The verbal commitment by 13-year-old Yarmouth hockey player Oliver Wahlstrom to play at the University of Maine — you know, after he starts shaving — was received with an alarming lack of critical thinking from the Maine media.

Some of that is a reflection of the times in which we live. You aren’t allowed to oppose anything on the grounds of truth and logic without being labeled a “hater.” Then, of course, there is the fear of being judged as judgmental (another delicious irony in 2014 America) of a child’s dream, not necessarily knowing how much of the plan is his and how much is parental whim.

It’s also nearly impossible to get the hockey in-crowd to think and speak objectively about anything associated with hockey, unless that thing’s name is NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. You would have an easier time getting the town winebibber to back away from the bar and admit he has a problem.

Not that this epidemic of overemphasis on young talent is restricted to sheets of ice. We’ve had 14-year-old quarterbacks declare their intention to sign with Southern Cal. With minimal skill for conducting online searches, you can find scouting sites that rank the scholarship worthiness of third- and fourth-grade basketball players, for pity’s sake.

For all the hubbub about his announcement, Wahlstrom hasn’t really accepted anything. By the time Maine is allowed to offer a package or even court the kid with an official visit, the United States will have a new president.

It doesn’t take an expert in NCAA regulations to see what a slippery slope this trend is for the schools involved.

Nor does it require a degree in child psychology to understand that the years from 13 to 18 are crucial in the development of the human mind and body, particularly boys. Of course there are exceptions to every rule. For the most part, however, boys are developing more gradually than their female classmates, physically and emotionally.

Most of us with common sense didn’t need to see anything more than Wahlstrom’s trading-card mug shot accompanying the flood of Friday stories to see the troubling issues here. He has a winning smile and a determined look in those eyes, no doubt. But those eyes clearly were the centerpiece to the face of a child, nowhere near the life experience of the men — in some cases, 22, 23 and 24 years old — who play hockey in Orono.

I have nothing but respect for what Wahlstrom has accomplished in his prepubescent years. The only YouTube videos of me involve standing next to Randy Whitehouse and umm-ing and ya-know-ing our way through analysis of high school football. You can watch Wahlstrom’s no-look, backhand, gravity-defying shots as a 9-year-old a thousand times and never grow weary.

Fast forward four winters and Wahlstrom, as a seventh-grader, is playing on the first line for the North Yarmouth Academy prep team. There’s a generation or two of former Lewiston and St. Dom’s players around these parts who remember how good NYA’s juniors and seniors traditionally were. They recognize the scope of his advanced accomplishment.

None of that provides the needed perspective here, though. There is no telling whether or not Wahlstrom’s skill set will be an exact fit for Maine in six or seven years. Across the spectrum of youth sports, we all know early risers who have flamed out and late bloomers who exceeded all childhood expectations in the grown-up game.

Wahlstrom may or may not have the physical growth spurt that makes him a Division I prototype. The gap between his skills and those of his peers may level off as those contemporaries grow into their bodies. Or yes, it’s possible that his body, his God-given talent and work ethic continue to work in concert and earn him a pro contract at 18.

We don’t know. And that’s the point. With all due respect to Oliver and and his parents, this announcement is a celebration of nothing, at this point. It is no different than my 16-year-old saying that he would like to work for the Federal Communications Commission. He’s a smart boy. It’s a great goal. I’ll give him all the college money I can borrow and steal to help him get there. 

But until then, it’s all talk. Just as there is nothing legally binding about the relationship between Wahlstrom and the University of Maine, because there cannot (and should not) be until he’s at least a junior in high school.

The Wahlstrom coverage is unsurprising. As a society, we are obsessed with children, possibly because we know our adults haven’t accomplished a heck of a lot the past 50 years.

Whether it’s sports, acting or music, we venerate those with prodigious talent, no matter how many cautionary tales (Todd Marinovich? Miley Cyrus? Every kid that ever appeared on a 1970s or ’80s sitcom?) we’ve observed.

In politically divided, economically challenged and meteorologically frigid times, I’m sure a talented junior high student boldly charting the course for the next decade of his life is viewed as a feelgood story.

So am I the only one who feels a little queasy?

Kalle Oakes is a staff columnist. His email is koakes@sunjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @Oaksie72.