Shane Battier Out For Ten Days

The Rockets are going to be without their best defender for ten days as    Shane Battier will be out with a sprained MCL. The back up small forward got injured against the New York Knicks on Sunday.

This shouldn’t do a whole lot to the production of Luis Scola as he is playing right around his maximum minutes right now. In the Rockets first game without Battier, Scola ended up with 22 points in a loss to the Bulls.

The Rockets are now 4.5 games behind the Portland Trailblazers for the eighth seed in the Western Conference. With only 13 games to play it seems unlikely they will earn a trip to the NBA playoffs.

Popularity: unranked [?]

NBA Player Profile: Shane Battier

Shane Battier is a cerebral player who had a 3.96 GPA in high school. This translates to his game where he plays about as smart as any player in the NBA. He was chosen for the U.S. Olympic team based on his play on defense and his outside shooting. He will never be confused for a “stat stuffing” player, but he definitely someone you want on your team.

Strengths: He is a great perimeter defensive player and a solid three point shooter. He is a decent passer, shot blocker, and gets a decent amount of steals for a 6-foot-8 guy.

Weaknesses: Takes too many threes for a guy his size. His career field goal percentage is only 44.6 and his career rebounding average is less than five (not great for a guy his size).

Our Opinions

James: Great defensive guy who is one of the main reasons that the Rockets are the surprise of the NBA season so far. He does what needs to be done to win, not what needs to be done to show off. He is a solid NBA player and his personality will lend to a very successful post-basketball career.

George: How does a guy peak during his rookie season and still get picked for the Olympic team? They could have found another guy to take his spot. If you look at the guy, he looks big, so why does he play small. He is a smart guy, he should pack up his NBA career and move on to the rest of his life.

Popularity: 1% [?]

NCAA most unethical business in the world?

Not Caring About Athletes= NCAA

As I sit here I try to figure out just how the NCAA got to where it is today. As an institute who’s sole purpose seems to be exploiting young people (mostly men) to turn an enormous profit, they contradict the very foundation for which they pretend to exist for. They are a governing body of an academic first program, that seems to care little for the actual academic success of it’s servants.

The fact is that I truly have no problem with them actually using the student athletes to make a buck. We all use some one else to make money. Whether it is a boss, a customer or an employee; businesses are just groups of people hellbent on turning a profit.

What I have a problem with is their fraudulent claims that they have the students best interest in mind. For them to even pretend that the rules governed by the NCAA are not solely written to try to keep all the money in the schools pockets; is insulting to anyone with any intelligence.  These athletes of major sports at the universities make their schools millions of dollars and all they get is stress trying to keep all the silly rules in order.

I know what you’re thinking, they get a free college education.

For the ones truly making money for their schools, most of them don’t care. They aren’t there for the education, not in a academic sense. They are there as a stepping stone to a professional athletic career. That’s it.

To try to pass it off to the average Joe that it is anything else but a free minor league system for the NBA, NFL, NHL or Major League Baseball; is absurd. In Europe they pay players as young as 14 to play for a team. They are educated in their chosen profession…sports. They are prepared for the life that is ahead of them.

All we teach the Derrick Rose’s of the world is that they need to learn to be as sneaky as possible and not get caught. We don’t prepare them for their future.

I do agree that some higher education is recommended, but no one gets anything out of something they don’t really want to do. These athletes are taking up class room and professor’s time in an attempt to fool the alumni at their institution.

There are the cases of guys like Shane Battier and women like Candace Parker who are successes as athletes and students, but once again that should be their choice. Other athletes that aren’t feeling that path shouldn’t be forced into it.

I think we need a true minor league in the NBA and NFL. A place where players can play before they are ready for the big time, while still making a living. They wouldn’t need to get paid a lot, just what they’re worth. Better yet, let the NCAA members pay their players. Take away the stupid restrictions. At the very least let them except endorsements or money from boosters.

The NCAA is afraid that that type of scenario would hurt their integrity. I would say; what integrity?

Popularity: 1% [?]