Blog Entry — May 1, 2009 (late night)
I was reading Sports Illustrated this afternoon — and not because I read, but because I go through my roommates’ mail.
I’d like to say it was the most-recent copy — so you can follow along at home — but we only make the 40-foot walk to check the mail every two weeks or so, so I can’t promise that.
But it was within the last month, I’d bet.
Anyway, in the edition I was reading — which I could always check the cover to get its date, but then I’d have to eliminate the last two paragraphs, which I thought were funny — there’s an interesting story inside the back cover.
It’s the page Rick Reilly used to write before he signed with ESPN two years ago and became less funny. It was called Reilly’s Take — or something along those lines, I don’t want to cheat and use Google.
Actually, I don’t mind cheating it all.
It’s just that it’s one in the morning right now — which AP Style says I should write, “1 a.m.,” but that’s a lot of unnecessary punctuation.
At one in the morning — which is more letters than I originally thought — I don’t want to take the time to Google it, be completely wrong, have to go to CNNSI.com to find archived files, get sidetracked by the swimsuit issue page, and not finish this thing until three in the morning.
Or “until 3 a.m.,” if you want to be a [jerkface].
So, back to Sports Illustrated’s story, which is in the “Point After” column by Chris Ballard, titled “Study Abroad: Hoops Major.”
Don’t worry; I’m not that smart; I have it in front of me.
But I did have to go downstairs, grab the magazine off my couch, stop at my kitchen cabinet to have a shot of Nerds, sip some water, walk back upstairs, rewind my DVR to see how the Mets took a two-run lead on the Phillies — two-run homer by Daniel Murphy — and sit down at my computer before I could have the magazine here. So I earned it and you should think that I’m smart. Please disregard the 13-word paragraph with two semicolons before this one.
Yes, I counted. I hope you didn’t.
In Ballard’s column, he writes of San Diego basketball star Jeremy Tyler, who is skipping his senior season to play abroad. And Ballard writes, “Not of college, but high school. He plans to head overseas until he’s eligible for the NBA draft in 2011, when he is projected to be a top 10 pick.”
So this 6-feet, 11-inch, 17-year-old is packing his bags in California, getting on a plane, flying to Europe and playing professional basketball, earning his high-school degree online.
He was committed to Louisville.
First, my take, I was appalled two paragraphs into Ballard’s column.
I thought about the dangerous precedent Tyler would set, and that we’d have an overblown influx of juniors and — ultimately, high-school sophomores, or younger — entering the EuroLeague. Some would elect to finish high school, while others, eventually, wouldn’t.
Ballard quotes **** Vitale — I guess is an authority on the matter — who voices absolute distaste over Tyler’s decision. And I’m almost certain Ballard had to omit several “Diaper Dandy”s and “Ohhhhh”s from Vitale’s quote.
Please take a moment to do your best **** Vitale impression … if you hadn’t already.
Then, Ballard made a very valid point, which was echoed on the Mike & Mike radio show: Isn’t this the exact same thing child movie stars, musicians, golfers do?
I’m pretty sure Bow Wow — when he was still ‘Lil — graduated high school through tutors and mentors while on-tour. How about our local boy, Freddy Adu? Also, at age 16, Michelle Wie signed sponsorships with Nike and Sony worth $10 mill.
The examples are endless.
Sure, it doesn’t feel right. But why are basketball players — and baseball players, to a lesser degree — held to such a different standard than other teenage superstars? Is it our responsibility to force the next Kwame Brown to get a degree, so he has something to do in 10 years besides collect pension checks?
In fact, is it the NBA’s responsibility to force Greg Oden or Blake Griffin to postpone their multi-million dollar, lifestyle-changing contract signings for one year?
What does that do? Those one-and-done players are not graduating college. David Stern and company are just making them go through the motions and break long-standing school and conference records in the NCAA just to delay their inevitable entry into the NBA Draft.
Should we now disallow child movie stars from leaving their hometowns and run-of-the-mill high schools, because God forbid they cash in on their talent? Ballard makes a good, sarcastic point: “Perhaps it’s weird to expect a 17-year-old to choose English lit over a six-figure future doing something he loves — especially when so many young golfers, tennis players and entertainers don’t.”
It’s a total double-standard.
I know that Euroleague players, especially young Americans like former Hawks and Wizards guard Josh Childress and soon-to-be lottery pick Brandon Jennings, have found difficulty overseas. The in-the-stands violence, delayed paycheck receipt and militaristic in-season practice schedule have made them, in some cases, regret their decision to leave American soil.
But I’m humble enough to think that Tyler has all the information I do, and then some. If we allow other professional prodigies leave the amateur ranks — and their comfortable, “normal” lives — we can not prevent or penalize Tyler from doing the same.
He understands the risks. If the benefit is worthwhile to him, it’s his career on the line.
I’m going to put my email address after this. I’m curious what you all think. Shoot me an email and I’ll continue this topic in next week’s blog reacting to some responses.
Either that, or I’ll write about food again, or the girls I’m scared to ask out at the gym.
It’s your choice.
Email: pmurphy@digitalsports.com
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