by Robert Rosen
I have no problem with high school basketball players skipping college to play for pay. In fact, I think the idea of players being able to bypass college in order to go directly to the NBA is better than the current NBA rule requiring high school players to spend at least one year in college.
Don’t try to tell me those All-American caliber players who are good enough to play in the NBA right out of high school plan on spending more than one year in college to get their degree. While some of them spend more than one year in college, it’s due to the fact that they didn’t have a good freshman season, not because they want to go to class. The human body only has so long to perform at its highest level, but you can always go back to school to get a degree at any time, so that point is moot as well.
The problem is when these young players get to the professional level, be it the NBA or overseas, there aren’t enough people around them to help them learn how to be adults (i.e. paying bills). There have been countless players over the years who have squandered their millions and ended up broke. Rumeal Robinson, the former University of Michigan (by way of Cambridge Rindge and Latin) player who hit the game-winning free throws in overtime of the 1989 National Championship Game against Seton Hall, spent six years in the NBA. Robinson is now homeless and facing multiple financial related charges. He is even being blamed for his adoptive mother losing the house she’d been living in for 20 or so years. He is just one of many players that have had similar experiences. Even star players like Charles Barkley have admitted throwing away millions of dollars on unnecessary things such as gambling, although a player who’s made as much as Barkley isn’t hurting overall for cash.
Many people, including me, made fun of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ young star Sidney Crosby when they found out he lived with Hall-of-Famer Mario Lemeuix, the teams’ owner. It seemed funny that a professional athlete lived with his boss as if he needed a babysitter. And while I’m not saying that NBA teams need to go to such extremes, the league and individual teams need to do a better job of looking out for its young players, as they are the future of the league. In fairness to the NBA, the league does have a mandatory training session for rookies prior to the season to teach them about a number of things, but does a 2-3 day program really do enough to make a difference?
The Seattle Supersonics took Robert Swift with the 12th pick in the 2004 NBA Draft out of Bakersfield High School in Bakersfield, California, ahead of players such as Al Jefferson, J.R. Smith, Jameer Nelson and Anderson Verejao. The 7-1 center played sparingly as a rookie, then had his best season as a professional his sophomore year when he averaged 6.4 point and 5.6 rebounds per game. It looked like Swift might continue to improve and possibly become a viable NBA center at some point in the near future; however, the vast amount of turmoil in the Sonics’ organization (no wonder the team’s in Oklahoma City now) left Swift without much support. It didn’t help that the team didn’t even have a strength coach, much less any other coaches, for a few months at one point. The lack of a coaching staff left Swift to work out himself after he had suffered a knee injury, so he couldn’t properly rehab it. He gained 40 pounds of upper body muscle, which in turn caused more stress on his surgically repaired knee, causing him to miss more court time and leading to another surgical procedure.
No NBA teams signed Swift this year, so he signed with the Bakersfield Jam in the D-League. He recently went AWOL from the team, and it’s uncertain about his future. It looks like it’s possible Swift is giving up basketball for good after a short career in which he earned approximately $11 million. But, at just 24, it looks like Robert Swift may be putting an end to his once promising basketball career, which could potentially be thriving if he had been given the assistance young men barely out of their teens should be given when they first enter adulthood by becoming a member of the NBA.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
Despite Hard Work, "Screaming Eagles" Not Invited to Bowl Game
By Robert Rosen
The Boston College “Screaming Eagles” Marching Band was told on December 9, that they would not be going to the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco that will be played on December 26, against the University of Southern California.
The BC Athletic Department said that, while financial considerations were a part of this decision, the main reason was the proximity of the Emerald Bowl to Christmas.
Jack Dunn, a spokesman for Boston College, told the Boston Globe, “Given the timing of the bowl, over the Christmas weekend, the decision was made so as not to impose on band members to miss Christmas with their families,” Dunn said.
The explanation that the game is too close to Christmas doesn’t make sense based on BC’s past participation in Bowl Games, especially when you take in to account the fact that teams generally fly out to their Bowl Game’s destination five days or more prior to the game to participate in various functions and activities. BC played in the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando on December 28, 2007, meaning the team arrived in Orlando on the 23rd at the latest, which means the team spent Christmas together. In 2006, BC played in Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte on December 30th, meaning the football team probably left the Boston area on Christmas. And while there are many other examples from this decade, my personal favorite is the Jeep Aloha Bowl played in 2000…on Christmas! So to use the fact that the “Screaming Eagles” can’t travel to the Emerald Bowl because of its proximity to Christmas is a bunch of you know what.
