28
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, JULY 8, 2009
OPINION
Don't blame the brothers, bid them welcome
If when you graduated high school,you were skilled enough in the craft that you love and knew you would make a career in to bypass college and go right into earning more money than you could imagine,what would you elect to do?
No, seriously.
Some careers require college degrees to get very far, some do
not.
For a long time, profession basketball franchises paid astronomical sums to kids barely 18 years old and some of those kids went
C. J. Henry
Xavier Henry shouldn't be considered guilty for temporarily retracting. He and his brother, C.J., should be welcomed to Lawrence, as long as their father keeps his cool in tense times.
on to become the best in their sport. Some flopped, but those who ascended did so rapidly.
For more than three years now, basketball players have been required to pretend to be students for at least a year at a university eager to cash in on their hype. Some of them helped take their team as far as the title game, where CBS also eagerly counted the
ASSOCIATED PRESS
greenbacks earned by their success.
Xavier and C.J. Henry shouldn't have to pretend. If they're guilty of anything, it is momentarily appearing to retract a commitment they had previously made to attend Kansas.
But here is where it gets complicated. See, when we talk about commitments and honor and all these noble principles, we must also remember that the Henrys had to back out of a written commitment to come to Kansas in the first place. However, this came about when John Calipari - who had lured them to Memphis in the first place - bolted for Kentucky.
Henry family.
It was refreshing to see cooler heads prevail last week – or whatever happened when coach Bill Self and two assistants jetted down to Oklahoma City to meet with the
I'll be among the first to welcome the Henrys to Lawrence, but with great hope that their father's feathers won't be as easily ruffled as they were in those three mad days last week when a Kansas City Star article and message boards appeared to be a deal breaker.
I think we should all chill out, go fishing and soak in as many rays while they last.
After all, while Sherron Collins, Cole Aldrich, the Henrys and the rest of the jayhawks are balling this winter, we'll be wishing it was 90 again and not the icy sub-zero Kansas winter temps.
Brady McCollough's Kansas City Star feature was an excellent, honest bit of reportage. Carl Henry is a driven, passionate father who speaks his mind. That's all. Many of us would kill to have our fathers go on the record singing our praises. Men and women work a lifetime to hear those words.
One more thing
Ultimately, no team in this One-And-Done Era has won a national championship. We in Lawrence are all too familiar with Carmelo Anthony and Syracuse, but the
difference is Melo chose to attend Syracuse when he could've jumped to the NBA.
Kansas could very well be the first One-And-Done Era champion if they cut down the nets in April and Xavier subsequently goes pro.
But so far, all of the last four national championship teams have been comprised of players who wanted to be there in the first place.
Edited by Adam School
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Hatch and other critics of the BCS view that as anticompetitive behavior. Defenders say it simply recognizes the teams people want to watch.
conferences also get far more of the revenue than the other conferences.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL Utah Senator wants BCS investigated for antitrust
WASHINGTON — Utah Sen.
Orrin Hatch is calling on the Justice
Department to investigate college
football's Bowl Championship Series for what he views as violations of antitrust laws.
Under the Bowl Championship Series, some conferences get automatic bids to participate while others don't. The automatic bid
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