He died in a helicopter crash today!
Steph
((
R.I.P Kobe. Next best thing to MJ and a generational talent in his own right. He died doing what he loved, taking his little girl to one of her games. R.I.P to the other victims of the crash as well, nine in total.
which makes it even more heartbreaking. So far I don't think the other names have been released.
This is a serious question, but not about Kobe Bryant alone or the accident per se.
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Kobe and several other pro athletes went directly from HS to the pros, bypassing college. The OLD rules were that a student had 4 years or 8 semesters of NCAA eligibility. If you dropped out or graduated early, you still had those remaining semesters to go back to school and play an NCAA sport. There was a story about some 70 year old businessman who went back to college when he was ~70 and played football for his college team (a Division III community college, I think).
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What is the NCAA rule on whether Lebron James (another HS-to-Pro, no-college player) and others can retire from the pros and go to college and play on the college B-ball team? Does it depend on the Division? Does it depend on the sport (HS-to-Pro B-ball cannot play college B-Ball but can play college tennis; HS-to-Pro Soccer cannot go back and play college soccer but can play college football, ...)?
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Thanks.
and that even means if you got paid to play as a professional soccer player you can't come back and play college baseball.
A businessman who never played a day of any kind of pro sports would maintain his eligibility for life. but "once a ho, always a ho" where it comes to college sports. lol
The Amateur Status if Professional in Another Sport clause in section 12.1.3 of the NCAA’s Division I Manual states: “A professional athlete in one sport may represent a member institution in a different sport...”
However, until recently pro athletes would have been ineligible to go back to college and play a different sport because they likely received compensation for product endorsements, advertisements, etc. But even that hurdle has been removed because the NCAA is changing the rules to allow athletes to “benefit from the use of their name, image and likeness.”
http://theundefeated.com/features/could-lebron-james-and-j-r-smith-actually-play-college-football/
but I will concede that I was at least 80% wrong, maybe even 90%. My bad.
Correct me if I am wrong, as I am saying this from memory, but up until just recently, just the act of hiring an agent made an "amateur athlete" a PRO and would cost said athlete all of his/her eligibility.
I am aware that CA just made some wholesale changes to the rules, pretty much forcing the rest of the country to follow suit or risk EVERY talented high school recruit going to CA in order to "get paid" IMHO California leads the nation in DUMB ideas, but this is an idea I am 100% behind. The overwhelming majority of college athletes will NEVER cash a pro paycheck and in the meantime the NCAA and it's member schools are making BILLIONS, these kids deserve to at least own the rights to their own names.
...recent rules changes. Now college basketball players can hire an agent beginning after any year without losing eligibility. They can also participate in the NBA combine. If they aren't drafted, the athletes can then return to school and keep their eligibility.
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/ny-sports-ncaa-basketball-20180808-story.html
If California leads the nation in DUMB ideas, why does the rest of the U.S. invariably follow California? That would make the rest of the country DUMB too. Seems about right - the rest of the U.S. elected Trump.
R.I.P. Kobe