What’s wrong with this picture
Published 11:13 pm Wednesday, April 18, 2018
There has been something that I haven’t been paying much attention to in the world of sports, but something caught my eye—sort of like an annoying gnat that flips itself into your eyes during the summer.
I know this has been going on for a while, but it was just one of those things that really put a lump in my craw when I began reading it.
The “it” I am referring to is the way that collegiate basketball has turned more into a one-year national tour before leap-frogging to the NBA and multi-millions of dollars while there are others that are left in the wake that are actually being cheated out of an opportunity to attend a prominent university, get an education, and play some basketball.
What I am referring to is big-name universities like Kentucky, Duke, Kansas—just to name a few who bring in prime time recruits for what they hope will result in a national championship by season’s end and then being a springboard to the professional ranks.
Some may take the side that this is fine and dandy, and to some extent it mightbe, but what really ticked me off was the fact I began thinking about those athletes who have outstanding basketball skills and enough book smarts to craft a fine educational degree who won’t get a chance to play at these schools due to the aforementioned discombobulation.
If collegiate basketball cannot require the so-called student-athletes to spend at least three seasons in college, there should be a limitation to the number of athletes from a school that can enter into the NBA draft at the end of a freshman school year.
Otherwise, if there cannot be a rule enforced for this to happen, just let these kids be drafted out of high school into a resemblance of a D-League and give the other guys who actually want an education and an opportunity to play.
The one and done mentality isn’t teaching these young men anything about life other than entitlement.
From my viewpoint, I want all of today’s athletes to be successful, but somewhere along the line, common sense needs to step to the forefront and do the right thing for all athletes—whether they want to be student-athletes or not.
Hopefully, others will begin to feel as nauseated as I was to read about a high number of freshman athletes who are taking advantage of the system only to try to increase their stock in the following years NBA draft.
It definitely throws paint in the face of athletes who are willing to commit to at least three if not four years for the opportunity to earn a scholarship to attend the school.
The right thing to do is the right thing to do, and right now I am not sure that anyone understands what the right thing to do really is.
Here’s hoping!