"At linebacker, 6-3, 240, Dorian Gray"
I watched a little college football last night. It's nearing the end of another season. I thought, wow, what a strange hash this has become. It's a pro sport that has given up all pretense of having anything to do with education. There are playoffs and essentially a super bowl. Every season the players and coaches move around from team to team, with the most talented men free to move more or less at will. There is no loyalty to anyone. The fans in the stands are rooting for a school flag and a mascot, but most of their personnel on the field changes annually. It's a multi-billion-dollar industry.
Even leaving out the brain damage and the cheating, it seems like a sign of a dying civilization. In our homes, we watch the action on a television network that gives us the gambling odds and runs its own online casino. Ad after ad urges us to bet. The whole operation is owned by Disney. Surely Old Walt is rolling over in his grave.
It's long past time that a good portion of the obscene revenue generated from this industry is paid to the players. Either that or pay the coaches, administrators and broadcasters in scholarships.
ReplyDeleteRemember “scholar athlete”
DeleteI'm 52. Scholar athlete hasn't been a thing in my lifetime. Certainly not in my lifetime. If you remember "scholar athlete", you're way old.
DeleteThere were such people at one time. Bill Bradley being maybe the prime example. Princeton, '61-'65.
DeleteOr, maybe Terry Baker?
ReplyDeleteFor me, after a lifetime of being Addicted to Quack I finally kicked the habit a few years ago and have only a cursory interest in college football. Viewing it from afar now it is so clearly a sponsors & eyeballs huckster game with all the enthusiasm of a carnival midway full of barkers. And, my God, how big is the gambling industry in this country? Has to be billions! Pete Rose where are you when we need you to make book?