Laker legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar announced today he wants to raise the NBA age limit to 21 because of all the young "precocious kids from high school" who have a "disturbing sense of entitlement." I’m sure he also wants them all to stay off his lawn. Is Kareem a little old skool? Yes. Is he a little shell-shocked or maybe even a little jealous? Sure. But where is this really coming from you ask? 

Follow up:

Well, Kareem has been working closely with the Lakers as an assistant coach to young Andrew Bynum since he was drafted at the tender age of 18. Kareem has been trying to help Andrew with his on-the-job training and it makes one wonder if THIS is where all this is coming from? Andrew is the perfect case for Kareem’s argument. Kareem would love nothing more than to hop into his John Wooden signature time machine and revisit days of yester-year where completing 4 years in college was required to enter the NBA. His argument is that the sport of basketball would benefit with more experienced, polished, and smarter players. Kareem is correct, it would be a more competitive league overall but the application is not practical or even fair.

Kobe Bryant entered the NBA at 18 forgoing college. Fortunately for Kobe he has had a long and healthy career breaking many records in the process and still continues to do so. However, for the sake of argument, lets say Kobe went to college and at age 20, while still in college serving out his mandated sentence, suffered a career nagging or even career ending injury. Uh Oh! Kareem's need to decide what is best for our youth would have robbed the sport of professional basketball of KOBE BRYANT! Thanks Kareem, you just did a great disservice to the sport, the Lakers, the Laker fans, and not to mention Kobe Bryant himself and his family! As a Laker fan I am thankful this did not happen, but has it ever happened to anyone else? Have any great athletes entered college and sustained career ending injuries? Of course, Many times. How about players of Kobe's caliber or even close? Well, I guess that's my point... we will never know. Like a sports doctor once told me it is much easier to go back to school with a torn ACL and 30 million in your bank account than it is with a torn ACL and nothing in your account. The point being you can always go back to school, you can't always get drafted.

Which brings me to my next point. Don't smoke crack! oh wait, I meant the other point, Don't tell me what to do! Kareem comes from a different league, a different era in which many liberties we have today were not available then. One of them being if you want to play professional basketball then you are required to go to college. Well, that may sound like it has good intentions, however there are underlying motives that still exist today that do not have the athletes best interests at heart. The NCAA is a business. It is very profitable business that essentially has a large free labor pool. The athlete may receive a scholarship to attend but the school and NCAA widely profit from the athlete from advertising, merchandising, and ticket sales. All this while the player takes the greatest risk, physical injury. Why else would they have required 4 years? Because they are concerned about your growth and education? Puhhhleeease. They don't give 2 sh*ts about that and it amazes me that Kareem has never learned that. I’m not knocking the benefits of a great education but let's face it, not all athletes are cut out for college. College is clearly not for everyone because if it weren't for basketball many who struggled just to get out of high school would not attend or be able to for that matter. Using college as a universal cure-all for everyone is total bullsh*t. Didnt Kareem build a huge mansion in Los Angeles only to have it burn down and he didn’t have home owners insurance on it! A college education might have helped him come to the decision to have an insurance policy! Oh wait, Kareem went to my school. UCLA, *sigh*.

All raising the limit to 21 would do is send many talented 18-20 year olds overseas and improve their leagues overseas. In a country that allows an 18 year old to decide to go to war and risk his life and is deemed not able to decide to play professional sports and risk his life forgoing college is ridiculous. Wait, did I just say sports? I meant only basketball, because in no other professional sport do you get this kind of scrutiny. Even younger teenagers are allowed to play "privileged" sports such as Tennis and Golf all the time, so why the double standard for basketball? Besides the business NCAA end of it, could it possibly be because the sport became dominated by Blacks? And Oh no! We can't have all these rich young negroes running around not knowing what to do with their money! Ahhhhhhhh! Save us!

So in conclusion, Kareem, take your college educated self-serving raised nose and go back to chasing the kids off your lawn, drink your Ensure, smoke your weed (don't ask me how I know this about Kareem first hand but I do) or whatever it is that you do besides not teaching young Andrew your sky hook, and leave the kids alone. For many, this is their only chance for a comfortable career and it is not up to you to decide whether they should explore that option or not. It's theirs, and their families choice alone. If your argument is that it projects a false image and that not everyone can be Kobe or LeBron….well then you’re a douche, because that is exactly what America is about and one of the few reasons I like living here. It’s about having the freedom to make the choice of trying to be the next Kobe or LeBron or even the next Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, or Rupert Murdoch. And yes, even at age of 18 when you are legally considered an adult. No one should have any say in how you choose to live your life, let alone how you choose to pursue your happiness. If you are tired of watching cocky, young, sense-of-entitlement kids run around the court then change the channel. I for one enjoy watching the actual sport which is to view the best players at that sport no matter what age the athlete is. I’m not watching to see which kids are the most mature, are you? Making them wear a coat & tie doesn't solve anything.

Kareem also stated the Players during his era and the Showtime Lakers would win easily today. *gasp* As a long time Lakers fan….Kareem, if you really think the "showtime" Lakers are better than the players of today you're diluting yourself. Today’s players are bigger, faster, and stronger than your era and they would dominate your eras players. You sure as hell didn't have 7 footers in those days that could run, pass, and shoot 3 pointers.