the high jump

Notice how Ted's last post used a lot of "facts" and "empirical evidence" to support his point - that's all well and good if you live in a reality-based world but as our esteemed President once told Ron Suskind - "I live in a faith based world." What follows is a point I made over the phone to my cousin two weeks ago sans any supporting evidence at all.

Kevin Garnett had a great career - he's a first ballot hall of famer (insert youtube clip of Kevin Garnett dunking set to house beats here) but I feel like there was something missing from the whole experience. I remember when Garnett was on the cover of SI in 1997 being proclaimed as a cross between Charlemagne and Bill Russell; but he never made it to that Christmas 800 A.D. moment. Why? Well he never went to college.

Every single NBA player who jumped from high school to the pros could have been better if they went to college. A number of outstanding players went straight to the NBA but they could have been better. For instance:

Kobe: A lethal scorer and a three time champion but college most likely would have taught Kobe a little something about being a team player and also that raping women in Colorado hotel rooms is bad.

T-Mac: Are his well documented playoff failures a result of never having played in the pressure cooker that is the NCAA tournament.

That guy from MTV's true life that never got drafted: That was brutal. But that MTV episode had more journalistic credibility than 10 years of ESPN. (Not including the "Coors Light Six Pack Question Session with NBA anaylst Tim Legler" lots of credibility there)

But now players have to go to college for at least a year - which I believe is also going to have far reaching unforeseen consequences - that might holy lord make people hate Duke less. Discussion soon.