I've always gotten a kick out of the fuss made over high school players forsaking college for the NBA, especially considering that at the height of high schoolapalooza (2004-2005), only eight players each year made the leap. That's sixteen people to you and me, out of about 2,000 freshman Division 1 players. Or roughly .8 percent of "elite" high school basketball players.

These sixteen people caused oceans of sanctimonious ink to spill from the fuming pens of self-righteous sportswriters who saw the fates of these eight-or-so players per year as cause for national concern. They got their rule, and now the NBA has interfered on an adult's freedom to contract in favor of furthering the biggest sham on earth - big time NCAA sports.

Going to Europe makes perfect sense except for one thing - the exposure. At least by staying stateside, future NBA draftees can keep themselves in the bright limelight of being a national celebrity, er, student athlete. If you're Derrick Rose, would you rather grind it out in obscurity for a year in Europe, or play in the Final Four before cashing in for his millions? Sure, the Final Four isn't a guaranty, but obscurity is.

The other problem goes along with one of the stated reasons for the NBA's 19 year old rule - these kids are pretty immature and used to getting the star treatment since middle school. Give them 500,000 euros and a villa and supermodels half-a-world away and it's easy to envision some unhealthy choices. At least in college they are under the constant surveillance of big bro NCAA.

It obviously depends on the individual's situations. I envision this becoming more attractive to maybe the Second Tier of elite prospects. Not the Derrick Roses and Michael Beasleys, but the guys who have a shot at being good and have absolutely no interest in going to college. Or in other words, pretty much every recruit in the Major conferences.

Holy shit, King - is this the end of college basketball?

... and unbelievable first few letters. What in the name of all that is holy does any of this have to do with Hillary?

Ms. Kaplan captured perfectly what is going on with the country's discomfort over Michelle Obama. You see it on message boards frequented and emails sent by people who don't read Salon, and Ms. Kaplan nailed it. She's seen as uppity, too opinionated, an affirmative action opportunist, a bad mother - all for being a successful: 1) black, 2) woman. It's possible to face more than one -ism, you know.

"Baby mama" was as sexist as it was racist. But you didn't hear Hillary's Horde making much noise about it. For some reason, black sexism is a little more palatable to most people. At least it isn't pure racism, right? It's more institutionalized racism.

Michelle Obama causes us to confront our racism in a way her husband doesn't. His half-whiteness and absence of slave blood makes him a nice ambassador to racial healing, while her Southside roots are a little more in-your-face. People don't like in-your-face confrontation, especially when it comes to stuff they don't like to admit about themselves ... so they recoil against it and convince themselves they don't like her for reasons other than because she's black. It's because she's uppity, and too opinionated, and an opportunist, and a bad mother. Get it?

Four months ago I started a job in an office that happens to be across the street from one of my city's busiest fire stations - 10-15 times a day I hear BLARING sirens (we're on the second floor of a historic landmark building with windows as old as dirt). I mean, it's not a little loud ... it's eardrum-splitting loud, and it happens constantly throughout the day.

I'm normally a pretty laid back person, but I've noticed over the past two months that I've had increased anxiety. I wasn't sure what to chalk it up to, as this job is no more stressful than my last job, and I never experienced the same kind of anxiety there. Now because of this article I'm thinking it has to be the noise. I can actually feel my blood pressure rising when the sirens start and when the trucks are outside of my window laying on their industrial-strength horns to clear the busy street traffic. It litereally makes you jump out of your chair.

So I'm at a loss over what to do. This job is a great place for me and my career. But the noise is intolerable. And I'm starting to see the health effects.

Any suggestions?

... that institutional sexism, that subtle undercurrent displayed in our language and cultural mannerisms that female characteristics are somehow inferior, is far more damaging than blatant sexism. And I think you can say the exact same thing about institutional racism, particularly with reference to the presidential campaign.

The difficulty with eradicating institutional sexism (like institutional racism) is that most people aren't even aware that they're doing it. It took a serious relationship with a strong feminist for me to realize that a lot of my everyday vocabulary had sexist connotations without me even realizing it. Strong people are ballsy, who wear the pants, and who take it like a man. Weaklings are pussies, who wear skirts, and often bitch about stuff. These are rather obvious examples, but if you ask most people if these cliches are sexist, they'll probably say no.

Also like institutional racism, once you become aware of institutional sexism, you start seeing it everywhere. And I totally agree that this subtle form of sexism is far more damaging than the blatant "iron my shirt" crap you hear coming from the mouths of the more cretinous members of our society.