 (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images) Making the World Go 'Round Whatever the question, the answer is always money. I don't know who first said this -- former Post sports columnist Tony Kornheiser used to attribute it to NBC executive Don Ohlmeyer, I believe -- but the saying strikes me as both largely cynical and largely true. Let's look at some of this week's sports topics. Why are Minnesota Vikings fans reluctant to embrace new quarterback Kirk Cousins? How come every year it seems like the same five or six colleges are vying for the four spots in the College Football Playoff? Why are Catholic high school football coaches scouting seventh-graders and drawing interest from players as far away as Hawaii? The Washington Catholic Athletic Conference has a rich tradition of producing basketball talent, but this year includes three teams that rank among the nation's top 30. What happened? Most observers told reporter Samantha Pell that the landscape began to shift in 2015, when Under Armour chief executive Kevin Plank donated $16 million to his alma mater, St. John's College High School. That began a sort of "arms race" in which many of the league's 12 other teams raced to keep up, aggressively raising funds to invest in improving facilities and widening recruiting umbrellas. Many of St. John's rivals viewed the school's windfall with derision -- but they still tried to match the pace. The WCAC is hardly alone. As Pell points out, California's Trinity League is widely recognized as among the best football conferences in the country, featuring schools such as Mater Dei and St. John Bosco, with similar budgets and recruiting reach. It's enough to make you wonder whatever happened to high school sports teams consisting of neighbors who grew up together playing pickup games in nearby parks. And then you remember the answer. -- Matt Rennie, deputy sports editor   | | Doug Kapustin / For The Washington Post | | | | After a $16 million donation, a high school football league's race for recruits goes national | | An influx of money and out-of-state players has the Washington-area WCAC looking more and more like college football. | | Samantha Pell • Read more » | | |     |
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