It took the right kind of idiot for this task.

It took someone with talent, but no ability whatsoever to keep his nose clean. Someone that wasn't smart enough to realize that no matter how indefensible the NFL's age limit was, he still should have played three or four years of college ball before turning pro in order to improve his draft position.

And now it seems the right idiot has been found.

Maurice Clarett has done almost everything possible to bury what was an extremely promising football career. And in so doing, he has become a pioneer and finally put an end to one of the most self-serving rules in the history of sports.

The NFL's rule that denied entry to the league's draft for anyone who hadn't been out of high school for three years never really did have a leg to stand on.

Spencer Haywood already tore down the NBA's rule in 1971, and the antitrust angle was pretty obvious. However, there were a small number of players who were good enough to think about going pro before they were three years out of high school.

Those who could have been picked would waste too much time in the courts to get through them in time for the draft unless they sat out part of the season.

So Clarett used his year off from football to good use to remind the NFL that even the mightiest league in the land has to give anyone who is qualified a chance to profit from his skills.

Football is mostly a manual labor game, but for some reason it has never been handled the same way as other sports. There is no other manual labor job that requires an employee to spend three years in college learning about something that has nothing to do with their chosen profession.

For many players, that fact makes for a tremendous opportunity to get outstanding training for their sport, play on a big-time stage and get a free education while doing it.

It's tremendously important for football players to have a backup plan, especially in a league in which the average career lasts less than five years.

For people that can get something out of their education, the experience is priceless.

But not everyone was meant to be a student at a major university. Some people aren't quite as mentally endowed as they are physically endowed.

That's why more than one-third of the people in this country never go to college, but go directly to the work force.

No one makes a fuss when mechanics go directly to work in a garage after high school, but for some reason everyone thinks a bachelor's degree will some how help someone block a 275-pound defensive lineman or hit the hole in the line.

And football seems to be the only sport where this is an issue. Twelve of the 30 players taken in the first round of baseball's amateur draft were high-schoolers.

There aren't a lot of hockey players going to school either, and you don't even have to graduate high school to go pro in golf, tennis, or soccer as evidenced by the cases of Ty Tryon, Freddy Adu, and most of the tennis world. Coming out early is looked down upon in basketball, but after Haywood's case, there's nothing anyone can do to stop it.

The chief reason the NFL cites to keep these players out of the league is to make sure that these young players are physically, mentally and psychologically developed enough to successfully play the violent sport of football professionally.

But the league doesn't develop them itself with a minor leagues, because it doesn't cost them anything to make them go to college.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told The Washington Post before the ruling that if Clarett would be allowed in the draft, "many young men will chase an unrealistic dream and give up their best chance at a college education and the opportunity to develop their skills."

That may happen, but the players have to at least be given a choice, and those for whom that dream is realistic should get a chance to chase it without risking injury through four years of college football.

Most of them will probably be better off going to school, but then, even with a full scholarship, that's a major burden on low-income families.

A recent NCAA study showed that the difference between the cost of a full scholarship and the full cost of attendance is about $2,000. A player should be able to look at his situation and make the decision that is best for himself and his family.

Even NCAA President Myles Brand said during his visit to Penn State last week, that if LeBron James had asked him whether or not he should skip college to go pro, he would have told him to go for it.

That's a guy whose organization would have directly benefited from James' enrollment at a university, and will probably be hurt in the long run by the fact that football players can now leave early.

So if somewhere down the line there is a LeBron James of football, why shouldn't he go pro without going to college, especially if his family needs Pell Grant money to send him off to school even with his tuition, room, board and books paid for?

There is no reason other than the NFL's self interest, and it took an idiot to show that to the world.