 powers stand vigil at the opposite end.

As New England's top college basketball prospect in the high school class of 2007, Sanders -- a high-scoring junior at St. Andrew's School in Rhode Island -- has received scholarship offers from BC and Providence and has been projected by a basketball trade publication as a 2010 selection in the NBA draft. (Two weeks later, on May 1, he verbally commits to BC.)

Sanders also is the jewel of the Adidas-backed New England Playaz, an elite travel team based in Springfield. And he will receive a special benefit from the Playaz after he performs at the Real Deal on the Hill Tournament in Fayetteville, a major weekend showcase that attracts the nation's top college recruiters and scouting services.

Playaz president Thomas J. ``TJ" Gassnola has paid for Sanders to travel not only from New England to Fayetteville, as Gassnola has done for the entire team, but also to fly after the tournament from Arkansas to Orlando to vacation with his brothers and sisters at Disney World. Gassnola then will pay for Sanders to fly home from Disney World.

Never mind that NCAA rules bar amateur teams such as the Playaz from paying for anything but ``actual and necessary travel, room and board, and apparel and equipment for competition and practice."

Gassnola, who has a lengthy criminal record and rich history of financial delinquency, says he also will slip his star player $100 to spend during his Disney vacation.

``The kid has no money, so I'm helping him out," Gassnola says. ``You want to throw me in jail for that? Go ahead."

Since Sanders will not be subject to NCAA rules until he enrolls in college -- and since no other agency closely regulates such activity -- the chances of anyone facing sanctions for Gassnola's special gift to Sanders are remote.

[DanMcQ]

Part 3 of 3

Are you kidding?

Shoe companies set their sights on players as young as 12

[TigerHoya]

That kid in Baltimore that has Adidas after him is 10. Melo/Nike are after him for an AAU team as well.