I was idly surfing around, and I came across this famous short story by Kurt Vonnegut, all about a boy and a Handicapper General. I first read it when I was in high school many, many moons ago. You might remember it, too.
Anyway, it was definitely worth rereading, and I just thought I’d share the link: http://instruct.westvalley.edu/lafave/hb.html
Absolutely fantastic story. Those old masters of SF could really make you think.