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[BlueHorizons]

Maybe that title doesn't quite portray what I intended. I'm not talking about the professional star athletes that are well known for playing with willing members of the opposite sex every chance they get. (sorry to disappoint!)

What I'm talking about, are the "extracurricular play" such as the Olympics, World Classic Baseball Championships, Probowls, All Star Games, etc.

I have long hoped that none of the players from my favorite teams (mostly Chicago pro teams) will be playing any of these "extracurricular" games for many reasons. The primary reason in my mind is that these games are opportunities to expose themselves to injuries. Suppose for a minute that Derrick Rose is not currently hurt and he continued with his plans to play on the US Olympic Basketball Team this summer. Now, suppose that the ACL tear occurred during one of their games. What a costly Olympics that would be for the Bulls to lose their player for the whole season?!

Even without injury, these athletes are subjecting their bodies to additional wear and tear. A few years back during the World Baseball Classic tournament, the MLB had players that participated. When the actual MLB season started, many of the players had slow starts - several had poor seasons, many speculated because of their off-season play, which SHOULD have been spent preparing for the upcoming season. Also, the players that participated actually missed a portion of spring training. Soto and Zambrano both played (neither for the US, obviously). It was the year after Soto's big MLB year, and it seems like he's not been the same since. My foggy memory is telling me that this was also the first of Z's down years.

I understand that it's in the NBA's Collective Bargaining Agreement (damned unions!!) that the players cannot be prevented from playing these types of games - not sure about the other leagues, but I know the WBC is actually PROMOTED by the MLB.

Do away with this crap... Chicago teams have enough "bad luck"... we don't need to be inviting more issues to our teams!