"Amateur" Sports

Ok, I will try to keep this non-frothy and non-screechy. However, the farce that is amateur athletics in the US is a problem that won't go away on its own.

A bit of backstory, Derrick Rose, the Bull's star, and ex-Memphis star and ex-Simeon High star, is the center of a minor controversy as it looks like someone took the SAT for him. Oh, and someone doctored a number of Ds on his high school report card to Cs.

Now, for Derrick, this doesn't matter. He's in the NBA making millions. He doesn't NEED an education, he just needs to be smart with his money. However, very VERY VERY few athletes go pro in their sport. The NCAA tells you this ad nauseum in their horrific ad campaign because what they neglect to tell you is that female basketball player, or that water polo player's scholarship is underwritten by the money brought in by some poor basketball player or football player.

Since most athletes won't go pro in their sport, they need to stop getting special treatment from a young age. I can't even tell you how many high school athletes grades are fudged or allowed special treatment to help out their high school teams.

It gets worse in college. The NCAA would like you to believe that these kids are getting an education. Right....cause you have SO much time to go to class and rigorously study during a college basketball or football season. Its well known that coaches will steer kids into "sport friendly" majors that don't require many labs or difficult classes in season.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying there aren't very talented smart kids in the two money making college sports. There are. I am saying programs are built on kids that generally are NOT that type. They are the "throw-away" player. They are in college to play their sport and help the school and coach make money.

Basketball and football make this worse by having no real minor league system. Basketball seriously needs a league where kids can go right after high school to find out if they might have what it takes to play pro ball. If they WANT to go to college, they can, but the joke that is "at least 1 year of college ball" needs to go away for good. It does nobody any good at all.

Football is trickier, but it too needs a system that doesn't rely on educational institutions to give it players. Kids need a third option to find out if they could be pro material or not.

Also, this means fans of "amateur" sports need to stop being insane. High school sports are pretty darn meaningless. Oh, sure, they can make you feel good, but why are kids in high school? To LEARN! This, not football (yeah, that 5'7 160lb running back is going to go a long ways....) or basketball or any sport should be the focus.

And at the college level, think carefully about the school you are rooting for. Is your school building its reputation on the backs of poor kids who aren't getting and education and are quite possibly destroying their bodies for life? The answer is pretty much yes.

Since there is literally hundreds of millions if not billions at stake here, it won't change. But please, feel guilty. You know you should.