As we wind down the year of sports in 2017, one family’s name has been in the spotlight throughout the year. If you haven’t been living under a rock, or have tuned into ESPN at some point in this year, you’ve probably heard of the Ball family. Headlined by LaVar Ball, and his sons Lonzo, LiAngelo and LaMelo, the ball family have been a predominant image of the basketball scene in the 2017-2018 season.

LaVar became very outspoken with his comments and criticism as his sons’ presence ranged on many levels of basketball from high school to the NBA. As  Lonzo was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers as the second pick in the 2017 draft, LaVar began to appear on many talk shows and news outlets boasting about the “Ball” name and the “Big Baller Brand.” It became immediately clear that while his son was on his way to the NBA, LaVar just wanted to seek attention from every media outlet he could get his hands on.

As LaVar continues to blind the news media with outrageous statements such as, “I don’t lose 1-on-1. If [Michael Jordan] played me 1-on-1, he’d cry,” which tends to lead to a national broadcast on all networks, he is taking control of what was once a resourceful outlet for sports news. The problem with LaVar is that while he tends to run his mouth and beg to be the center of the news media’s attention, he is not only hurting his name but his sons as well. As he continues to show this “pride” in his family, he deprives his sons of a childhood because of the appearance and negative publicity he is bringing to their name.

The youngest two Ball brothers, LiAngelo and LaMelo, were recently signed to play with a Lithuanian professional team. LaMelo, who was a junior in high school this year, was taken out of school by LaVar, and rather than experiencing his American college experience, is being rushed through life as his father throws away a college experience for quick money in Lithuania. LaVar elected to discard the two teenagers’ full-ride athletic scholarships from UCLA to make a quick buck in Lithuania instead. Rather than see his kids get a good education and have the chance to play for a storied college basketball program at UCLA, LaVar put them into a less-than optimal situation, in a foreign country. His decision to take away the education and experiences from his children has turned his children’s talents into a money-making scheme.

As the Ball family begins to spread to all parts of the world, it is sad to see that LaVar is taking a childhood away from his kids to become the Kardashian’s of basketball. His outspoken nonsense broadcast throughout ESPN has defeated the purpose of informational and sought-after news, and replaced it with a man focused only on promoting his brand.