tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11250715.post112747821711137756..comments2024-03-26T09:25:02.198-04:00Comments on Hey Jenny Slater.: In defense of football factories.Astronaut Mike Dexterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01498197770701096363noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11250715.post-1127555883333101962005-09-24T05:58:00.000-04:002005-09-24T05:58:00.000-04:00Yes, it's stupid to diss players, coaches, and foo...Yes, it's stupid to diss players, coaches, and football's potential for imparting valuable life lessons--even if you don't like watching it, and I do. But college football is a revenue loser, yes it is, yes it is. They run an average of eight articles a week about it in the <I>Chronicle of Higher Education</I>. And that revenue comes out of the budgets of people who could be doing things with it that are, if not more noble, at least more than vaguely educational.<BR/><BR/>I'm not talking about augmenting my sweet four-figure grad student income, although it would be nice if there were room in the UW's budget for both a hundred-million-dollar stadium <I>and</I> for me to photocopy a twenty-page paper I'm giving at a conference that I'm paying my own way to. Sorry, that was shrill--let me make a more substantive comparison. It would be nice if the difference between the cost of top of the line genuine new finished wood lockers for the football team and normal lockers for the football team were less than the cost of my department being able to offer enough sections of its popular courses to meet student demand. <BR/><BR/>I'm not saying we should get rid of any sports. Football is expensive to play, I get it. But the difference between a million-dollar coach and a hundred-thousand dollar coach is squat for any of the reasons people use to defend expenditures. Same thing for regular planes vs. charter planes, adequate stadiums vs. luxury stadiums, and all the way down the line to those goddamn lockers.<BR/><BR/>The only comfort for someone like me, whose spring teaching job was cut because of funding concerns, is that student athletes are getting even more screwed, financially. (Unless they're taking money under the table from agents, and I heartily encourage them to do so.) But college football (and basketball, hockey, baseball, and a few other sports depending on the school) is a sickly boondoggle even at D-II, and at D-I it's positively Cheneyesque. Sorry, Doug--all the alumnal pride in the world doesn't mean plenty of folks at Georgia are getting screwed out of the chance to do what a university is really supposed to do.WTDThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08487962338801609316noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11250715.post-1127488064980087992005-09-23T11:07:00.000-04:002005-09-23T11:07:00.000-04:00Very well reasoned argument. You might also have p...Very well reasoned argument. You might also have pointed out that at alot of colleges the graduation rate for athletes is higher than the rate for all students. Critics of major college football have a hissy fit about scholarship athletes not ending up with a degree but are not as concerned about regular students who drop out (to use your example) to go Phising.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11250715.post-1127485358609870832005-09-23T10:22:00.000-04:002005-09-23T10:22:00.000-04:00I have often said "Football" (or conversely, "Bask...I have often said "Football" (or conversely, "Basketball," "Cheerleading," "Soccer," etc.) should be an acceptable major in a University. It is preparation for a post-collegiate career, even if the student isn't successful in his chosen field (what percentage of us are working in a field related to our major anyway?).<BR/><BR/>I would have minored in Cheerleading, by the way.Josh M.https://www.blogger.com/profile/04054764121030646400noreply@blogger.com