Fascinating discussion at Marginal Revolution, Easterblogg, and Old Fishinghat about whether or not high-schoolers should be able to jump straight to the NFL. After all, basketball players and baseball players can, so why not the footballers? Heck, by some standards finishing high school makes you ancient -- 14-year-old Freddy Adu is already a professional soccer player.

Count me among those in favor of the NFL's ban, although Easterbrook's reaction to the recent court decision striking down the NFL's policy struck me as a bit much. In the case of football, I'm not sure it makes much difference. I don't think you'll see a lot of teams believing high schoolers can make the jump, so I don't think it will matter that much. Besides, let's be honest for a minute: that college degree doesn't much matter to a player unless he wants it to matter. Dexter Manley graduated from college -- without being able TO READ!

But here's a different point -- age can make a big difference from sport to sport and even within a sport. So much so that comparing how one sport regulates an age requirement with another can be an apples to oranges comparison.

In baseball, if you're in your early thirties you are in your prime. In tennis, at the same age you're over-the-hill. In gymnastics, you are almost a generation past your prime at that point. And age can, depending on the sport, make a difference from position to position within that sport. Football's all over the map, with placekickers and running backs performing at different levels at different ages. The point seems to me to be that the NFL should be free to make its own rules, no matter what they are. There are other football leagues, after all. No, seriously, there are.