Lost in the hoopla over former University of Memphis coach John Calipari’s return to the city last week for a fund raiser was the appearance of Charles Barkley, guest of honor for the event.
While most focused their attention on Calipari’s lukewarm reception – a reception he deserved for decimating the Tigers program – greater attention should have been paid to the more salient points raised during Barkley’s speech.
Among those points were Barkley’s belief the National Basketball Association should raise the current one-year eligibility limit imposed on high school players from entering the league.
The NBA’s rule regarding player eligibility requires one year from the time a prospective player graduates from high school before being allowed to enter the NBA Draft.
Barkley reasoned that idea was consistent with his belief the additional year of college play better equips a player for the rigors of professional basketball.
Anyone with the remotest knowledge of the NBA knows that professional basketball is primarily a black man’s game.
Barkley argued strongly, as he said he does in his speeches to high schools, that young blacks, particularly males, should think of themselves as something other than potential athletes or entertainers.
That idea is hardly novel with Barkley, but it’s underscored by the fact it’s being said by someone of his stature. Barkley also said “he prizes his current media job at TNT more than he does his years of basketball glory.”
Why? Because it gives him a highly visible public format to discuss the range of important life lessons.
Barkley is right, both in his insistence on the virtue of staying the course and in his advocacy of looking beyond the impermanence of athletic glory.
Too many young people today are being put into untenable situations. Often young men, especially young black men, are asked to utilize their athletic abilities to provide a means to an end.
Instead of deciding upon a college or university for its academic offerings and aspiring to acquire a college degree, athletes are now focusing on which program will give them the best opportunity to showcase their athletic skills.
On the surface, there’s nothing wrong with anyone aspiring to play in the NBA or any other professional sports league. Barkley, among others, don’t wish to prevent anyone from pursuing a career playing professional basketball while earning a living doing it.
But what isn’t be said is how these young athletes are subliminally being prostituted for their athletic abilities to generate revenue. Whether that revenue is for the college or university he attends or the athlete’s family is irrelevant.
Since when is an 18-year old supposed to be the bread winner?
Certainly arguments can be made in favor of maintaining the NBA’s current rule. Players from years past like Moses Malone – the fifth man to forgo college and move directly into the NBA – or more recently Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Tracy McGrady and LeBron James offer proof that high school players can succeed at the professional level.
However, what percentage do those select few represent among the thousands participating in high school and college athletics? Less than one-tenth of one percent.
Simply put, Barkley is making an effort to further the cause of young athletes around the nation. Instead of focusing on athletics as a primary source of income, Barkley wants to get young people focused on the reality that academic achievement will provide rewards for a lifetime.
For a man like Barkley – often viewed as comic relief – to further such a worthy agenda, perhaps it’s time the knuckleheads at the NBA office in New York start paying attention to what he has to say.
[...] MOONDOG SPORTS has the story of Charles Barkley’s speech at the University of Memphis. Apparently, Sir [...]