Friday, June 5, 2009
Congress / Kotz / Politics / Sports Congressman Steve Cohen Takes on NBA Slavery
Posted by Pete Kotz on Fri, Jun 5, 2009 at 5:49 AM
Cohen has written to NBA Commissioner David Stern expressing "deep concern" over the league's minimum age requirement, which bars players under age 19 who aren't at least a year removed from high school. In the good congressman's words, "It's a vestige of slavery." He argues that the rule predominantly impedes black kids, while whiter sports like hockey and baseball allow kids to go pro at age 18.
It's a nice theory -- and smart politics for a man who represents a largely black district. But what he forgets is that the rule is part of a negotiated contract with a largely black union. And the union didn't agree to the deal because it was really into last vestiges of slavery. It did so for the greater good of the largely black athletes who play basketball.
Prior to the rule, NBA teams were loading up on raw, fresh-from-high-school talent that wasn't quite ready for prime time. Due to limited seating, that meant an older, more useful players -- possibly with wives, kids and mortgages -- were forced to discover the exciting field of real estate. So the union naturally agreed to safeguard older players who'd earned their bones.
After all, it's not like the young guys would suffer.
Their form of slavery: Spend a year in college, bask in the adoration of loving fans, have someone else take their tests, and receive no-show jobs and under-the-table Chevy Tahoes from boosters with sweater vests and alarming comb-overs. If this constituted slavery back in the old days, we're guessing there never would have been a civil war.
Comments (6)
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I have a better idea:
If you really want to play in the NBA, you better have a BA, a decent GPA, and a real curriculum.
Just like shit worker school teachers, cops and software engineers whose positions get outsourced to Chennai.
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See, I read this as having something to do with the whole Coach Cal-Derrick Rose fiasco at UMemphis. If players weren't required to spend a year in college first, Memphis wouldn't have had to gone through the trouble of getting someone else to take the SATs for Rose.
people that pull this "vestiges of slavery" BS are cut from the same cloth as the types you see from time to time invoking the holocaust to punch up their bland or unsubstantial stance. it's despicable in my opinion; too bad cohen is the type of victocrat who thwarts shame like rain-x.
Of course, the slavery refernce is overblown, but the age requirement merely makes a farce of the term "student athlete" for these one and doners. If a 18 year old can go pro in tennis, why not basketball? No logical reason for allowing one but not the other. Let the NBA run its own minor league and quit getting the NCAA to do it (complicitly) for them.
