Ay-Ziggy-Zoomba.com

I was at Anderson Arena last night and witnessed the football players beat another team to win the Intramural Bball Competitive Championship. They came from behind to win. Some of those boys can ball ! I think I saw Sharon knock down about 3 threes in a row, Sanders and Jordan hit a few as well. I think it was Sharon who knocked down a 3/4 court shot to end the game, banking it in (just for fun).

Players I noticed were: Sharon, Sanders, Jordan, Pope, and Lane. Omar was on the bench cheering them on with his foot cast on. It was nice to see some of the guys out having a good time.

Yet at the same time, in the back of my mind, I'm thinking don't do anything stupid ! I can't imagine how horrible it'd be to injure yourself on a little intramural game and not be able to play next fall. I finally breathed a sigh of relief when that buzzer sounded, everybody appeared to be just fine.

Most professional athletes have clauses in their contracts that prohibit them from even playing in a pick-up type game of another sport. Witness Aaron Boone. Blew out his knee playing basketball in the off-season and the Yankees were able to terminate his contract. I understand there is a difference between pro and college athletes. But these guys are getting their tuition paid because they can play football. If someone gets hurt, I don't think their scholarship would be taken away. The school is left paying the tuition, but gets no return on the athletic playing field.

Warthog wrote:Most professional athletes have clauses in their contracts that prohibit them from even playing in a pick-up type game...

Is this true? I know Michael Jordan demanded his "Love of the game" clause in his initial contract with the Bulls that, I believe, has been echoed and standardized among many players. Maybe he was the exception and not the rule, but I really thought this clause changed contracts in pro-sports in general.

Anytime you watch "Cribs" it seems like all these pro athletes have full-sized basketball courts in their back yards, some with stands and cameras...

Anyhow... BG Student Athletes are students first... part of the college experience is being involved in extra-curriculars that you enjoy. If they want to play hoops in the off-season, they should absolutely be allowed to!

If you're worried about them getting injured, then they shouldn't lift in the off season, run in the off season, or train in any way. They might as well stay in shape doing something they enjoy and excel at. Remember too, most of these guys were probably 2 and 3 sport athletes in high school.

“I needed to play...I needed to be able to play the game of basketball without consequence.” -- Michael Jordan

Completely agree with Grant's statements. Most of these guys won't go pro to begin with. They are here to play football and to enjoy college. Just about anything you do in life puts you at risk for injury. Its uncontrollable, and yes if they get hurt playing basketball and can't play football, I think the Univ, still should honor their scholarship. It's like we talked about with Fitchs injury, It can happen at any time doing anything. No need to ban then from intramurals, playing is as good for them athletically has any excersise.

ZiggyZoomba wrote:

Warthog wrote:Most professional athletes have clauses in their contracts that prohibit them from even playing in a pick-up type game...

Nice creative use of elipsis, but Warthog originally included 'of another sport', making your Michael Jordan analogy pretty much a non-sequitir.

That being said, those are pros, these are college kids playing intramurals. They shouldn't be denied the right to be students.

ZiggyZoomba wrote:

Warthog wrote:Most professional athletes have clauses in their contracts that prohibit them from even playing in a pick-up type game...

Is this true? I know Michael Jordan demanded his "Love of the game" clause in his initial contract with the Bulls that, I believe, has been echoed and standardized among many players. Maybe he was the exception and not the rule, but I really thought this clause changed contracts in pro-sports in general.

Not sure what the "love of the game" clause is, but I am quite sure that most pro athletes have clauses that allow the team to terminate the deal if the player gets injured doing something that the contract prohibits.

ZiggyZoomba wrote:Anytime you watch "Cribs" it seems like all these pro athletes have full-sized basketball courts in their back yards, some with stands and cameras...

I am sure basketball players are still allowed to play basketball. And it is ok to play as long as they don't get injured. Of course, most of the time if they do get hurt, they lie about how it happened to avoid having their contract terminated.

Life's short. Let the guys play intramurals.

I think that most of us agree that of all the things a bunch of guys can do on an the average night in college, playing a game of basketball is a pretty good alternative.

Intramurals are part of the college experience. If they want to play, let them play.

Shouldn't let them date either...nothing heals slower thana broken heart.

Ohhhhh....I just wrote a country/western lyric

In this case I feel that they are college students, let them play. I used to watch the players a few years back, and they can really play. JG can dunk a basketball! The guy is like 5'8, but he can FLY! You never woulda guessed it from the bruising back.

However, Grant, Warthog is correct. Almost all pro sports contracts have clauses that outlaw participation in other sports, even recreationally. Jeff Kent had a clause in his contract that he couldn't ride his motorcycle. Hence he comes up with some trumped up story when he wrecks it. Aaron Boone was not allowed to play basketball, and lost his contract when he got hurt doing it.

The clause is present in a LOT of pro contracts, but obviously its ignored quite a bit as well. However, once they get hurt doing it they're usually out of a job, and out a LOT of money.

However, our athletes are not professionals. Let 'em enjoy student life.

Flipper wrote:Shouldn't let them date either...nothing heals slower thana broken heart.

...or chlamydia.

I agree with others here: It's college, and if the kids want to hoop it up when they have free time, more power to them.

On the other hand, I wasn't real happy when my God-awful group of honor students masquerading as an IM basketball team ran the buzzsaw that was our varsity football team on the court.

Our side was a little paunchy, easily winded -- and we were playing a group of guys who are in effect paid to be athletes.

It was awful. We got smoked.

Imagine going to what you thought would be a friendly pick up game only to find that the other side has brought in LeBron James. It felt a little like that -- just a bit unfair.

At the time, I was surprised the IM department didn't have a rule about this sort of thing -- maybe a quota on the number of varsity athletes per team or something.

I hope that didn't sound too whiny, but I'm trying to be honest about how I felt at the time.

That said -- let 'em play.

The projected starting center for the University of Tennessee may be out for the season. Let the Honor Students have their brief moment in the spotlight


http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/news?slug ... type=story

Not only our these guys better than everyone at football, they have to show us all up in BB too. Leave us something to be good at