@nero said:
Next time you mention me, Gip, use an @ or I won't notice... I wasn't going to even check this thread.
I hate the NCAA system. I believe that colleges are for education, so it is not fair that someone gets a scholarship exclusively for his athletic feats, and if they are good enough they oversee their education (for example, being elegible in their sophomore year), wasting some resources that another student could use for his future.
I also don't think it is fair that these athletes (they're more likely athletes than students) don't get paid after doing more or less what professionals do, producing huge benefits for the colleges they play for.
In Spain we have collegiate teams, but they're at most playing at "minor league" levels. You can play on a professional team even being underage (Messi started playing for Barcelona at 17) and some athletes keep studing during their sports career. How you balance both studies and sports is up to you, because both things shoudn't be mixed or confused.
Maybe in the US I'd say that you could keep the teams in the colleges, keeping their names and so on... But the athletes would come from anywhere and under payment, the students having the possibility to try to join the team.
Well....as noted, the colleges in this country are the developmental leagues for the NBA and the NFL....but not so much for baseball or hockey. In those you can go from HS to the pros (major or minor leagues)....but there is still a lot of interest in the college game in those sports. MLB has a rule I believe that says: You can turn pro and play in the minor leagues when you are just out of high school....but, if you commit to and play college baseball....you are locked into a 3 year commitment to the college.
I would like this rule for basketball. Before long I believe, the one and done rule for basketball will be dropped, and high schoolers will be allowed to go in the NBA draft (like it was when LeBron/Kobe/Kevin Garnett and more came out). But as I said, I would like it if the rule for NCAA basketball were the same as baseball....come out if you want...but if you go to college...its 3 years. By the way...these rules are NOT set by the NCAA...they are set as part of the collective bargaining agreement between the professional leagues and their player associations.
Even if the NBA changes...this will not affect football. The three year rule there will remain entrenched....(they cite "player maturity due to the brutal nature of the sport)...the challenges to that rule have all failed, most notably former Ohio State RB Maurice Clarett. It won't change soon. The colleges don't want to lose players before 3 years, and the NFL wants its built in "minor league" to stay as is. ...i.e. one that costs it nothing.
@Nero? Eh? I didn't even know that was a thing.