Scoreboard

'We're not in the entertainment business, nor are we a minor league for professional sports.'

- The Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, president emeritus of Notre Dame, on creating tougher academic standards for college athletes.

Teens dominate nba draft

Four of the first eight picks in the NBA draft Wednesday night were high school players who never showed up on a college campus. That's the most high school players ever who have entered the draft. Kwame Brown of Brunswick, Ga., will wear a Washington Wizards uniform as the first overall No. 1 pick who didn't play at least two years of college basketball.

Brown and the other high school picks - Tyson Chandler, picked second by the Los Angeles Clippers and traded to Chicago; Eddy Curry, picked fourth by Chicago; and DeSagana Diop, picked eighth by Cleveland - are a once-in-a-generation group. "This is a phenomenon that happens once in a blue moon," says Marty Blake, the longtime NBA director of scouting services.

Tougher standards

Colleges with low athlete graduation rates should be banned from postseason play, a commission said Tuesday. Player uniforms also would be stripped of corporate logos and a new coalition will be created to promote tougher academic standards.

About 42 percent of men's basketball players and 48 percent of football players graduate from the major universities, according to NCAA statistics. "Your school is not worthy to be the champion of the country if you're not educating your kids," says The Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, president emeritus of Notre Dame.

Gwynn: going, Going, Gone?

Like Cal Ripken Jr., Tony Gwynn will be going, going, gone at season's end. Gwynn, arguably the best pure hitter of his generation, was expected to announce yesterday that he will retire at the end of this season, his 20th with the San Diego Padres. "Nobody wants to believe it now," Gwynn told Baseball Weekly, "but I knew this would be my last year before the year started." Gwynn has a lifetime .338 average. He reached the World Series twice, but the Padres lost to the Detroit Tigers in 1984 and the New York Yankees in 1998.

(c) Copyright 2001. The Christian Science Monitor

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
QR Code to Scoreboard
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/2001/0629/p12s2.html
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe