On The Cover Of The Rolling Stone (Gonna Buy Five Copies For My Mutha!)

$340,000.

$242,000.

That's how much it will cost you if you've got a four-year-old and you want to get that child to compete in the Winter Olympics in 2022. The quarter-mil is for the figure skater. The higher number is for the snowboarder...which, apparently, requires a boarding school special for high schoolers to get ready for the half-pipe.

That's over $15,000 a year for the skater. Over $21,000 for the snowboarder.

There are non-financial costs, too. Ones to the family schedule. Ones to the social losses. Ones to the educational losses. You get the drift.

And, provided you can stay healthy.

And, provided that various judges along the way who seem to think your thousandth of a point is higher than the kids from Boulder who is doing the very same thing.

And to what end? A wheaties box? A 15-minutes' worth of fame? A life of going to Omaha in order to speak to the Meat Packers' Union Local 313 and giving them a motivational speech after showing your minute and a half of Olympic glory? Signing with an agent to get a singing career started? Winding up on a reality show later, trying to lose weight for some competition?

But there's also the upside.

Maybe the family spends their time together around the collective sport. They drive to various cities for competitions and get to have a 16 year working vacation.

Maybe the kids make life-long friends through that vehicle. Maybe they have closer friendships than the others because they grew up together trying something difficult.

Maybe the unique education they have to get is more effective than the diploma factories that many public education school districts have turned out to be in this country.

Maybe the lessons learned along the way about that thousandth of a point winding up on the winning and losing side develop a deep character in the athlete.

Maybe you can't put a price tag on hearing the National Anthem while you're standing on the podium with Olympic Gold around your neck.

Maybe you recoup some of that cash because Wheaties paid you, along with Reebok and Coca-Cola. Maybe you make more, repay your parents and build them a nice house in Boulder.

Maybe getting $3,000 to motivate the hard workers in the Omaha Meat Packers Union Local 313 is a nice way to make a living and is rewarding in its own way.

Maybe it'd be fun to be on television for six weeks with some celebrities and losing some weight along the way would be a bonus.

You can't put a price tag on some of those things.

But, no matter how you slice it, the odds are stacked against you...which is what makes the accomplishment such a great one and gets you on the covers of magazines...

...and maybe it's because of the reality that I believe the things you spend your money on are an indication of what you truly value in this life...

...and maybe it's because I don't work in a profession known for having the kind of change to develop a world-class athlete (or even a college-bound student-athlete)...

...that seems like an awful lot of money to risk for Olympic Gold.

But I think I'd pay it to have a kid live their dream or have a happy childhood or have great character or be who they were created by the Creator to be. Or all the above. And I'd call it a bargain, too.

I guess it's all in the heart behind the wallet when it comes right down to it.