Gunnar Smeyres Going Pro 1
Rough draft

Going Pro

With the first pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, the Cleveland Cavaliers Select Anthony Bennet. 6’8 Power forward from San Diego State University. That is something we all heard about seven months ago. A young man no older than twenty years old was just drafted first overall. A young male athlete, knowing he will be making 5.3 million dollars in a few months once the season begins. Imagine at the end of this semester leaving the school you are at and becoming pro. . It just felt like a little scrape There are really only three sports that make up this discussion basketball, football, and baseball. Next, I will tell you about how going pro affects the athletes of the following sports. ≈≈≈≈≈ First, I am going to tell you how the rule the NCAA has placed are affecting athletes in basketball. When should young college athletes be able to make the decision to go pro? This is a topic for discussion no matter what sport you are playing, and they are all very much different too. The NBA changed its rule in 2005. The NBA made an agreement in 2005 about young basketball players going pro. Going pro 2
“Article X of the NBA's 2005 Collective Bargaining Agreement, a provision that required all potential NBA draftees to be at least 19 years old and one year removed from their high school graduation.” (Hughes, Grant) Why put an age restriction on high school basketball players? This makes all high school basketball players attend at least one year of college before they enter the NBA draft. This is really not that bad compared to some of the other sports. In football you cannot leave school until after your junior year. No matter what sport you go into, once you turn pro you are by yourself. It’s just a big business you will get your money if you do what they want from you. Waking up every day working out, or going on the road. General Managers and coaches will throw you to the curb before you can even blink. When the NCAA says “We do what is in the best interest of our student athletes,” they are lying the only thing they care about is money and publicity. If they get to keep the talented athletes in school for as long as possible they win. . However, football is a different story. ≈≈≈≈≈

When it comes to the grid iron nothing excites fans more than football, and the NCAA knows it. They have the rules set up so both them and the NFL win. They make college football players go to three years of school. The NFL wins in this because they don’t have to do anything. All they have to do is put on a draft combine in April for the athletes. The NCAA handles everything else. Tim Keown, who is a writer and analyst for ESPN, had this to say about college football players going pro; Going Pro 3

“The NFL gets to collude with the NCAA on player eligibility, which means the two entities can force players to spend three years in college no matter how detrimental it might be to the professional and personal well-being of those players.” (Keown, Tim) How can you force someone to stay three years in college? What if he needs to help provide for his family? Because they need money to be able to buy food and shelter. How can you force them to stay in college for three years and not let them make even a dime? Yes, they get a free education, but we all know those kids are there for only sports. You mean to tell me that Adrian Peterson, Reggie Bush, and Johnny Manziel. All went to school to get an education? These kids are at their respected colleges for one thing, going pro and making doe. You think football is crazy wait till you hear about baseball.

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Finally we have baseball, Americas past time, the baseball eligibility for the draft, is really complicated. It is way more confusing than any of the other sports I mentioned. They have many rules on whether a player is eligible or not. They throw a lot of things into effect. Players that are eligible must meet these guidelines. You can meet all of the guidelines but one and they still will not let you play. Below is a quote from mlb.com stating some of the guidelines for eligibility;
“Generally, a player is eligible for selection if the player is a resident of the United States or Canada and the player has never before signed a Major League or Minor League contract. Going Pro 4

