just because it's legal doesn't make it good
Oh the places I could go with that title, starting with scrapple, but we're staying with sports today. Specifically the NBA and Champions Tour Golf. Right now you're thinking, "What could they possibly have in common?" So, the tease is out there and you have a reason to be here besides babe-a-day.
The NBA is having an age issue. They are also having a maturity issue. While they are separate issues, they are the same problem. The NBA wants to make a rule saying they can control an age limit a player must meet to play in their league. They want this for a few reasons. Right now the upcoming draft has several players who are just out of high school available. Many of them will be picked up by teams, just because those teams are afraid to miss out on the next big thing. They are drafting on potential. It could work out nicely (Tracy McGrady, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James) or fall flat on its face (Kwame Brown). I wish I could come up with more failure names, and while there are many, I normally don't remember the guys who fade from the collective memory because they suck (and who knows, Kwame might turn into a good player someday). The bigger issue is the maturity players who attend college get when they go that route. Besides playing ball, occasionally some of the academia actually rubs off. Some even get degrees. When they get a microphone stuck in their face at the end of a game, they sound somewhat articulate. They do a better job of representing the league, which is an area the NBA could use a lot of help with. Bringing in more barely educated players is a 12 step program in the wrong direction. You want guys who come out with better quotes than, "Integrity? I dunno know what that word mean. Anybody got a dictionary? You gonna have to help me out wid dat." (Though that's a bad example. Ron Artest went to St. John's University but it doesn't seem to have had much effect on his education or maturity level.) Even with Kobe Bryant I think you could have a pretty good debate. Sure, he's a very good basketball player, but is he good for the Lakers? Is he good for the NBA? Do you want your son running up to you and saying, "I wanna be like Kobe!"? Everybody wants to say the age limit isn't legal. You can't stop people from getting a job, and they're right. At the same time, if the NBA doesn't change something, there won't be much of a league left to get a job with.
So what does this have to do with the Champions Tour? (a side note: It used to be called the Senior Tour. Calling it the 'Champions Tour' is a marketing ploy which only makes me wonder what you call the guy who wins the end-of-year tournament...the Champions Tour Championship Champion?) This tour started as an old-timers game. A few ex-PGA tour guys started playing "competitive" rounds and people who loved seeing them play, paid to watch. It was a nostalgia trip. Over the years it has evolved into a competitive thing for players over 50, but the underlying premise is the same. People pay to watch because they're watching guys they recognize from their PGA Tour days. Very few players become stars on the Champions Tour. OK, nobody becomes a star on the Champions Tour. They already did that, and that's why people will come to see them play. If you're just going to watch great golf, you don't go to a Champions Tour event and watch the old guys hit it. You go to a PGA Tour event and watch the cream of the crop. Because it has become successful and more competitive, there's good money to be made, and ways guys who were not PGA Tour stars to get a piece of the pie. Therefore you have a lot of guys who aren't famous, but who are over 50 and play well getting into these events. They have their own Qualifying Tournament and no matter who you are, if you do well enough there, you get to play on the Tour, but most of them are teaching pros looking for their big break on the Champions Tour. I volunteered to be a score keeper at that tournament at the World Golf Village last year, and had to bite my tongue. I was keeping score for three no-name guys, none of whom were doing well enough to get their card. ...and listening to the whining. "You know, they keep a spot open at every tournament in case Jack Nicklaus wants to play. Heck, I can beat Jack. That's a spot that should be open to anybody." You may be able to beat Jack, but nobody's paying to watch you do it if Jack doesn't show up. If it's ever legal for all you no-name guys to play on the Champions Tour, and enough of you do it to where the stars don't show up, nobody will pay to watch you, and there won't be much of a tour to play on.
It all comes down to biting the hand that feeds you...or making sure you don't.
The NBA is having an age issue. They are also having a maturity issue. While they are separate issues, they are the same problem. The NBA wants to make a rule saying they can control an age limit a player must meet to play in their league. They want this for a few reasons. Right now the upcoming draft has several players who are just out of high school available. Many of them will be picked up by teams, just because those teams are afraid to miss out on the next big thing. They are drafting on potential. It could work out nicely (Tracy McGrady, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James) or fall flat on its face (Kwame Brown). I wish I could come up with more failure names, and while there are many, I normally don't remember the guys who fade from the collective memory because they suck (and who knows, Kwame might turn into a good player someday). The bigger issue is the maturity players who attend college get when they go that route. Besides playing ball, occasionally some of the academia actually rubs off. Some even get degrees. When they get a microphone stuck in their face at the end of a game, they sound somewhat articulate. They do a better job of representing the league, which is an area the NBA could use a lot of help with. Bringing in more barely educated players is a 12 step program in the wrong direction. You want guys who come out with better quotes than, "Integrity? I dunno know what that word mean. Anybody got a dictionary? You gonna have to help me out wid dat." (Though that's a bad example. Ron Artest went to St. John's University but it doesn't seem to have had much effect on his education or maturity level.) Even with Kobe Bryant I think you could have a pretty good debate. Sure, he's a very good basketball player, but is he good for the Lakers? Is he good for the NBA? Do you want your son running up to you and saying, "I wanna be like Kobe!"? Everybody wants to say the age limit isn't legal. You can't stop people from getting a job, and they're right. At the same time, if the NBA doesn't change something, there won't be much of a league left to get a job with.
So what does this have to do with the Champions Tour? (a side note: It used to be called the Senior Tour. Calling it the 'Champions Tour' is a marketing ploy which only makes me wonder what you call the guy who wins the end-of-year tournament...the Champions Tour Championship Champion?) This tour started as an old-timers game. A few ex-PGA tour guys started playing "competitive" rounds and people who loved seeing them play, paid to watch. It was a nostalgia trip. Over the years it has evolved into a competitive thing for players over 50, but the underlying premise is the same. People pay to watch because they're watching guys they recognize from their PGA Tour days. Very few players become stars on the Champions Tour. OK, nobody becomes a star on the Champions Tour. They already did that, and that's why people will come to see them play. If you're just going to watch great golf, you don't go to a Champions Tour event and watch the old guys hit it. You go to a PGA Tour event and watch the cream of the crop. Because it has become successful and more competitive, there's good money to be made, and ways guys who were not PGA Tour stars to get a piece of the pie. Therefore you have a lot of guys who aren't famous, but who are over 50 and play well getting into these events. They have their own Qualifying Tournament and no matter who you are, if you do well enough there, you get to play on the Tour, but most of them are teaching pros looking for their big break on the Champions Tour. I volunteered to be a score keeper at that tournament at the World Golf Village last year, and had to bite my tongue. I was keeping score for three no-name guys, none of whom were doing well enough to get their card. ...and listening to the whining. "You know, they keep a spot open at every tournament in case Jack Nicklaus wants to play. Heck, I can beat Jack. That's a spot that should be open to anybody." You may be able to beat Jack, but nobody's paying to watch you do it if Jack doesn't show up. If it's ever legal for all you no-name guys to play on the Champions Tour, and enough of you do it to where the stars don't show up, nobody will pay to watch you, and there won't be much of a tour to play on.
It all comes down to biting the hand that feeds you...or making sure you don't.
John put this out here at 7:16 AM
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