Tag Archives: NCAA

King James isn’t happy…but why?

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By Kaleb Page

March 2, 2015

Arguably the best basketball player in the world, LeBron James, is not happy.

You might ask yourself how is such a man unhappy? Especially when you are the proclaimed savior of Northeast Ohio, making millions of dollars just to play a game and happen to be on a team that is rising force in the league; winning 17 of the last 19 games.

The reason James is mad involved something a bit more personal. His 10-year-old son, LeBron James Jr. (aka ‘Bronny’), has recently become a target for college basketball recruiters.

Yes you read that correctly, Lebron James Jr. a 10-year-old is already getting offers by colleges to play basketball. Something that made his dad take a step back.

“Yeah, he’s already got some offers from colleges. It’s pretty crazy. It should be a violation. You shouldn’t be recruiting 10-year-old kids.” -LeBron James (from Mike Sullivan of CBS Detroit)

Even though none of the schools were mentioned, it does drive home a point that I think we should be more critical of in the media. This being the over-hyping of child athletes before they have fully matured or even went through all the levels they still have to go through in their amateur play.

Sometimes the hype is for real but it has to beg the question what type of pressure are you already putting on kids at such a young age? Especially those who are children of well established professional athletes.

Now I guess it is easier said than done in today’s sports society. Where results are based on getting to the creme of the crop first, getting them to commit to you and then produce at your school. It probably makes it even harder on recruiters to not go after James Jr. when his dad makes comparisons between himself and his son.

“He plays just like I did. He has great awareness, and he’d rather pass first and set guys up. Most kids nowadays just want to score.” -LeBron James (from Mike Sullivan of CBS Detroit)

Since James never went to college because there was no rule about going to college for one year, you better believe that the race for the next wave of talent donning the last name James will be a race to sit back and watch.

I agree with LeBron in how ridiculous it is to even recruit kids that young. There is still an 8 year window where a lot can happen. That kid could have a change of heart and not even like the sport, lose that ‘it’ quality that had you as a recruiter drooling, an unforeseen injury could happen or even worse that young prodigy doesn’t pick your school at all since you pressured him since he was 10.

It will be interesting to see if there is any action by the NCAA to maybe produce a ban on recruiting at such a young age. It will also be interesting to see how Lebron James Jr. handles his success and ultimately what he does in the future.

For now enjoy a video of the young man ballin’ it up below.

Que the scouts drooling.

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All-American Diver Celebrates Being Gay

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By Ellen Chlumecky

In a world where professional and collegiate athletes’ lives are put on display for the rest of the world to see, it becomes harder and harder for these people to keep a secret about themselves private. Secrets especially are hard to keep when one is in the spotlight often. Conor Murphy is one of the few athletes that found it easier to reveal the secret to the rest of his team and the rest of the university, that he was gay.

Conor Murphy is an All-American diver at Indiana University. Conor owns two Big Ten titles and two top-five finishes at the NCAA Championships in platform diving. He finished his sophomore year fifth at NCAAs in platform diving. In 2012, he competed at the Olympic Trials that summer. As a junior, he captured the Big Ten title in platform diving and took third at NCAAs in platform diving. He is also the first Indiana University athlete to say publicly he is gay.

Conor Murphy speaks only positive things about how his teammates and university have been behind him in his coming out. While he has always been comfortable with his identity, his classmates, teammates, and university made him feel even more at ease. Conor expresses how Bloomington is an accepting place, where many different people come from many different places. While he knows not everyone holds these liberal views, he states that everyone is very tolerant and welcoming.

Conor is just one of many gay collegiate athletes in our sports world today. The difference between him and quite a few of them though, is that not all gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender student athletes don’t always feel welcome or comfortable with telling others their secret. Playing on any collegiate team requires trust between teammates. When a teammate does not feel comfortable expressing their secret to other teammates in fear of being judged, it affects the individual and the team.

While Conor Murphy’s story is a positive one, not every collegiate or even professional athlete has received open arms when they decided to come out. Conor Murphy and several of his fellow athletes recently stated that they want to be able to teach more confidence to fellow athletes or anyone in general having difficulty coming out. While the world has slowly become more accepting, there are still people out there who are road blocks to people’s happiness. Everyone in the sports world, especially athletes, need to do their best to be welcoming and accepting to their fellow teammates, coaches, or anyone else working in sports when one decides to come out. No one should ever be discouraged to play or work in sports because of their sexual orientation.

All information in this story came from the story “All-American diver and Big Ten champion Conor Murphy celebrates being gay at Indiana.”

http://www.outsports.com/2014/12/9/7354125/conor-murphy-gay-diver-indiana

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NCAA Investingating Jameis Winston for Sale of Autographed Memorabilia

By Matt Rogers

Another year, another investigation and suspension by the NCAA due to the distribution of current FBS football athletes’ autographed memorabilia. This year the culprits are University of Georgia Running Back, Todd Gurley, and Florida State Quarterback, Jameis Winston. One thing that both of these players have in common is they are both two of the most recognizable names in college football and they are, or were, both prominent leading candidates to win for the 2014 Heisman Memorial Trophy.

It seems that every year in recent seasons, a star player has been either investigated or suspended for an incident that most people of the general public would not consider wrongdoing. Receiving benefit for their own autographed jerseys does not seem to be something worthy of receiving a suspension that could harm the player’s stock in the upcoming draft.

Anything Jameis Winston does, especially anything that Jameis Winston does wrong, is going to be discussed countless times on all of the national news and sports channels, especially ESPN, the most viewed sports channel on television. Since the incident broke, SportsCenter has run the story on every episode of the show, at least once, sometimes multiple times per show.

