TJ Ford returns to college

Life doesn’t start and end with basketball, though it can occupy quite a bit of the middle part. I imagine this is especially true for professional basketball players. TJ Ford’s NBA career ended a few years ago, but that doesn’t mean “the end.” He announced in a tweet earlier today that he’s back at college to finish his degree.

That’s pretty cool. That’s really cool, in fact. And he has a selfie with a oil-painting filter on it just to take the coolness quotient over the top. Congratulations are due.

TJ Ford probably had the most memorable years of his basketball career in college. In his final year at Texas, he won the John Wooden award, the Naismith College Player of the Year, and led his team in scoring, assists, and steals. This led to the university eventually retiring his jersey. That’s quite a a resume for just two years of play.

After making the All-Rookie second team, much of Ford’s NBA career was impacted by injuries. It is impossible to say what his career may have been had he never gotten hurt, but wishing for a different reality is not productive. The best one can do is to make the best of the opportunities that present themselves. TJ Ford has the chance to finish a degree at a distinguished university, and doggone it, he’s going to.

We’re wishing the best for TJ in his final year at Texas, and hope for the best in whatever comes next.