Discussion Topic: Racial Paternalism and College Sports

Long-time readers of this site know that I am not a fan of Duke, Bloomington Jefferson, and the NCAA.  Duke is an upper-class, floor-slapping mechanism for Coach Copyright to score millions in corporate speaking fees and advertisements, Jefferson is the worst high school in America, and the NCAA is a modern purveyor of indentured servitude.  (Have I ever mentioned that Hoopus is your home for hyperbole?)

Along with taking another Rubio break, let's focus on the NCAA and the NBA's 1 year college requirement.  More below the fold.

 

What other organization in America uses free labor to make millions upon millions of dollars while keeping portions of its workforce from entering the open market?  Today's discussion topic is the possibility of a 2 year minimum NCAA  requirement for NBA rookies. It is likely that David Stern (and the NCAA) will push for this rule with the next CBA.  Before we begin, I ask that our readers take a moment to read this article by Clay Travis from Fanhouse.  Here are a few highlights:

Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal published an investigation that found just 26 major league baseball players and managers have college degrees. Twenty-six! That's out of a pool of a potential 1,042 players and managers. You want that in percentage terms, that's 2.5 percent. A staggeringly low percentage, even if you pull out all Latin American players (who don't have the same collegiate opportunities) from the equation. Yet, I defy you to find an article that utilizes this fact to make an argument that baseball players need better educations.

...

As if that weren't enough, given that basketball requires players be at least one year removed from high school and football requires three, neither of those leagues drafts an 18-year-old straight from high school. Baseball drafts hundreds every year. And no one utters a word of criticism about these kids forgoing their college education.

Why?

I think all we need to do is look at the racial make-up of the players in each of the four major league sports. Based on 2007 stats, 79 percent of NBA players and 65 percent of NFL players are black. The most recent numbers show that only 8 percent of baseball players are black and just 2 percent of hockey players are. Guess which sports allow 18-year-olds to come straight into the league?

A few questions: Should the NBA institute a 2 year rule for the NCAA?  Is there a racial component to this rule?  Why can't high schoolers enter the NBA?  Is Travis making a fair argument?  After all, the NBA and NFL use the NCAA as a feeder system while baseball, for the most part, does not. If the MLB used the NCAA as a minor league system would we see similar demographic ratios? Is there an on-court/on-the-field component to wanting these players to stay in school?  Is that a valid legal argument?  Is it a valid moral one?  Is this an NBA problem or an NCAA one?  Is it both?

Remember, keep it clean and keep it civil. 

What say you?

We will resume our regular programing in the next post about Wayne Ellington and his shooting guard peers in the draft.  We will also keep you up to date if any new Rubio-related news becomes available. 

Until later.