[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 83 (Thursday, June 4, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H6158]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        NBA AGE ELIGIBILITY RULE

  (Mr. COHEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, tonight millions of Americans will tune in to 
the NBA finals to watch a great battle between Kobe Bryant and Dwight 
Howard. Besides immense talent, these gentlemen share another 
characteristic--they went straight to the NBA from high school. 
Unfortunately, today's players won't have that same opportunity because 
the NBA prevents 18-year-olds from choosing their profession and going 
straight into the NBA simply because of their age. It's something that 
you don't see in any other sport, baseball, golf, tennis, hockey, any 
other sport. You don't see it in entertainment, and you don't see it 
when young men and women choose to join the military and fight for 
their country. This is part of a hypocritical system that we have which 
doesn't allow these people to choose their profession when they come 
out of high school, and it makes the term ``student athlete'' an 
oxymoron. The system does more to serve the needs of the universities 
and the NBA, which uses them as a farm system, than to serve the 
educational interests and needs of the students themselves.
  Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard have achieved outstanding success, and 
I look forward to watching them tonight. But there is no reason to 
think that today's 18-year-olds can't do the same. Age restriction 
should be abolished. The NBA should repeal this unfair rule.

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