R44 Posted March 1, 2005 Share Posted March 1, 2005 OK, Bit got a E-mail from some Mayone type (except younger)...We try to answer all our mail--particularly from players families (Bryant McFadden; Alex Green; Brandon Heaney)...But I have no idea how to answer this...TS, dare i say, what do you think? - Original Message ----- From: **** ***** To: draftdaddy@draftdaddy.com Sent: Sunday, February 27, 2005 9:07 PM Subject: Question Dear Sir or Ma'am, Dear All, My name is **** ***** , and I am a 21-year old senior at Illinois College in tiny Jacksonville, Ill. I am an aspiring sportswriter who works at the local newspaper (The Jacksonville Journal-Courier), and I am also the sports editor of the student newspaper. Ok. Now to why I am writing you. I am currently researching an article on the "youth craze in sports," which in other words, refers to the prospecting of younger and younger athletes in terms of their professional potential. And since you work for a website that deals with content that falls into this category, I would like to know what your thoughts are on the "youth craze in sports." Does increased prospecting help or hurt the athletes? Where is the line to be drawn, how young is too young for us to prospect professional talent (5th grade, 6th grade, high school)? These are a couple questions that I would like you to answer in your responses, and any other relevant information to this trend would be greatly appreciated. I should also mention that I may use your quotes in my article, and that it may appear in an on-campus non-fiction journal. If you have any questions, I would be more than happy to answer them. Thank you for reading this. I anxiously await your responses. Sincerely, **** **** Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomShane Posted March 1, 2005 Share Posted March 1, 2005 Rigs, direct him to a good article in SI (believe it or not, they have an "good article"), where they cover the story of a kid named Demetrius Jackson (I believe). He's a 14 year old 8th grader who plays PG, is 6'3" and can 360 dunk. Tell him to focus on the kid's youth-league coach/pimp and notice the language he uses to describe the kid--it smacks of near-slavery. The kid is already being farmed out like a whore and is said to already be losing touch with reality. Of course, SI treats it with kid gloves, not wanting to lose the chance to slap him all over their cover when he's a pro. My own personal opinion is this: In basketball, it has ruined the league in many ways, IMO. Fundamentals are terrible, and any sport played without fundamentals is horrid. I don't blame the NBA, however. I blame the NCAA who chases around football players for missing a chemistry class, but turns its head when Adidas, Reebok, And1 and Nike run their whorehouses/summer camps for high schoolers, where they are coddled by agents for a week while pretending to be learning how to shoot a jump shot. It's pitiful. Also, AAU teams are not legislated by anybody, and are basically sponsored by, guess who? Shoe companies. This mentality has seeped into the college game, all with the NCAA's knowledge, and has turned the art of recruiting top athletes into nothing more than a money-making endeavor. If LeBron James went to, say, St. John's, they would currently be reaping in potentially $50 million dollars more than they currently are. How? Shoe companies (ta-daaa!). If the team isn't playing on CBS and ESPN every other night, Nike has no use for them. Thus, getting the top athletes garners not only TV money, but shoe money. It's the NCAA's fault there, the hypocrite ****s. The point is, if you're a top basketball player, when you go to school, the school gets the money. When you go to the NBA, you get it. **** 'em if they flop. In football, it isn't as pervasive only because a single player cannot make the type of impact to a team that a single basketball player can make to a basketball team. Also, success in football, more than any other sport, is predicated on physical strength. You can draft a 6'11", 210 lb high-school PF with the first pick in the NBA draft and get away with it. You cannot draft a 6'1" 210 lb linebacker prospect in the NFL draft because he'll get killed. This is why it's not as lucrative for shoe companies to chase football players around. Nike wants their logo on a successful team with a street-credible image, not necessarily on any specific player. Baseball, obviously, it's very rare to get a prodigy 19 year old. Also, the Mets did it with Darryl Strawberry and Doc Gooden, and while they won a title, they vastly under-achieved because both of them couldn't handle the bright lights. Giving big shoe money to an 18 year-old baseball player is a bad investment. Golf, hockey, tennis, etc., don't generate the type of ad revenue that would make prostituting a young kid successful, although we all know it's done to some extent. I'd tell the kid something like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatcatxl Posted March 1, 2005 Share Posted March 1, 2005 Point out the clarett ruling and how the NFL wants to make sure the players have a chance to mature before they reach the big leagues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Jets & Ham Posted March 1, 2005 Share Posted March 1, 2005 Great Job, TS ... you have a great mind, bro ... you try to hide it cause you're humble, but you never had me fooled :wink: Riggo, you might also direct him towards our piece on Marcus Dupree? Show him how it can end for arguably the greatest H.S. football player, well, ever ... and certainly the most highly recruited Tell him to take note of how Dupree played one season of college ball and then it was off to the pros {USFL} ... and tell him to take note of how it all turned out for the Great Marcus Dupree Anyway, just some material that may interest the kid for his piece Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenBeans Posted March 1, 2005 Share Posted March 1, 2005 Rigs, I might be inclined to tell the kid to loose the cutesy title for his research - "youth craze in sports" smacks of a 6th grade book report. As far as athletes go, he may want to look into a baseball player from the Raleigh, NC area named Josh Hamilton. He was a phenominal talent in high school, recruited by all the D-1 powers, and eventually was the first pick in the draft for the Devil Rays. All this talent has gone to waste - Hamilton has gone MIA a few times and has acknowledged he has a drug problem. This was a nice, clean cut kid with good parents. Another kid to look at is Shavlik Randolph of Duke. He's been a disappointment at Duke, but he made the right choice - he went to school. There was serious talk around here when he was a senior in high school that he might go to the NBA ( his dad still thinks he should have from what I hear ). This would have been a disaster for the kid, but he made a smart choice, despite being coddled from age 14 by coaches. $.02 for what it's worth... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R44 Posted March 1, 2005 Author Share Posted March 1, 2005 Thank you TS, can we send your resonse and give you credit for it? TS from Jetnation.com? Can Maxman handle the extra server needs, after the entire town of Jacksonville, Illinois sees the plug :twisted: ******** Honestly and seriously, TS, super response. Can we send it? We'll give you and your site full credit---"this from our real good friends at Jetnation" I'll delete the Mayone refrence, so he won't get offended if he surfs on We could also mention Hammer's response, which is good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomShane Posted March 1, 2005 Share Posted March 1, 2005 Isn't Josh Hamilton still in rehab? That's brutal. btw, WHAT'S UP BEANS?!?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenBeans Posted March 1, 2005 Share Posted March 1, 2005 Isn't Josh Hamilton still in rehab? That's brutal. btw, WHAT'S UP BEANS?!?? What up TS! I love this place! Hamilton is still in rehab - he's done. Too bad, he was a nice kid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maxman Posted March 1, 2005 Share Posted March 1, 2005 Thank you TS, can we send your resonse and give you credit for it? TS from Jetnation.com? Can Maxman handle the extra server needs, after the entire town of Jacksonville, Illinois sees the plug :twisted: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R44 Posted March 1, 2005 Author Share Posted March 1, 2005 Thanks men....for all the replies. I'll forward your responses to Bitonti and he can sort out what he sends back. Let's see who gets credit for the quotes JN or DD....Maybe both? Isn't Jacksonville, Illinois a growing market? =P~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maxman Posted March 1, 2005 Share Posted March 1, 2005 Isn't Jacksonville, Illinois a growing market? =P~ I believe it is. But we weren't going to target that area until week 5 or 6! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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