The Super Bowl is weeks away and football excitement is building once again as it does every year. We get all excited over the rituals every year for many reasons. The brave men wearing tight pants are our modern day Gladiators fiercely going into battle with every what they call play.   On command they run as fast as they can willingly to tackle each other with all their might and strength knowing that they can possibly get a paralyzing concussion and forever changing the quality of their lives forever.

The fans are in it because it is just one more excuse to eat bad snack foods and get unbelievably drunk.  I forgot to mention all the gambling that goes on too where most bet on every movement a player makes to a prediction of sorts. It is a ritual that must take place every year to great expense and great profits for some.  The craze is so popular that many parents groom their children for possible careers in the sport. I thought only parents of children in China were so motivated with some definition of success.

The quarterback is the superhero of the game so we all want our kid to be a superhero. America’s pastime is watching football. Fathers dream of what might have been and kids dream of future glory. For some it is no dream, it is a plan. So they seek the help of a   quarterback shaper, Steve Clarkson.  You never heard of him but if you are crazy about football you wish you could meet him. He is the man that parents of 8 or 9 year old's turn to and despite the obvious dangers of the game, spend tens of thousands of dollars seeking the magic guidance of this man.

There have been more than 25 quarterbacks who have been trained by Steve Clarkson who have wealthy careers in the National Football League.  Honey! Sign Junior up. We need our kid to make millions of dollar’s throwing a ball. Steve’s training program is so successful that college recruiters are offering football scholarships to some of his students; some as young as thirteen.  It all starts in the Pee Wee League where nine year old are playing in full gear with cheerleaders and announcers and fully simulated NFL games only with miniature players.

Steve also gives private lessons at $400 dollars an hour.  So that means only wealthy kids become quarterbacks now?  Wow! How do you make sure you are born into a wealthy family?   That is where luck drops in. Even at that price for lessons, there is only a 6% per cent chance of making a college football team and then only 8 out of ten thousand will make it to the professional leagues. Where else can a kid in middle school get a college scholarship?  Is it really only a game anymore? Hell no. It is a business and a way of life for some children who play the sport 12 months out of the year.

Steve Clarkson’s job is to feed the football machine with a new crop of dreamers every day. It is a well-oiled machine of camps and clinics where kids can learn fancy footwork. He teaches 40 or 50 students at a time. It is all in the cause of perfecting the pass. So when you watch the Superbowl in a few weeks remember you will be watching the American gladiators.  Men who have been groomed for the sport since they were 8 or 9 years old.  Men from wealthy families who could afford the highest paid trainers with all the best connections to the national leagues.