7 ms·

> I feel like sports culture deprives lots of regular public high school students of an education, and I don't think it's elitist at all to dislike professional

> I feel like sports culture deprives lots of regular public high school students of an education, and I don't think it's elitist at all to dislike professional sports for their contribution to this mess. While I respect your position I feel that you really don't understand the perspective of sports from the athletes side. You're completely glossing over the positives that sports bring to the lives of people involved in them, especially those who take it serious. I've been writing code since I was 13-14 years old, but I've been testing myself physically and mentally since I was 8, thanks to a life long 'career' of playing baseball. Nothing in my life has taught me more about who I am and what I'm capable of, both mentally and physically, than my time spent in team sports. And that's saying nothing of the social growth and life long friendships and connections made. I'm just a middle class white kid who had far better options in life than to pursue professional sports...but for those less fortunate, the education they get from their sports teams/coaches/careers my very well be the best 'real life' education they'll ever get. Calling sports destructive to society seems so completely asinine to me that it's comedic. Then again, my perspective is quite different than yours.

pstuart 12y ago
> You're completely glossing over the positives ... > Calling sports destructive to society seems so completely asinine You're completely glossing over the negative elements of professional sports (which includes college sports).
XorNot 12y ago
That's not his point though. His point is that for every bit of handwringing of how ghastly some people's comments on sports are, there's the reality that the football coach is the highest (in the millions of dollars range) paid position at almost every university in the US, how the sporting department despite those figures manages to be a net budgetry drain on almost every school which has one, and the reality that college-level sports is hugely abusive and exploitative to the players which actually play it.
- refurb 12y ago
  Sports is a huge financial drain on the school? Do you have any data? What I heard was that college football tends to pay for all of the other sports at a school. If anything sports creates a lot of opportunities for students that otherwise could be done due to budgets.
  - Hasu 12y ago
    > What I heard was that college football tends to pay for all of the other sports at a school. Yeah, at the most successful football schools. That's a minority among schools that have football programs. [1] [2] >If anything sports creates a lot of opportunities for students that otherwise could be done due to budgets. No, sports diverts scholarship funds from scholars to athletes, and the athletes rarely take full advantage of the academics in college, going for easy classes and easy majors. It actually destroys a lot of opportunities, particularly at schools that are losing money on their sports programs. [1] http://www.forbes.com/sites/sportsmoney/2011/05/05/does-football-fund-other-sports-at-college-level/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/sportsmoney/2011/05/05/does-foot... [2] http://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Pages/Myth-College-Sports-Are-a-Cash-Cow2.aspx http://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Pages/Myth-College-Sports-Ar...
    - mason240 12y ago
      >Yeah, at the most successful football schools. And it's the successful (at pulliung NCAA TV money) football schools that have coaches with million dollar contracts. It's a nice bait and switch you constructed. A "trick play" if you will.
      - XorNot 12y ago
        http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--xeKPpMFq--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/ykdkqhstdm1ptubyuct2.jpg http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--xeKPpMFq... Feel free to search that image from other sources too. And the data backing it. And yes, this is not the same as it being paid for by academics...but then you have to deal with the fact that most top-tier sports departments also fail to break even, and it's extremely murky if they contribute anything back to academics at all - whereas it's pretty visible that they are allocated money out of the academic takings. [http://www.ethosreview.org/intellectual-spaces/is-college-football-profitable/ http://www.ethosreview.org/intellectual-spaces/is-college-fo...] EDIT: All of which again, would probably be worth turning a blind eye to if it were a good thing for the players...except it isn't. Because they don't get paid.
Glyptodon 12y ago
I loved playing basketball, too. But then in high school I could choose between taking advanced math classes or basketball PE, which was required to play on the basketball team. That kind of choice shouldn't be the kind of choice a high school student should have to make. There were many more example of trade offs like this, almost all of which undermined any ostensible focus on education. These kinds of things have nothing to do with whether playing sports (on a team or not) can be a positive experience or is good for people.

pstuart 12y ago

> You're completely glossing over the positives ... > Calling sports destructive to society seems so completely asinine You're completely glossing over the negative elements of professional sports (which includes college sports).

XorNot 12y ago

That's not his point though. His point is that for every bit of handwringing of how ghastly some people's comments on sports are, there's the reality that the football coach is the highest (in the millions of dollars range) paid position at almost every university in the US, how the sporting department despite those figures manages to be a net budgetry drain on almost every school which has one, and the reality that college-level sports is hugely abusive and exploitative to the players which actually play it.

refurb 12y ago
Sports is a huge financial drain on the school? Do you have any data? What I heard was that college football tends to pay for all of the other sports at a school. If anything sports creates a lot of opportunities for students that otherwise could be done due to budgets.
- Hasu 12y ago
  > What I heard was that college football tends to pay for all of the other sports at a school. Yeah, at the most successful football schools. That's a minority among schools that have football programs. [1] [2] >If anything sports creates a lot of opportunities for students that otherwise could be done due to budgets. No, sports diverts scholarship funds from scholars to athletes, and the athletes rarely take full advantage of the academics in college, going for easy classes and easy majors. It actually destroys a lot of opportunities, particularly at schools that are losing money on their sports programs. [1] http://www.forbes.com/sites/sportsmoney/2011/05/05/does-football-fund-other-sports-at-college-level/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/sportsmoney/2011/05/05/does-foot... [2] http://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Pages/Myth-College-Sports-Are-a-Cash-Cow2.aspx http://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Pages/Myth-College-Sports-Ar...
  - mason240 12y ago
    >Yeah, at the most successful football schools. And it's the successful (at pulliung NCAA TV money) football schools that have coaches with million dollar contracts. It's a nice bait and switch you constructed. A "trick play" if you will.
    - XorNot 12y ago
      http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--xeKPpMFq--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/ykdkqhstdm1ptubyuct2.jpg http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--xeKPpMFq... Feel free to search that image from other sources too. And the data backing it. And yes, this is not the same as it being paid for by academics...but then you have to deal with the fact that most top-tier sports departments also fail to break even, and it's extremely murky if they contribute anything back to academics at all - whereas it's pretty visible that they are allocated money out of the academic takings. [http://www.ethosreview.org/intellectual-spaces/is-college-football-profitable/ http://www.ethosreview.org/intellectual-spaces/is-college-fo...] EDIT: All of which again, would probably be worth turning a blind eye to if it were a good thing for the players...except it isn't. Because they don't get paid.

Glyptodon 12y ago

I loved playing basketball, too. But then in high school I could choose between taking advanced math classes or basketball PE, which was required to play on the basketball team. That kind of choice shouldn't be the kind of choice a high school student should have to make. There were many more example of trade offs like this, almost all of which undermined any ostensible focus on education. These kinds of things have nothing to do with whether playing sports (on a team or not) can be a positive experience or is good for people.