With the NBA Draft scheduled to take place tonight, the number of young men with millions is about to grow a bit. This year’s draft features more players who have taken to the “one and done” rule in college, one of the biggest jokes in sports short of the NCAA itself.
This rule was to head off high school players going straight to the NBA and passing up college. The college coaches and universities were not happy, as they were watching some of their golden gooses walking right into the NBA without them having the opportunity in some cases to make money off of them.
Poor guys, I am not sure how they could keep the doors open at old State U if these kids do not give them at least one year. The problem here is that when it is all said and done, the player is not ready for the NBA, whether he goes from high school or one year of college.
How many kids who play one year were actually eligible to play another semester after their first year on campus? The number would be quite low, as some seldom saw a classroom after the first semester. They focused on the real course, and that was playing basketball. It has been well documented that many athletes seldom go to class or if they do, they take courses that are comical.
Worse, there is some player somewhere who was deprived of a scholarship because they saved it for a guy who made a joke of the system. Money that could have gone a more worthy cause, in exchange for a roll of the dice to get into the tournament, if not the Final Four, along with perhaps saving a coach’s job for the time being.
This hurts these young men, who are given no real education and in some cases are not physically developed for the NBA and still lack skills to really make a real contribution at that level. If a “one and done” player is not in an environment with some pros on the team who have the experience to mentor such young players, he can easily fall off the radar and become part of the conversation of being a “draft-day bust.”
‘Extra time’
Now that we are all settled in for the World Cup match featuring the U.S. and Germany, there are a few things that have come up that makes me raise the eyebrow and before someone says “that’s just soccer.”
First up is the clock. How is it that with so much on the line in these games, we do not know when they actually end? The games are supposed to last 90 minutes, two 45-minute halves. Sounds simple. Then there is this thing they call “extra time” that they just tack on as they make allowances for injuries and celebrations of goals.
Mind you, the “extra time” is nothing more than a guesstimate. No one can explain how “extra time” is determined. No one can actually put it on the clock. The referee just blows the whistle twice, and that’s it.
Baseball has innings, basketball and football have clocks where timeouts are called. In hockey they used to have the bench-clearing celebrations, until someone realized that was not good for the time frame of a game on TV. The NHL put an end to it, and things have gone well since then.
What’s wrong with two team timeouts of 90 seconds per half? Injury, you ask? How about if a player lays out and has to be carried off, that team is short that player for at least two minutes. If he can get off on his own power, the team will not be penalized. That should put pep in their step. If it is a serious injury inflicted by an opponent, the referee will have the power of putting up the red card, and no time will go against the injured team.
While soccer (or should I say “football”) has been around a long, long time, it could stand some tweaking.
That’s just soccer!
The other issue is what teams move on and how that is determined. There is more than a whisper that the United States and Germany may just play for a tie to ensure them both getting to the next round.
It’s one thing to actually play to a tie, but to play for a tie before the game starts? How would that work for The 49ers and the Seahawks in the NFL in trying to get to the playoffs, or the Cardinals and the Cubs trying to get the Wild Card?
This is not the first time teams have been associated with such antics of fixing a game. As for the referees, some have thrown games farther than they can throw dirty clothes at a hamper. Soccer has always had a seedy, under-the-table element, yet the world looks the other way. If what is being discussed about this game were to take place in one of the four major sports in this country, a congressional hearing would be televised and someone would blame Barrack Obama again.
Yeah, yeah, I know. That’s just soccer!
You are right. It’s just soccer, and it does not make it right, which is why Americans struggle to embrace it. Especially when the World Cup is over.
Americans want for definition when it comes to rules. If that is not enough, how about going to a replay?
From a viewership standpoint, the World Cup has been a great success. You will even hear how this will be great for the youth of America and how there will be even more kids playing, which should make the United States better in the future.
Kind of like when everyone thought there would be a rush of African Americans playing on the PGA tour once Tiger Woods started to win. Quick, name the other African American who has won on the PGA tour since Tiger’s arrival? You can stop guessing, as there has not been one.
The same will be said about the U.S. soccer team if they do not get their own house in order on how they approach the next generation of soccer players. I will explain that next week – provided the U.S. and Germany cut a deal on advancing to the next round.
