Today I was on Yahoo, because it is my homepage and I was disappointed to see another story about a top-notch basketball player headed to Europe (Jeremy Tyler). Then I saw something worst, he is only 18th and hasn’t finished high school yet and in a way I started to fault the NBA.
In 2005, under a new collective bargaining agreement, the NBA agreed to bar anyone under the age of 19 from playing in the NBA and forced those who had just finished their senior year of high school to either to play college basketball for a year (if they could qualify) or what is becoming more popular today, going to Europe. Here is the specific rule:
- The minimum age for entry into the NBA is 19; players must have their nineteenth (or later) birthday in the calendar year of the draft in order to be eligible;
- Players who completed basketball eligibility at a U.S. high school, regardless of their nationality, must be at least one year removed from high school.
Despite their best intentions, the NBA is diluting the NBA talent pool and creating a class of future NBA players who have less education, rather than more like their initial intent. I think when players as young as High School Seniors are leaving the US to cash in early in Europe, this is pretty significant proof that the NBA’s attempt to protect it’s youth failed. The NBA players union and owners should come to a new collective bargaining agreement in which the age limit is as it was before the 2006 NBA Draft.
So I keep on thinking about moving into my new dorm room (sorry, Residence Hall if you go to CofC and work in Reslife). I spent a year living in beautiful McAlister 230 B and would be lying if I said I won’t miss it. I got very used to it, but I am excited by the prospect of cooking on a semi-regular basis as well as by the fact I will have my own room. Going back to Charleston means leaving mom, dad, and Anna home which I feel bad about, but I need to get back to things. I miss my friends back at school, having a regular schedule, and my office.
The last part for some of you probably raises some questions, but to me lately, the most comforting thought is to be sitting in my cubicle in Stern 401 on August 19th, getting my work done, and planning for the upcoming year. The “batcave” as Rocky would call it is the most comfortable place for me on campus and I know a lot of you don’t even know where it is, but I invite all of you to come visit me as some point. In the near future I will be posting my office hours which I will ALWAYS be at unless I am like dying of the plague or swine flu or something crazy like that. I miss the Stern Center, I’ll admit it, but who are you to judge me about that?
Ross
Edit:
Michael Vick was signed today by the Eagles and I’m not really sure where he fits in there. They have a pretty solid starter in McNabb and a solid backup in Kevin Kolb, so unless they have something else up their sleeves, I am a bit confused by that transaction, but they are pros so maybe I shouldn’t judge. Good luck with the new media circus Andy Reid!