17 y/o leaving HS to go pro in Europe

[RickStain]

Don't think I saw this posted anywhere else, apologies if I did.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/sports/ncaabasketball/23prospect.html?_r=1&hp

I expect you'll see more of this in the future.

 

[Petrie]

“It’s significant because it shows the curiosity for the American player just refusing to accept what he’s told he has to do,” Vaccaro said. “We’re getting closer to the European reality of a professional at a young age. Basically, Jeremy Tyler is saying, ‘Why do I have to go to high school?’ ”

Does it get slimier than Sonny Vaccaro?

 

[crusoes]

Better he goes pro than pretend to go to school for a year.

 

[old_tony]

Better he goes pro than pretend to go to school for a year.

I don't agree. A year of college is still a year of college. To remain eligible he has to pass his classes. When has a year of college ever hurt someone?

 

[ColbertNation]

Torn here. I hope it works out for him because I don't wish anybody ill. But at the same time, I would hate to see this become a trend.

 

[RickStain]

Better he goes pro than pretend to go to school for a year.

I don't agree. A year of college is still a year of college. To remain eligible he has to pass his classes. When has a year of college ever hurt someone?

When they blow out their knee and realize they would have made more money from a year in Europe than an entire career with a sports education degree.

 

[Ace]

I don't blame the kid for not wanting to take Senior English.

 

[old_tony]

Better he goes pro than pretend to go to school for a year.

I don't agree. A year of college is still a year of college. To remain eligible he has to pass his classes. When has a year of college ever hurt someone?

When they blow out their knee and realize they would have made more money from a year in Europe than an entire career with a sports education degree.

Yup, that happens all the time. ::)

By that logic, no kid should ever go to college and play ball.

 

[Hammer Pants]

“It’s significant because it shows the curiosity for the American player just refusing to accept what he’s told he has to do,” Vaccaro said. “We’re getting closer to the European reality of a professional at a young age. Basically, Jeremy Tyler is saying, ‘Why do I have to go to high school?’ ”

Does it get slimier than Sonny Vaccaro?

No, but Worldwide Wes and others aren't too far behind.

 

[GB-Hack]

Better he goes pro than pretend to go to school for a year.

I don't agree. A year of college is still a year of college. To remain eligible he has to pass his classes. When has a year of college ever hurt someone?

When they blow out their knee and realize they would have made more money from a year in Europe than an entire career with a sports education degree.

Yup, that happens all the time. ::)

By that logic, no kid should ever go to college and play ball.

European and South American soccer clubs would like a word.

 

[RickStain]

By that logic, no kid should ever go to college and play ball.

No kid who is good enough to make a big payday in the pros should, imo.

 

[novelist_wannabe]

While I'd agree that Vaccaro is among the most unseemly figures in sports, but I don't get the criticism here. If this kid can get a European team to pay him six figures (how many of you earned six figures your first year out of college, let along high school) to play basketball, why shouldn't he be allowed? Because he hasn't "paid his dues"? Bull****. This is no worse than a 17-year-old tennis player doing it. That doesn't always work out, but it doesn't always fail, either. A year overseas might teach him more than a year in high school and/or a year in college, where he'd be making Pitino or some other coach rich. I like that he's making an effort to graduate high school, and I'd submit that college is not for everyone. If he wants to do it this way, who are we to say he shouldn't?

 

[jackfinarelli]

Novelist-wannabe:

You got this one dead solid perfect. If the kid can get a team somewhere to pay him six figures to play basketball, why should he stay in high school and then pretend to go to college for a year?

Most - - not all but surely most - - of the "one-and-done" basketball players collect only the most minimal intellectual stimulus from their fall semester in "college level courses" followed by a class schedule in the spring semester where class attendance is about as rare as a properly barbecued T-bone steak. College never hurt anyone; nonetheless, college does not benefit everyone - - particualrly those who do not go to classes and who are directed to courses with the intellectual equivalence of Dr. Seuss.

The first function of education is to prepare someone for their life's work. There are secondary functions and benefits to be sure, but that is the first function. If someone is going to play basketball as their life's work and they can get paid for it at age 17, the best thing to do is to say "Mazel Tov!" and marvel at how the high school basketball programs and the "AAU teams" have prepared this kid for his life's work.

 

[Armchair_QB]

Football is the last true interscholastic sport in this country.

Think about it. At this point football is the only sport that doesn't have a club-travel team-AAU system that siphons kids from high school teams.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Guess what -- he wasn't going to college next year. He was going to ****ING SENIOR YEAR OF HS.

I think it's awesome. Kid will make tons of money and still get his degree via GED.

 

[slappy4428]

Sonny Vaccaro. Go figure.

 

[TigerVols]

Better he goes pro than pretend to go to school for a year.

I don't agree. A year of college is still a year of college. To remain eligible he has to pass his classes. When has a year of college ever hurt someone?

Wow. It's not just politics that you are uninformed about, I see.

 

[dargan]

I wouldn't want to see it become a trend, but I can't blame the kid for doing it. Shoot, if I could play basketball and make the pedestrian money I make right now, I'd be all for it, much less six figures.

 

[JackReacher]

I got no problem with kids skipping college to go to Europe. But, for ****'s sake, at least finish high school first.

 

[novelist_wannabe]

If it's for ****'s sake, I don't think he'll need the high school education, except per haps the part about putting the glove on the banana