Back in the 1980s, when ESPN was born on cable TV, the all-sports-all-the-time station searched for programming. Those searches brought Australian Rules Football into American homes, as well as billiards, bowling, water skiing, weightlifting and many more outside of the mainstream events.

Many a summer afternoon was spent watching Australian Rules Football during those first years of ESPN. I still get a kick out of the ARF refs in their white suits and top hats making their hand signals.

As the years have passed, ESPN's coverage of obscure sporting events has dwindled. They still carry some events one wouldn't know existed if not for the coverage, but most of the time the station -- and its family of channels -- stick to the NFL, NBA, NHL, Major League Baseball and college sports.

For those of us addicted to the need-to-know-all sports information as it happens, and then some, ESPN is a great thing.

Recently the famed all-sports station has begun again to play with its programming mix. Sure, it still has all pro and college sports one would expect, but it is now diving head first into more reporting on high school athletics.

The fact this national cable TV station is pumping up high school athletes is a bit over the top. It is one thing for the local newspaper to carry game coverage of the local high schools and write feature stories about deserving athletes, it is quite another to broadcast such contests to millions of people.

Local newspapers typically report only the facts regarding high school athletics. There is no commentary as to how well, or poorly, individual players perform. That's because we're talking about young, amateur athletes.

ESPN has started to offer commentary on the qualities of many different high school players. Just recently the station offered extensive coverage, and opinion, regarding the recruits college football teams signed.

The football recruiting reporting comes on the heels of the circus surrounding the Ohio basketball star LeBron James. The circus around James has been fueled by ESPN's coverage, which has included the broadcast of James' games. The attention given to the prep star has made him larger than life and left me assessing the damage on youngsters.

James isn't mature enough to handle the attention, as evidenced by his recent troubles. Yet seemingly, society is wont to placing more and more pressure on younger and younger kids.

The impact of such national exposure, and subsequent increasing pressure on younger athletes, can't be a good thing. For every Tiger Woods and Venus and Serena Williams, there are a hundred Todd Marinovichs and even more NBA teen flame outs.

The number of young athletes attempting to leap from high school to the pros is certain to grow as media coverage increases and publicity is given to the few success stories.

Such leaps will, most of the time, not bring the fame and fortune the athletes dream of, but failure. Failure to not only make it in the pros, but failure to gain an education, failure to gain maturity, failure to gain the needed social skills to make one a success in the biggest game -- life.

And while we in the media do far more good than bad, the national media exposure of high school athletes is clearly bad. The more attention ESPN gives to high school athletes, the more dangerous the mix of exposure, the lure of money and the desire for fame becomes for our young people.

There is simply nothing wrong with letting high school athletes be just high school athletes. The natural progression should then be to college and then to the professional ranks. Eighteen year olds need the opportunity to learn about themselves, learn about the world around them and gain an education to fall back on.

ESPN viewers don't need to see more of LeBron James, or shows about high school football players. The youth of America will be better served by ESPN airing more Australian Rules Football and tiddlywinks.

Neal Ronquist can be reached at 434-2201 or by e-mail at :mailto:neal.ronquist@austindailyherald.com