Harry Reid — as ill-informed about sports as he is about public policy

Findlay College Prep is a high school of sorts in or near Las Vegas. The school has eight students, all of whom are on the basketball team. The team’s record wss 30-0 coming into a tournament called the National High School Invitation which started tonight.

Findlay features superstar guard Avery Bradley, who is headed to the University of Texas, and at least two other seniors who have committed to major national programs. In addition, junior forward Tristan Thompson, who transfered into the school in February after being kicked off his high school team in New Jersey, is already committed to Texas.

The entire team, which is to say the entire school, is on scholarship.

Findlay is the only high school in the state that is not a member of the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association. Findlay has agreed not to enroll any player from the state of Nevada, and to play only a limited number of schools from Nevada.

Eddie Bonine is the executive director of the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association. He takes a dim view of Findlay. “As far as I’m concerned, they are not a traditional team in a high school setting,” he observes, adding “I’m an old school guy.”

Bonine was therefore mystified (in the words of the Washington Post) to receive a letter from his home state Senator, Harry Reid congratulating him for his “positive and unrelenting support of one our state’s newest premier athletic programs, Findlay College Prep.” As noted, Bonine does not support this non-traditional program.

Facts have never mattered much to Reid, but it’s interesting to speculate as to why he was so far off base on this one. The answer, perhaps, lies in the fact that Findlay College Prep is funded by Cliff Findlay, a mega-car dealer in Nevada. If you’re wealthy enough to fund a high school/basketball team, a Senator like Reid is unlikely to ask you very many many questions before signing a letter like the one he sent to Bonine.

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