It does not help Jameis Winston’s case that he has already been in the news for all of the wrong reasons since this past summer. First it was the criminal sexual assault case stemming from a December 2012 incident. Then, it was for shoplifting crab legs from a local Tallahassee grocery store. In recent weeks, it has been for publicly yelling obscenities that resulted in a game suspension from Florida State’s game against Clemson. After mentioning all of these incidents, the investigation that Florida State University is currently conducting into the sexual assault case for a possible code of conduct violation this week is also worthy of a mention because of the attention it is receiving from the national media.

Whether Jameis Winston is actually guilty of any of these crimes is meaningless at this point. The incidents have received so much attention from the media that the public consumes that Winston has been assumed guilty of all of them in the court of public opinion. This may or may not be fair, but it is what it has come to when dealing with the multiple incidents that Winston has been involved in. The media and NCAA are solely responsible for all of the praise and criticism that the most successful players, like Winston, receive from the opinions of the public.

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Kentucky Hosts NBA Style Combine for Scouts

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By Nicholas Muhl

This past Friday, Kentucky Wildcats Men’s Basketball coach John Calipari hosted an NBA-style combine for his players to show off their skills prior to the start of next spring’s draft. The combine was attended by over 90 NBA scouts and general managers, and each team had at least one representative present.

This coming year, the Wildcats squad is home to six McDonald’s All-Americans and is coming off a runner-up performance in last year’s NCAA Tournament. The two-hour combine, which was televised live on ESPNU, included both individual and team drills , which are included in the NBA scouting combine each year.

The move by Calipari to host such an event is not surprising, considering a record six Kentucky players were taken in the 2014 NBA Draft. The Wildcats head coach has produced many high level NBA players including Derrick Rose, Rajon Rondo, Eric Bledsoe and the list goes on. More recently, former Wildcat players Anthony Davis, Julius Randle and Nerlens Noel were all selected in the top 10 picks in recent drafts.

Unlike many of his peers, Calipari embraces the one-and-done college basketball player. With his padded resume he continues to send 18 and 19-year-old young adults into the NBA, where the average player age is around 27 years old. Calipari was quoted this past weekend acknowledging that many of his players are already considering the NBA, long before they even attend their first class on campus.

“Someone said, ‘You’ll make them think about the NBA.’ Excuse me? They all do. Even the walk-ons. It creates a base for me to build with each individual kid and what I need to do.”

This brings to light a serious issue in sports culture today. 18-21 year old young adults are still maturing as they gain new responsibilities with age. In today’s sports society, these young student-athletes are exposed to fame, fortune, massive media coverage and many other things a typical young adult does not experience at such an age.

Through social media networks like Twitter, major TV networks like ESPN, and other media outlets, student athletes who achieve even most smallest amount of success are household names by the end of the week.

It isn’t just college basketball, as this goes for football and all other major college sports. One can argue that the added attention, such as Kentucky’s combine, can only bring upon more success for the student-athlete. At the very least, they receive recognition for the great achievements and talents they posses.

However, there is an opposite side to the coin. As much as fans love their young talent and phenoms, is the media and college sports as whole bringing too much added attention to student-athletes at such an age? Young superstars like Wildcats Derrick Rose and Anthony Davis are great examples of how successful a student-athlete can be from the additional attention they received at a young age. 

Examples of Johnny Manziel and Jameis Winston, both who have been surrounded by media coverage since the start of their college careers, can be given as to why student-athletes at such a young age are exposed to too much early on in their bright careers.

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Two Sports, Two Wins, One Covered

By Ellen Chlumecky

The Bowling Green State University Falcons had an exciting Homecoming weekend with not only one, but two huge wins. The BGSU Football team won 36-35 while the BGSU Hockey team won 7-2. Both teams played exceptionally well through rocky starts and pushed through with a victory. However, the difference between the two is that football was aired by the media, but hockey was not.

The Bowling Green Football game was broadcasted on ESPN 3, and a myriad of the local TV stations such as ABC 13 in Toledo and local Bowling Green news channel. The Bowling Green hockey game was only broadcasted by the local Bowling Green news channel. Both were available on different local radio stations. One can listen to the football games on Eagle 99, WONW, WLQR, The Word 1220, K94, the Fox and the Bowling Green Radio Sports Organization which is available on 88.1 WBGU FM and WFAL Falcon Radio, while the hockey team is only broadcasted on 88.1 WBGU FM and WFAL Falcon Radio.

The football game and the hockey game were also written about in several different local newspapers like the Toledo Blade and the Sentinel Tribune. However, the Toledo Blade wrote four different stories about the football game in comparison to the one story about the hockey game. While the Sentinel Tribune had equal stories for each game, the top story for their sports page was from the Bowling Green football game.

The football team has a new head coach, solid and dedicated players, and a mass amount of opportunities ahead of them. The hockey team is planning on having an excellent season this year with ten new freshmen players, powerhouse forwards, and new captains in leadership roles. Unfortunately, they have really been shown no recognition for their dedication thus far. While both the football and hockey teams practice immensely hard for wins, their recognition by the media has not been equal. They are both excellent teams, so why aren’t they being shown the same amount of recognition?

Hockey has been pushed to the side in the sports media world for an exceedingly long time. With more and more top notch hockey players entering the college hockey ranks, there should be more attention placed on these hard working athletes. The Bowling Green football and hockey teams both work day in and day out to win and be the best in their respective conferences. Football players should not receive all the media recognition especially when they’re not the only ones succeeding. Bowling Green State University has so much to be proud of with so many winning sports teams and should spread the word out about all of them, not just a select few.

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