It Must Be The Hormones In The Chicken

Mike Tyson once said, "If you want to see a tragedy, give an uneducated 18 year-old kid $100 million and watch."

I may not have gotten that quote exactly right (not making it a true quote), but it was something along those lines. Young athletes are developing bigger and faster than ever before.

With this, they are choosing to forgo their final year(s) of college and entering pro drafts in their chosen sports. The four and a half years I attended the University of Alabama were vital in my maturing as a person. I could not imagine leaving after my freshman (like in college basketball) or junior (like in college football) years to begin working in the real world. I am 25 now and at times I still feel as if I am still too immature for the working world.

My feeling about forcing college basketball players and football players to attend school for a certain period of time is indifferent. More so basketball than football because of the big difference in athleticism between the NFL and NCAA Football. When it comes to basketball, I feel like that one year of college allows for these athletes to mature at a more gradual pace, but then I think about the ones that are clearly able to enter and compete at the next level.

I am talking about the Lebron James', Kevin Garnetts and Dwight Howards of the world. As far as the game goes, college would have done nothing for these talented players except delay them receiving the payday that they worked so hard for over their lives. I also think about the players that are currently struggling after choosing to skip college and enter the NBA Draft.

I am talking about players like Sebastian Telfair and Kwambe Brown. Kwambe Brown was not physically or mentally prepared for the NBA level and Sebastian Telfair has struggle to stay out of trouble with two gun charges. Would one year of school have helped these two young men?