Buzzmaster

  (11:33 AM)

We've got Tom!

Tom Farrey

  (11:34 AM)

Hey everybody, let's have your questions on tonight's E:60 show and the book, fire away!

Ricky (Wisconsin)

Would you say the parents you talked to were genuinely trying to create a better life for their children or were they just money-hungry and wanting to get rich off their kids?

Tom Farrey

  (11:36 AM)

I think they were trying to create a better life for their children. This is a society that greatly values athletic achievement. Athletes are well-liked, they generally get better grades in high school than non-athletes. They're more likely to go to college. They have lower drug use rates (although higher binge drinking rates). So, being an athlete is an avenue into adulthood that is very attractive to many parents and would-be parents. Additionally, the rewards for athletic achievement have grown dramatically in the past 20 years. The amount of athletic scholarship aid at the NCAA level has quadrupled to $1.5 billion, and obviously pro salaries have skyrocketed as well. So, parents have more incentive to develop the child who has shown interest in sports into an elite athlete. At the same time, parents are constantly reading about the obesity crisis -- this country has among the worst rates in the world. They anticipate the hazards of their children not being active. So while selecting the sperm of college athletes might seem crazy, it's actually a quite rational move in many ways.

Jordan (Slinger, WI)

How about the children? Are they grateful or hateful towards their parents?

Tom Farrey

  (11:41 AM)

We spoke to children, but they're too young to really comprehend anything. The donor that we focused on was a tight end for a college football team. He began giving his sperm six or seven years ago. So, all of the children -- and there are at least 16 of them around the country -- are under the age of 6. But you raise an interesting question: what expectations will parents have of their children athletically if they know their child was made with the sperm of an elite athlete? Imaginations can run wild if you don't keep things in perspective. At the same time, parents everywhere -- even those who don't go to a sperm bank -- often wrestle with the same dilemma in terms of what to expect out of their children, athletically, academically or otherwise. In other words, I don't think that ethical question is limited to the industry of sperm banking.

Darren (Lagrange, GA )

is there any real proof that athletic ability is genetic?

Tom Farrey

  (11:43 AM)

That's the age-old question - how much of athletic achievement is due to nature vs. nurture? I spend a couple of chapters in my book addressing this question and pull research from various places to inform that discussion, as it's an important discussion to have. In this country, we often think that we can manufacture an elite athlete from scratch. In many ways, this has been the take-away message of Earl and Tiger Woods, who was given a putter when he was just a toddler and in many ways was groomed to be the world-beating champion that he is right now in his particular sport. That doesn't mean that Earl was a bad father, but the title of the book he wrote says it all -- "Training a Tiger." There's a thought that if you push all the right buttons you can make your child achieve at a high level. But the anecdotal evidence suggest that innate genetic advantages play a huge role as well. Just look at all of the sons and daughters of pro athletes that play at high levels themselves. The most obvious genetic advantage can be seen in basketball, where there are only a handful of players under 6-feet tall. Many other genetic advantages are less obvious to the eye, but are just as significant.

Terry Masters

Where will this stop? Will someone open a business selling artistic sperm? Scientific sperm? Does sports get the focus just because athletes make so much money?

Tom Farrey

  (11:48 AM)

It's hard to know where it's all going to lead, but I suspect there will be more and more information available about donors as the industry and technology evolve. This is the information age and when talking about the genetic makeup of a child, you can bet the parents want to know more rather than less.

Jason (Orlando)

I haven't read the book so I'll ask straight up .. what is your opinion of this? Is it idiotic or ingenious? Are these parents wasting their money?

Tom Farrey

  (11:51 AM)

I don't think it's fair to say they're wasting their money. These are people who otherwise could not have children and could not have families -- they are lesbians, single mothers who never found Mr. Right, and heterosexual couples who have trouble conceiving on their own. We have come across no couple in our reporting in which the man could have children, but decided that they'd rather make a child with another man's sperm. I think most men would prefer to have children that are of their own genetic lineage -- as attractive as it may be to have the next Michael Phelps.

Michael Jones

When did this practice start? What's the oldest child out there that was born from sperm purchased in this manner? Is he/she indeed athletically gifted?

Tom Farrey

  (11:55 AM)

Sperm banking has been around since the 1970s, but has only exploded in popularity in the past decade or so. During that period, more and more information has become available about each sperm donor in these catalogs. That is where information has come forth that certain donors are college athletes. Only in recent years have people had the ability to select a donor based on his athletic traits. The donor we focus on in tonight's E:60 piece is a former college football tight end who began providing his sperm 6 or 7 years ago. So, all of his "children" are young. So, I can not tell you who is the first child of an athlete born through this method. I can only tell you that people in the last few years have had the opportunity to select a donor with those traits, and that the sperm of those athletes has sold quite rapidly.

Zachary (Hartford, WI)

Are there any plans for the government to get involved in this issue??

Tom Farrey

  (11:58 AM)

Politicians often respond to perceived crises. I'm not sure where the crisis is in this situation. You have people that want to create families and you have a business that is meeting that need. There is no evidence to suggest that the children born from these sperm donors are any less loved than any other children in our society. Unless we see a trend of abuse, it's hard to make the case that government needs to get involved and stop this from happening. I can tell you that the families that we spoke to as a part of this piece were people who quite clearly loved their children and seemed to be normal in every other respect -- perfectly nice people you wouldn't mind having as your neighbor.

Cosmo (Anytown, USA)

What is going to happen to these kids when they find out that, before they were conceived, their parents wanted them to be athletes if they are not athletic? The letdown will be significant, right?

Tom Farrey

  (12:03 PM)

I think it depends on the expectations that the parents bring to the birth of their child. The California Cryobank counsels clients to not expect an outcome based upon the biographical material of a donor. Again, I don't think the question of expectations is one that is limited to families who have had children with a sperm donor. Just go to your local Little League field and watch some of these dads apply their expectations to their sons who were quite clearly born from them. Every day America on some community field, there is an incident that will make your head spin -- whether it's some parent attacking an umpire or some brawl incited by the coaches, or otherwise. Youth sports today is more organized and competitive at an earlier age than ever before. That's not driven by people who had babies through a sperm bank. It's driven by everyday Americans.

Tom Farrey

  (12:06 PM)

Thanks for all your questions. Youth sports, as I argue in the book, is the most important and least examined topic in sports today. So, I'm glad to have the opportunity to talk about these issues. If you wnat to learn more, about the book or the topic, feel free to check out my website, www.TomFarrey.com, where I throw out some solutions for taking the unneccessary pressure out of youth sports -- and try to sort through some of the myths about how great athletes are made. Also, make sure to check out the show tonight on E:60.