The excuse about the financial considerations is completely bogus as well because, according to the Boston College Athletic Website, the Athletic Department received a record $21 million in donations in 2008. This amount is significantly higher than the $3.6 million the Athletic Department received just ten years earlier in 1998. BC will also receive $750,000 for their football team’s participation in the Emerald Bowl. BC gave 272 students athletic scholarships this year totally slightly less than $14 million and, while there are several non-revenue producing sports, the ACC school will receive earnings from the Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament (provided they are selected to participate) as well as some hockey events, such as the Beanpot.
The BC Marching Band was founded in 1919 and currently has over 180 members. In most years not every member has traveled to Bowl Games, although the entire band did travel to Orlando in 2007. Supposedly at least 30-40 band members are sent to Bowl Games each year, including each of the last 10 Bowl appearances the Eagles have made. Typically the Dance Team also travels to Bowl Games with the Marching Band to perform with them, something Boston College’s own website doesn’t say otherwise. “All members typically attend one predetermined away football game and any of the post season games (e.g. ACC championship or a bowl game) with the full Marching Band,” it reads on the Dance Team’s page on the athletic website. I believe I just read something about the Marching Band and Dance Team going to ANY postseason game or Bowl Game.
College is supposed to be more than just studying and taking tests; it’s supposed to be about growing as a person and learning about life out in the world to better yourself in order to fully reach your potential by experiencing as much as you can in what is a small period of your lifetime. But I’d say that there are people in the Boston College administration who don’t care about giving the “Screaming Eagles” and the Dance Team the full college experience that they have certainly worked hard to earn. There’s a Pep Rally the morning of the Emerald Bowl and, although the Trojans don’t have to travel as far as the Eagles to get to San Francisco, their band will be out there in full force. Who’s going to represent Boston College?
The Boston College “Screaming Eagles” Marching Band was told on December 9, that they would not be going to the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco that will be played on December 26, against the University of Southern California.
The BC Athletic Department said that, while financial considerations were a part of this decision, the main reason was the proximity of the Emerald Bowl to Christmas.
Jack Dunn, a spokesman for Boston College, told the Boston Globe, “Given the timing of the bowl, over the Christmas weekend, the decision was made so as not to impose on band members to miss Christmas with their families,” Dunn said.
The explanation that the game is too close to Christmas doesn’t make sense based on BC’s past participation in Bowl Games, especially when you take in to account the fact that teams generally fly out to their Bowl Game’s destination five days or more prior to the game to participate in various functions and activities. BC played in the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando on December 28, 2007, meaning the team arrived in Orlando on the 23rd at the latest, which means the team spent Christmas together. In 2006, BC played in Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte on December 30th, meaning the football team probably left the Boston area on Christmas. And while there are many other examples from this decade, my personal favorite is the Jeep Aloha Bowl played in 2000…on Christmas! So to use the fact that the “Screaming Eagles” can’t travel to the Emerald Bowl because of its proximity to Christmas is a bunch of you know what.
The excuse about the financial considerations is completely bogus as well because, according to the Boston College Athletic Website, the Athletic Department received a record $21 million in donations in 2008. This amount is significantly higher than the $3.6 million the Athletic Department received just ten years earlier in 1998. BC will also receive $750,000 for their football team’s participation in the Emerald Bowl. BC gave 272 students athletic scholarships this year totally slightly less than $14 million and, while there are several non-revenue producing sports, the ACC school will receive earnings from the Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament (provided they are selected to participate) as well as some hockey events, such as the Beanpot.
The BC Marching Band was founded in 1919 and currently has over 180 members. In most years not every member has traveled to Bowl Games, although the entire band did travel to Orlando in 2007. Supposedly at least 30-40 band members are sent to Bowl Games each year, including each of the last 10 Bowl appearances the Eagles have made. Typically the Dance Team also travels to Bowl Games with the Marching Band to perform with them, something Boston College’s own website doesn’t say otherwise. “All members typically attend one predetermined away football game and any of the post season games (e.g. ACC championship or a bowl game) with the full Marching Band,” it reads on the Dance Team’s page on the athletic website. I believe I just read something about the Marching Band and Dance Team going to ANY postseason game or Bowl Game.
College is supposed to be more than just studying and taking tests; it’s supposed to be about growing as a person and learning about life out in the world to better yourself in order to fully reach your potential by experiencing as much as you can in what is a small period of your lifetime. But I’d say that there are people in the Boston College administration who don’t care about giving the “Screaming Eagles” and the Dance Team the full college experience that they have certainly worked hard to earn. There’s a Pep Rally the morning of the Emerald Bowl and, although the Trojans don’t have to travel as far as the Eagles to get to San Francisco, their band will be out there in full force. Who’s going to represent Boston College?
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