quote:
I think it is selfish for people to want to force kids to go to college just because people like college sports.

I don't understand the fascination with people wanting to "save college sports". College sports are simply a means to an end.

Athletes shouldn't be forced to attend a college to play a sport just because you want their talent so that your school can beat another school.

It's ridiculous. College sports should get the leftovers of those not good enough to play elsewhere... not the first pick of athletes, as if a school has a right to an athlete's talent.

OK, I'll just use my own personal experience here. I'm a huge football fan, and not very long ago (in my perspective... in some others' it can be considered a VERY long time), I also was a huge basketball fan.
Before early entry rules, things were very similar to football with the pros and colleges. You had great college teams (UNC, Georgetown, Houston, etc) with stars (Jordan, Drexler, Olajuwon, Ewing) that you waited with anticipation for the time they'd finally be drafted.
College ball helped them, both in development- and in marketing too. Remember the Patrick Ewing saga? The NBA created the fricking draft lottery BECAUSE of him, and the notoriety he gained at Georgetown (Hoya Paranoia, although honestly Olajuwon had the better skill set the prior year). EVERYBODY had to get a shot. In no way did Ewing suffer from attending school, he benefited big-time. And incidentally, so did G'Town, the NCAA, and the NBA.

Now- I'm not really sure who the big college teams are, or who their most dominant player is (although I'll guess he's a frosh). I'm not looking at schedules to see big matchups (see- UNC/Duke, Georgetown/Syracuse/St Johns, Indiana/Kentucky etc) like I used to. I no longer wait for March Madness, haven't for years.

So what? So the fact is, I no longer wait for the draft either, and no longer care who goes where. That stretch of years where I never heard of over half the players picked

and with pick #3, the Spurs take &%#?@!, from Outer Mongolia. Here are some highlights of him dunking on a goat...
Next up, the Suns at #4, taking Billy from T-Bob H.S. in Chalmette. He's shown good passing skills in the 13 and under group

killed it for me.

As a result, I now no longer know or care who's playing for most of the teams in the league... and don't watch anymore. Sure, I might catch a game or 2 if it's the Hornets (local), or "Lebron/Kobe" (incessant hype), but not like I used to, or like I still do football.

I just really don't want football to go that way.