Weighing in on the basketball

By Justin Albers
basketballss132002@yahoo.com
INDIANAPOLIS- Since I'm in the state of Indiana I'm going to discuss the most popular sport here, basketball. To start off, I wanted to talk about the differences in the NBA and NCAA. First in the NCAA. I love college basketball and everbody involved in it. The players work hard, the coaches care, and the fans are loyal. On the other hand, the NBA doesn't really measure up. The players are spoiled and lazy, the coaches are overpaid, and the fans are unenthuised. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't the professinal basketball league produce more excitement then youngsters who are students first and athletes second? It seems that way, but it just isn't true. To make a comparison, the NBA is sort of like high schoolers playing CYO and college is like real high school basketball. I'm not trying to talk bad about CYO because I myself play in the league, which is why I can make this comparison. In CYO the players don't always play hard, and sometimes fool around and showboat. The NBA is the exact same thing, the only difference is the players in the NBA are making millions of dollars to fool around. Maybe it's because there are 82 games in a season, or maybe the games are too long. Whatever the reason, NBA games are not fun to watch because of the way the players act. When you see guys walking down the court or not hustling after a loose ball it makes you wonder how they even got in the league in the first place. The college athletes are out there busting there butts on every play, and they have studies to worry about as well. When basketball is your job, you'd think that the you would take pride in it and always try your best. But these players just don't do it.
Now college basketball being compared to high school ball. In both situations players are working hard and executing the coaches plays. Perhaps the players want a shot at the next level, but most high school and college players play solely on heart. They know they aren't the biggest, quicketst, strongest, are even the most skilled. But they take pride in what they do and they want to win games for their teammates, coaches, and school.
In conclusion, something needs to be done about NBA basketball. My suggestion would be to shorten the season to 45-50 games and pay the players less money. Think about something for a minute. The president of the United States gets paid less then a million dollars a year to lead the country. Professional athletes get paid millions of dollars a year to play a sport, where the toughest decision is deciding what play to call. Pay the NBA players about $250,000 a year and leave it at that. Who can't live on that much money? That's my take on the situation, give me yours.