One of my favorite quotes is from the movie Other People’s Money. It relates to institutions making rules and the targeted parties working around the new rules….
Kate Sullivan: Someday, we’ll smarten up, change some laws, and put you OUT OF BUSINESS. Lawrence Garfield (Danny Devito): You can change all the laws you want. You can’t stop the game. I’ll still be here. I adapt.
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According to the NY Times (6.23.08, Sports Section) Brandon Jennings, a great high school basketball player, may work around the NBA’s minimum age rule by heading to Europe to play professional basketball.
To prevent high school players from jumping to the NBA, the NBA instituted a rule requiring a player to be at least 19 years of age and one year removed from high school.
So, the NBA, NCAA, and the NBA Players Association get together and require individuals to play at least one year in college, knowing (a) he has no desire to get a college education, (b) the schools benefit financially through tournament money, and (c) the coaches get additional recognition.
How does the player benefit from the deal? Hmmm….. He doesn’t…
Brandon Jennings adapted, worked around the rule, and found the loophole.
Head to Europe. Sign a short term contract to play professional basketball. Earn good money. Work on and improve skills. Get solid basketball experience against better talent than in college. Live like a rock star.
He may enjoy living and playing ball in Europe and choose NOT to head to the NBA!
I Love ESPN SportsCenter and ESPNradio — but what is a sport?
I watch SportsCenter at least once a day. First thing in the morning. Religiously.
Their format is great. The stories are interesting. I am a perfect fit for their demographic.
I enjoy the major and less-than-major sports. American sports. European. Austrailian. You name it, I watch it.
Hey - The World Series Of Poker is not a sport. I enjoy the coverage and watch it. (Why is watching poker on TV interesting? The reason this is so popular is because of the voyeuristic aspect of seeing everyone’s cards. One of the other TV stations showed a few hands in which you could only one hand — not interesting — you can do that on your own with your buddies.)
Yes - I even watch some of the Spelling Bee. Entertaining. Yes. A sport? No.
Watch this video. How entertaining is it?
My questions are (1) What is a sport? and (2) What next will ESPN start broadcasting that is not a sport?
It is now between the 1st and 2nd quarter. Search out to see Virginia’s Will Barrow’s 1st quarter goal. Unbelievable. May be the goal of the year. Barrow, a Long Island kid, takes on the entire Orange defense…
People have their own political and business agendas. How do we prevent what happened to the Duke Lacrosse team from happening again. In this instance a “dirty” politician happened to have gotten caught. The kids involved are still effected by the whole event. They lost out on a year of their life. They were forced to go through a traumatic event. The 3 accused had their names in the press and will undoubtedly be known for that event forever. Look, they are not alter boys, but typical college kids. Did they do anything wrong? Depending upon your morales, yes and no. Did they deserve what they went through… absolutley not.
Michael Beasley of Kansas State is headed to the NBA. He declared his intentions today. He will be a great professional player. Athletic. Talented. No doubt about it….
Let’s face it. Tyler Hansbrough of North Carolina “was” a great college player. The problem is a part of his college game was, often, he pushed and forced his way around. He won’t be able to do that when he plays with “adults” in the NBA.
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