It’s that time of year again when athletes’ hats stop fitting, one of the three times a year when I can look around and see masses of college athletes saying one thing and thinking another. It’s the pre-draft season – more specifically, pre-NBA draft season.
Currently around the nation, college basketball players are declaring for the NBA draft with hopes of making the big bucks, which I think is great. The bad thing is the verbiage they are using to describe why.
Shout out to every player declaring for any draft at any point in time in the future. When it’s time to address the public and explain your decision-making, please spare the country the pre-draft etiquette. Saying things like “It was in the best interest of my family and me” or “It was a hard decision” isn’t the correct verbiage.
First off, making millions of dollars is always in your family’s best interest. Secondly, no, it was not a hard decision, so quit lying to people. I will die a happy man when players who are in college and looking to go pro just come out and say, “I think I am too good for college and am ready to take on the pros,” or “I’m done trying to go to school and I want to get paid.”
When will these athletes realize that people know they aren’t in college to get a degree? They are in school to excel at their sport in an attempt to use that as an avenue to make money playing a game. The NCAA can run those commercials all day saying how there are thousands of student athletes and most of them are going pro in something other than sports, but the truth remains: it’s not completely out of choice.
I’d bet an entire year of college tuition that 95 percent of student athletes around the country would leave school early to play their sport professionally if offered a chance. And that’s not bad – I mean, what would be better? Sure, that piece of paper is handy and neat to put in a frame, but if they can make money without it, who cares? School will exist after they’re done playing.
This is when I know about every person reading this is thinking everyone is in school to make money.
An A+ and butterscotch candy for you, thanks for making my point.
Everyone is in school to get paid eventually. If anyone attending this university was guaranteed a job in their career field after one year of school, they would take it. The difference is they wouldn’t lie to the nation by saying things like “this is a difficult decision,” or “I had a long talk with my advisor.”
They would just sign the dotted line, stand up, shake hands and burn their textbooks.
I love Oregon State, but if someone offered me a job with great benefits, great pay and half a year off in “vacation” tomorrow, I would leave faster than Nick Saben to Alabama. I might leave a thank-you card to Ann Robinson for putting up with me for four years, but that’s it.
Bye Beavers, so long Barometer and a fat “peace out” to The NickelBlock – it’s that simple. And let’s be honest: I’m not alone.
But, for every athlete like Kevin Durant who is definitely going to the pros, there are two players who think they have a chance – and they don’t. Shout out to the underachieving players who think they have a chance at going pro. Stop lying to yourselves. You aren’t that good.
If you were as good as Durant, people all over the country would have your name in their mouths. They don’t. People would be watching your clips on Sportscenter. They aren’t. People would be breaking down your tape in anticipation of draft day. They won’t. If you plan to declare early, please be sure you are going to be drafted. If you don’t think you are going to actually get picked, don’t leave college early.
That rule stands for players who are leaving early to try and get on some scout teams, practice squads and summer teams. Unless you are going to be on a roster, why leave the school?
Be logical, people, and think about it like a normal person looking for a normal job. Would someone leave college a year (or two, or three) early with no chance of returning, trying to land a job with one of 30 or 32 employers around the country if that job wasn’t guaranteed?
No. Not even close.
So what have we learned today? The moral of the story is really nothing new to people: stop lying, whether it is to the public or yourself. It doesn’t benefit anyone except me, because it keeps me employed by giving me something to write about. So on second thought, scratch that and keep lying. Lie to yourself, the public and the world.
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