One and done, A strategic career move or dropping out of school?

It has been an ongoing "tradition" for athletes who want to join the NBA to go to college for one year then announce they are available for the draft.  Age minimum is 19. Why is it so young for the NBA? I tend believe that the NBA, NFL, MLB NHL etc. should all have the same rules.(NFL is 3 years removed from high school NHL  All players who will be 18 years old on or before September 15 and not older than 20 years old before December 31 of the draft year are eligible for selection for that year's NHL Entry Draft,  MLB Certain groups of players are ineligible for selection, generally because they are still in school. The basic categories of players eligible to be drafted are:

• High school players, if they have graduated from high school and have not yet attended college or junior college;
• College players, from four-year colleges who have either completed their junior or senior years or are at least 21 years old; and
• Junior college players, regardless of how many years of school they have completed

A Club generally retains the rights to sign a selected player until 11:59 PM (EDT) August 15, or until the player enters, or returns to, a four-year college on a full-time basis. A player who is drafted and does not sign with the Club that selected him may be drafted again at a future year's Draft, so long as the player is eligible for that year's Draft. A Club may not select a player again in a subsequent year, unless the player has consented to the re-selection.

A player who is eligible to be selected and is passed over by every Club becomes a free agent and may sign with any Club until the player enters, or returns to, a four-year college full-time or enters, or returns to, a junior college.

This description is a general one and the Major League Rules themselves, not this summary, govern eligibility issues. Players and coaches with questions about particular players are referred to the Baseball Operations Department at the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball.  
So why so young for the NBA? Doing the 1 and done is a bad bad bad idea.  Why you may ask?

1)  The kids doing it are giving up on a valuable education that more than likely was a scholarship. Yes they may or may not become wealthy people playing ball but, in my opinion if they are attending college on a scholarship they should have to get a usable degree, or should have to repay the scholarship they took when someone else would have loved the opportunity of a free education and put it to good use.  After all if they blow a knee or something and can not play how are they going to make a living? Not everyone can fall back on being a sports announcer.

2)  At 19 I do not believe that most of them are physically, mentally or emotionally mature enough to handle the situation they jump into. If you take someone with little life experience and even less experience with fame and fortune they will most likely WOW out and find more trouble than they can handle. Give them millions to blow and they will find trouble. I am by no means saying that everyone is going to make this mistake but I do believe the vast majority will.  

3)  It is a PRIVILEGE not a rite to play professional sports. By making someone wait is not denying them a future. You can not walk into a place of business at 19 and demand to be paid millions of dollars with no professional experience, so why should they be able to in professional sports? Again look at my #1 reason. Education is important. If you do not have one how do you expect to hold on to all those millions you plan to make? 

For those of you who do not know me you should know that I am a sports enthusiast and love the purity of the games. What happened to playing the game because you love it? Now it is all about the bottom line number people think they are worth. If you are a veteran you have earned your spot and your money but to walk in and demand you are to be paid what is only an insane amount of money before you earn it in my opinion is not only silly but narcissistic and borderline crazy.  If you are not old enough to get into the local bar legally you are not old enough to take on the sporting world. We have age limits on things for a reason. Largely based on the mental maturity that comes with age.  You have to be 16 before you drive a car 18 to be able to vote and 21 to get into a bar so why not set a logical age limit for becoming a professional sports player? 

As usual this is just my opinion about things that do not really affect me in the slightest but none the less I feel the need to climb on my soapbox and share it with anyone who wants to read it. I am not trying to deny anyone a future.  

You must be a special kind of stupid

Something that crossed my mind today.  When I was in school, we started each day with the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by a moment of silence. This was done each and every day.  Somebody decided it was a violation of someones rites However I feel it is a violation of our rites to not at least offer those who want to say it do so.  Now before you get your panties in a bunch, I know that people have the rite to think what they want. Many of my family and friends have fought and some of them died to give you this rite. But in exercising your rites are you not also spitting on those who fought for you to have them?
     And by the way, what in the name of God is wrong with some of the youth today? Many of them can not tell you what the Bill of Rites is, can not repeat the Pledge without reading it but can however tell you what the hell a Honey BooBoo is, what/who every Kardashian is doing, and what or who the kid behind him in class did over the weekend. I blame the parents for this. My daughter could recite the Pledge and most of the Bill by time she was 5. With all the electronic gadgets and video game we give our children or adults for that matter are we lowering their IQ and turning them into a bunch of hormone driven, disrespecting, homicidal couch potatoes? I see nothing wrong with watching some TV or playing a video game but when you are spending more than half of your day doing so you may want to at least attempt to cut back  for a while.  U.S. penal system does it for you. Remember that one of major things that is wrong with the judicial system is that they depend on 12 people who are to stupid to get out of  Jury Duty to make an informed decision on what is going to happen to your kids. 

Manziel staying in Texas or is he off to New England?

Johnny (Football) Manziel  Is projected to be the #1 draft pick going to the Texans. Seriously?Why are you even thinking about drafting him? Did people not learn from RG3, Tim Tebow or Sam Bradford? Now I do agree that he has talent but I also believe that he has spent way to much time reading his own press. Lets be honest there is a 50% chance that Manziel will be a bust. But more than that, the inevitable media circus that will follow him will be something like a Tebow/ Kardashian family reunion and nobody really wants to see that.  Look how well he handled winning the Heisman. Through little fault of his own he was forced to take online classes when his classmates were causing chaos by asking for autographs or photos all the time.Having already been accused of taking money for autographs, I am reasonably sure that when he hits the NFL he will not be able to so much as sneeze without 6 stories being written about how or why he contracted pneumonia or that he somehow charged someone for the used tissue he blew his nose on.  Does any team in the NFL want this kind of circus around on a daily basis? He has been quoted to have said he is ready to take the NFL career seriously, good thing considering that its a privilege not a rite to get paid millions of dollars to play football. It's a job and as with anyone who has actually held one we all know what can happen when you do not do your job.
I think the bigger story is the fact that he is set to work out with the Patriots. Does this mean that Brady is done? With Brady turning 37 before the season opens and backup  Ryan Mallett NFL, it makes some sense that the team has an eye on the future coming into this year's draft. So, where do you think he will end up? Will the Pats come up with a Krafty agreement to somehow move up in the draft to get him or is he destined to stay in Texas?