http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Caa-gSxxd2Q

Kentucky freshman Nerlens Noel suffered a knee injury during a loss at Florida last night. The extent of the injury hasn't been reported but because he's projected to be the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft there's already a “debate” about the league's one-and-done rule.

(UPDATE: Kentucky announced Noel is out for the season with a torn ACL.)

Pat Forde of Yahoo Sports captured what likely will be the gist of the criticism. Forcing players of Noel's caliber to spend a year in college when they could go straight to the NBA is a “restraint of trade and a bastardization of what college is supposed to be," Forde wrote.

He wants to be a pro basketball player. Let him be a pro basketball player without the charade of college delaying it. Unfortunately, that was not an easy option.

If this injury compromises Noel's draft status, it's on David Stern and his league's minimum age requirement.

All of this is true, of course, except for the part about it being solely on Stern and the NBA--more on that later.

Think about it. If Dow Jones wanted to hire a brilliant 18-year old chemist, for example, everyone would congratulate the kid for being so smart and wish him well.

Should an association representing manufacturers be able to step in and tell the kid he's qualified for the job but must spend a year in college helping to develop products that make profits for universities? Should those universities be able to set up a system that makes sure the kid doesn't get fairly compensated for that work? And should the kid's only other option be work for some other crappy company for a year before he's allowed to work at a place such as Dow Jones?

All fair-minded people can see that the NBA's draft rules are wack but The Hater is here to tell you what's going to come from situations like Noel's: nothing. And it's not just the NBA that's at fault.

Sure, Stern will say with a straight face that the league is looking out for the interests of players who need development when it actually just wants a free farm system and less risk for its general managers in evaulating young prospects.

The NCAA will talk about the “student-athlete experience” with a straight face and say players are getting an “education” (that may or may not include sham classes and ghostwriters) when really it wants cheap labor for its business enterprise.

Media types will rail against the unfairness of the system and then go back to covering the games to sell newspapers and get clicks and networks will continue to sign mega-billion TV contracts to show those games.

Fans will go back to watching those games and rationalizing why they are cool with a system that's unfair to athletes because it helps them live vicariously through the old alma mater, entertains them and perhaps offers a chance to wager a few dollars on games.

The courts will continue to make decisions that the connected money interests over the non-represented labor.

The Hater has no love for the NBA's draft rules but he's also not down for hypocrisy. If Noels has damaged his future earnings potential, it ain't just on the NBA.

The Hater is in the house.

If you have had trouble staying logged in, or if you are having trouble commenting, please read this

 By Brian O'Shea, manager of Web Site Operations

 We’ve discovered a problem with user logins that really concerns us. We are working urgently to fix it.

 Users are reporting that when they are signed in to ajc.com (or accessatlanta.com) and close their browser, they are automatically signed out. Some users have also been logged out when going to another site and coming back to ajc.com.

 This problem is really being felt by the folks who comment on our blogs who are finding themselves having to sign in too often. This is not our intent at all, and we will be working with our digital team and our vendor for the user registration system to fix it as quickly as we can. We’ll keep you updated, but rest assured we are working on it.

 Our technical teams and their managers are giving this the highest attention and we will let you know when this has been fixed and will update you as needed until then.

 If you have questions about this or need other help, please contact us at digitalproducts@ajc.com or call 404-522-4141 and choose Option 1.

 We apologize profusely for the inconvenience.