I sometimes wonder if the latest generation of athletes have any concept of life after sports.

There is only so much pounding the body can take. Most careers are over by the time pros even reach their mid-30s. So what do you do with the next 30-50 years with little to no education and a fraction of the life experiences a non-professional athlete compiles? You can't just walk out to the playing surface the week official practice or training camp starts after mowing the yard and sipping on adult beverages all offseason. Their body and their training is their job, and it gets tougher to maintain the older they get.

High school basketball phenom Jeremy Tyler decided to skip his senior year of high school to go play professionally in Europe. Apparently the San Diego native thinks that competing in college retards the progress of basketball players. I wonder what Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson think. Should a 17-year-old even be allowed to make such a decision? My parents wouldn't even let me leave the house for college. I had to go somewhere within driving distance.

No, it's not imperative to take Freshman Composition and Chemistry 101 to succeed in life or basketball. But, the line has to be drawn somewhere. These players cross-over their neighbor and dunk on some 5-foot-9 kid and all of a sudden they think they're the next LeBron James.

Perhaps reality will set in after he goes 0-for-4 from the field with six turnovers, and he can't understand a word they're saying on the tube when he gets home.