Tyler to Public Education: Kiss My Tuchus

As all (20.453+(382/2))^0-1 of you who read this blog probably know, high school kind-of phenom Jeremy Tyler is foregoing his senior year to go to Europe and play professionally. Why is he doing this? Possibly he wants to make oodles of money. Possibly he got tired of waiting for Mr. Kotter to come back. No one knows. Alright, plenty of people know, but that robs my opening paragraph of all its intrigue, so I'm keeping that last sentence as-is.

Tyler probably thinks he's going to be swimming in money, much like Scrooge McDuck in the opening theme of DUCK TALES. He's probably right, since European ballers get almost as much scouting attention as "student" athletes. At the end of the day, if Tyler performs then he'll get drafted and if not, he won't--same as if he went to college. Might as well earn a few clams in the process. And he certainly won't suffer for lack of attention.

Yes, the Euro game is much much better than D-1 ball. Yes, Tyler is probably getting in over his head, a la Brandon Jennings. Yes, you deserve twenty lashings for thinking BETTER OFF TED is funny. But we beat the pinkos, goddammit, and in this country--oh wait--well, in one of those quasi-socialist countries across the pond, a man (and/or woman!) deserves just compensation for doing his job, irregardless of his age or his choice of facial hair.

But let's be honest: This isn't about high school, this is about the one-year rule preventing high school grads from going straight to the NBA. If Tyler didn't have to wait a year after HS from jumping, I'd bet pesos to dollars (that's right, the dollar sucks) that Tyler stays out his last year and lands a lottery pick in the draft. But since NCAA bylaw 32.89.000010 states that only Gary Williams circa 1988 can profit from NCAA ball, Tyler made a decision that not only could hurt himself in the long run, but also hurts the game. More so, the whole shenanagan exposes the term "student athlete" as the biggest oxymoron since "The Good German".