Wednesday, April 2, 2014

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.  

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