13 years old.  That is how old David Sills is.  He verbally committed to play quarterback at USC this week – in the year 2015.  Forget for a second that at 13 years old he is already six feet tall and obviously very athletic.  At that age, how can he have such a high level of understanding of the game?  If you watch this video you can hear the way the coach is talking to him about reading the safety and defensive coverage.  Really?  At 13?

So as we prepare for the Super Bowl this weekend, a game that includes arguably the greatest thinking quarterback to ever play, I asked myself what role the web, and associated digital environments might play in the development of a QB.  Yes, I stretched a bit to find a digital tie in but bear with me.  I’m not Bill Simmons.

I posted the link to that video on FB and Tim Schavitz of Critical Mass fame posted an article in Wired about the realism of video games, specifically Madden football.

“The many hundreds — even thousands — of hours that athletes put into videogame football give them more game experience than Bart Starr, Terry Bradshaw, or Joe Montana were able to log in previous eras.”

Gaming is now counted as “experience” for athletic training.

   When Peyton Manning was growing up, Tecmo Bowl    was the game of choice and I’m sure he and his    freakishly young looking brother played as much as    they could – that is when Archie wasn’t running them    through drills until two in the morning and not letting    them eat McDonald’s.  I believe its possible that    Peyton Manning will be able to read the Saints    defense on Sunday in part because he memorized    the 1989 Bears secondary on Tecmo Bowl.

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