They are not worthless late in tournaments lol...
i think what Al means in that late in tournaments when blinds are high compared to stacks, you'll rarely find situations where raising/calling a raise with a small pair will be profitable in the long run since you wont be getting the [implied]
odds to set mine against effect stack sizes, unless you're in a big stack vs big stack situation.
Also, big pairs, and big hands like KQs, AJs+, have more value late in tournaments, so you could see a lot of raises, 3bets, shoves from small-mid stacks with these types of hands which could put you in weird situations preflop with small pairs; especially if you have a medium 30-40BB stack.
I wouldn't say they're worthless late in tournaments but they're definitely hands you should play in late position and against no other preflop raisers. In early and mid position, limping in is pretty bad and raising could get you into some sticky situations preflop if facing a big 3bet/shove from a short-mid stack. Again, you aren't getting the implied odds and you're only hitting a set 1 out 7.5 times. You opponent doesn't necessarily have a bigger pair there, but it's likely you're in a race situation. So, it's best to avoid these types of situation, if you're not on a push/fold stack, in early position by just folding these types of hand.