The Rookies

If there is anyone or any group of people to feel bad for in all of this mess, it's the rookies. In both the NFL and the NBA, the rookies are the ones that are hung out to dry. The veterans have their spots on the squad for sure. But the first years still have to try out for the teams. They still have to earn their contracts. Besides those players drafted in the first round, no one has a guaranteed career. They don't have the contracts in order and they have yet to really try out for the team.

The NFL is scarier to me than the NBA for a couple reasons. First of all, there are far more players that are waiting to try out for the teams. This draft goes seven rounds and then later there is a supplemental draft for players that didn't get drafted or guys like Terrelle Pryor who just fucked up. Of course there are a lot of players on NFL rosters and a lot more spots to fill. The problem is, if there is no training camp, then how will the rookies get picked up? Will the teams just decide to take more proven vets to fill those spots? Players that go undrafted will have no chance to get picked up at all. This puts a lot more hopefuls out of work than it needs to. And this is all because the owners and players can't figure out how to split a billion dollars. Some of these rookies just need money to live on and they can't get picked up because of the problems that privileged men are having.

The NBA isn't as scary, but it is a bit more of a problem. Same as the NFL, the NBA rookies need to try out for their teams in order to get picked up. There are the players that will get a contract no matter what, but as of right now, just like the NFL, they aren't getting paid. The bigger problem for me is that, more than likely, the teams will have a lot less money to spend on players. The cap will be lower, thus making it harder for teams to sign players. This is terrible for those fringe players who probably would make it in the league, but have little chance to because of the lockout.

There is a problem I have with the players who decided to enter the draft. Everyone and their mom knew that lockouts were coming and both sports. And everyone knew that it would be a lot tougher to get a good contract than it was before. So why did so many hopefuls decide to enter the draft. Oh sure, the NBA and NFL are the land of milk and honey. They can get rich fast and ball. But really, especially for the NBA, so many players came out that could have used another year in college. And why leave college anyways? Those guys are superstars on campus. Why leave something so good for a career that is not a guarantee, at least not yet? So while the owners of both leagues are pretty dumb, and the players in the NBA at least should take some paycut, the rookies who were definitely not ready or who were not seniors took a large risk in entering the leagues at a time like this. Even with that said, it is hard to not feel bad for the rookies. They were making what seemed to be the best career choice.

That is all