New to the Neighborhood

Oh, hello there, I didn’t see you come in. I’m Walker, the latest addition to CubicleGM (CGM – can I take that liberty, CAPS LOCK?) and the resident college sports aficionado. I’ll admit that unlike my CGM colleagues, I’m rather new to this whole posting on the Internet machine thing; my previous medium of choice was newspaper (great call there!) so this will be a slight adjustment, but hopefully I won’t be too out of place.  I was born and raised in Charlottesville, Virginia, and therefore was destined to become a lifelong Virginia Cavaliers fan; I still curse my parents for placing the burden of being a UVa fan on my shoulders. Also due to my upbringing, aside from the Redskins (HAIL TO!) and the occasional dalliance with the Nationals, I prefer college sports to their professional counterpart. That isn’t to say I don’t follow and enjoy the NBA, NFL, MLB, golf, etc., my heart just belongs to the college game.

So, it is only appropriate that my first post comes the day after the conclusion of the spring 2009 college season, ushering in the barren wasteland that is July and August for college sports fanatics. Now that LSU has been crowned college baseball’s national champion after dominating Texas last night 11-4, college sports fans have little to look forward to until the start of summer football practice. Besides pouring over Phil Steele’s annual college football preview issue, there isn’t much for a college fan to get behind in the doldrums of summer (and let’s be honest, after awhile even the fancy equations and formulas he utilizes start to run together anyway). But wait, you say, what about professional baseball? With apologies to my colleague Jake, major league baseball represents everything that college sports fans do not look for when following a sport: meaningless games, lack of passion, and the glorification of overpaid, steroid abusing Prima Donnas (OK, this may apply to all pro sports, not just baseball). For true college purists, major league baseball just does not cut it; until October rolls around it lacks the inherent fervor and intensity present in nearly every college football and basketball contest.

This is all a segue into tonight’s NBA draft, which has been greatly affected by the ruling put into place in 2005 (enforced for the first time in 2006) that states players must be 19 and at least a year removed from high school before they are eligible to enter the draft. The ruling inversely influences college basketball, as the majority of the high school players that would have previously jumped directly to the NBA now spend a year playing in college, which has enriched the level of play (the newest trend is to bypass college in favor of the European professional leagues). ESPN’s Pat Forde frames his argument on the issue here.

Furthermore, this introduces college fans to players they might not have become familiar with had they gone directly from high school to the NBA – Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose, to name two. Because I followed Durant and Rose’s (short) careers at Texas and Memphis, I now follow them in the NBA; chalk me up as a fan of the NBA’s newest generation.

Look at the time, I’ve gone on too long. It’s great to be here and I look forward to becoming a weekly staple in your sports diet.

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