Residents of Puerto Rico and other territories of the United States are eligible for the Draft. Also considered residents are players who enroll in a high school or college in the United States, regardless of where they are from originally.” (MLB) Those are just some guidelines that state how a player is eligible based on where he lives. It has nothing to do with college or anything yet. There are already way more rules than any other sport. Below is another Quote from mlb.com stating guidelines that make a player ineligible.
“High school players, if they have graduated from high school and have not yet attended college or junior college. College players, from four-year colleges who have either completed their junior or senior years or are at least 21 years old; and Junior college players, regardless of how many years of school they have completed.” (MLB) Those are just some rules which keep many players from being eligible for the draft. Another interesting fact, is if that a player is drafted by a team, and does not sign a contract, that means he never puts his name down on a piece of paper that says he is a major league ball player. He can choose whether or not he wants to stay in school, than get re-drafted the next year by a different team. Then see again if he wants to sign a contract. We had someone on Malone’s baseball team get drafted his junior year. Then come back for his senior year, because he did not get invited to spring training with the major league team. Which means he had no other option but to come back and play college baseball one more year. Although it seems complicated it works out the best. Because it is about two times harder to make it to the major leagues in baseball than it is in any other sport. This is because you have to go through four different minor league programs before you make it to the big show. Fortunately Going Pro 5

For the athlete though he gets paid going through all four systems. So, basically it is a win-win for both sides. The MLB and the athletes. The problem I have with the baseball aspect of going pro is they have too many rules. Also it is very time consuming, a player is only good until he is about 35 years old. When for most players it takes 5 years to make it to the major leagues. If you come out of college at age of 22. That’s means you only have 8 years in the majors. That’s not counting if you have any setbacks with injuries or anything else. Thus I believe the athlete should have the decision to go pro whenever he desires.

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These athletes should have all the right to go pro whenever they want. Some athletes have to make money to support their families. We also live in America home of the free. Give these athletes the freedom they want to go pro. On October 1, the Wall Street Journal published an article entitled “College Sports Goes on the Offensive: Colleges Push Pros to Change Their Draft Rules.” (Cohen, Ben) This article implies that NCAA leaders do not believe college athletes should be paid. This is a whole other discussion but has some things to do with players going pro. They are talking about paying college athletes, which is not a bad idea. You just need to give them a little bit of money, so they know that you are just not using them. This is what the whole thing comes down to be money. That’s all a kid of 20 years old is thinking about. He just wants money and a lot of it. If that is something they want how can you make them stay in school, and suffer in poverty if they happen to be in that state of living? Going Pro 6 How can you make them do that? It does not make sense to me! Let them make their own decisions. Adults tell their college students all the time, “You are old enough now to make your own decisions,” If it ends up not working out it’s on them, but if you make them stay and they get hurt like running back Marcus Lattimore from South Carolina last year tearing his ACL. He is still recovering at home to this day. Things like this have to make the NCAA rules committee tremble. You might have ruined this guy’s life because you made him stay an extra year in college. He would be making about seven and ½ million dollars, this year but no the NCAA made him stay because they are stubborn. What was wrong with letting Lebron James come right out of high school and going pro. Nothing was wrong with that until the NCAA found out they were not going to be making any money off of him. Two years later article X comes out and now superstar athletes have to go to college. Sports should be an enjoyable time for the athletes, the fans, and everyone else. Not anymore; they made it be about business too much. They are sucking some of the fun right out of the games.

If I was an athlete and got stuck in college for one more year and knew I was going to be a superstar, I would not give the NCAA what they want. I would just sit out a year, because we all know they really want us to play for them so they can make money. You can also if that is not an option. Sign an agent; because you are not associated with the NCAA anymore you can hire your own personal trainer. They want you, because you bring them money, fans, and publicity. That’s all they care about. Do not give in to them and do what is best for your future. Do not worry about anything else. Going Pro 7

Hughes, Grant “Why the NBA's 1-and-Done Rule Is Causing More Harm Than Good” Bleacher report. Aug. 8 2013 Web. 19 Feb 2014.

Keown, Tim “Injustice of NFL draft restriction” ESPN NFL. Feb 13, 2014 Web. 19 Feb 2014
“First-Year Player Draft” ehow. MLB. Web 19 Feb 2014 http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/draftday/rules.jsp Cohen, Ben “College Sports Goes on the Offensive” Wall Street Journal, 1 Oct 2013. Web. 18 Feb 2014. Online Print. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303643304579109732901549934