What's with North American's infatuation with crowning teenage phenoms in their respective sports as the next greatest to play before they've even laced up their skates/cleats/sneakers?
This popped in my head after the recent signing of Bryce Harper. Sure, his amateur numbers are pretty impressive, especially for a not-yet-physically-mature 17yr old against older competition. But handing a teenager millions in guaranteed money can really only go one of two ways.
For every LeBron James, there's a Darius Miles. For every Peyton Manning, there's a JaMarcus Russell. For every Sidney Crosby there's an Alexandre Daigle.
I realize it really comes down to the work ethic of each individual athlete more than the raw talent. There's two types of young phenom. The type that is naturally gifted without really putting much work or thought into it; and the hard working athlete that puts countless hours into perfecting his craft and doesn't rest on his talent and clout alone.
Another major factor is a debilitating injury that stalls the young phenom's career. Of course this is out of their control and no fault of their own. You can only hope that they can rebound from the injury to go on and have a long, productive, if not non-descript career.
The owners and management invest lots of money hoping these kids can resurrect a franchise and there's a lot of pressure on the kid from the time he signs to be that franchise's saviour. If he can't come back from injury or never reaches his expected potential, he'll have to live with being known as a "bust", which has to be the worst label an athlete could have.
Perhaps each major sport should have some kind of salary/bonus scale in place. Worst case scenario, the kid doesn't make it for any number of reasons and the franchise takes a smaller financial hit and can move on, rather than be set back years developmentally and financially; and the kid can move on with his life without being brought up in every "Top 10 draft busts" show. It might be the best thing for both parties ivolved.
...hold this!
Stafford
that's where hockey is key, with their rookie contracts - sign a player for 3yrs, after which team he becomes a restricted free agent. BUT, the contract doesn't kick in (no matter when he's signed), until he's played his 10th game in the pros - up until then, he's able to be sent back to junior, to Europe, or to their minor league affiliate, to work on his game. even with an incentive laden contract, a top draft pick (a la Taylor or Tyler) would only make about $3 million ($900k in base salary)...
ReplyDeletethe NBA & NFL have the most skewed contract system for rookies, as their salaries are based on the pick in the draft as opposed to performance on the court/field.