Professional Sports Age Requirements

by Michelle Hill | May 6th, 2010 | View Comments

Should athlete talent dribble through a season of aging before being presented to the pro sports world? Is college a necessary bridge between high school and pro sports?

Let’s think about it for a moment. What would the basketball world look like without LeBron James, Dwight Howard, and Kobe Bryant; all of which jumped directly from high school to the NBA?

The NBA requires one year removed from high school. The NHL and MLB allow a player to be drafted once he is 18 years old. The NFL is the only major professional sport that prohibits the drafting of players who are not three years removed from high school.

Is it really in the best interest of the players or is it another way for the NFL and NCAA to profit? Let’s look at the different sides of lifting the age requirement:

The Vilifying of Athlete Crimes

by Michelle Hill | April 6th, 2010 | View Comments

Are athletes judged and dealt with more harshly for their indiscretions and blatant crimes than the Average Joe? Are they scrutinized and seen as villains under the media’s microscope in a way that’s justified by those who condemn them?

If we’re honest about it, most people thrive on public scandal and it is evidenced by the way we were glued to our televisions during the O.J. trial. Of course, other sports heroes have caught our attention with scandals of varying degrees, like Kobe Bryant, Rae Carruth, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Nate Newton, Michael Vick, Tonya Harding, Mike Tyson, and most recently, Tiger Woods.

How to Fix the NBA’s All-Star Dilemma

by Lewis Howes | February 16th, 2010 | View Comments

(This is a guest article by Stephen Lombardo)

For what seems like an eternity, the NBA has lost some of its appeal to its fans when it comes to All-Star weekend. The game is the most entertaining part. However, they don’t actually play basketball until the final five minutes of the game. All-Star Saturday feels like it doesn’t even exist. HORSE, the newest event of the weekend, showed its crucial flaw this week when they turned it into a three-point shoot out until someone was declared the winner. The point guard time trials feel a bit lame, the shoot out is ok, but the slam dunk contest (the NBA’s marquis event) feels like less than a shell of its former self. How do you save this event, and bring back the excitement there was in the 80’s and 90’s?