DUEL 3_3

Jen posted: Aug, 01 2008
Get real Mark. I think something that costs this country far more $$ than Collegiate Athletic programs is the cost of people being overweight and out of shape and their poor health resulting in costing us more $$ to care for them. As a guy who looks like he never played any sports you should be getting yourself fit so that YOU don't end up pushing the cost of health care up. Most student-athlete alumni keep themselves in shape when they are done playing in college and they are bringing up the average when you look at Americans in good health. Collegiate sports programs are not there to make money. They are not a business. They have amatuer status and the sooner people realize that, the sooner they will see that the benefits of having athletic programs goes beyond money. College Athletic programs are there to help student-athletes learn different life lessons and groom them to be competitors in the marketplace after graduation. They allow young men & women to experience new places through travel. They teach kids to operate under stressful conditions and give them discipline that you say kids so desperately need. Women's collegiate athletics are not "useless" as you say, they are productive and give people a chance to work hard, succeed and get an education. I think it's quite irresponsible of you to make assumptions that women's sports are costing universities gobs and gobs of money, when in actuality it is the football and basketball programs that eat up most of the athletic budget and cause the athletic programs to run in the red. Granted most of the football programs bring in most of the money- but they also end up spending as much as they can automatically putting the rest of the athletic department into the red. For example: Many Div. 1 College football teams stay in a hotel the night before a HOME game- yes, a HOME game they are spending or wasting money to stay in a hotel. By the way, most colleges and universities are still not in compliance with Title IX. But if giving young men & women an education, getting them physically fit and mentally prepared for the competitive workforce sounds like a bad idea to you, then I guess you just don't understand what college athletics is really about. To flippantly talk about this issue with no facts behind your rhetoric is irresponsible. I would hope, that just because you don't like women's soccer doesn't mean that you think the Olympics is a waste of time too- or maybe you do. They are amatuers as well and get federal funding.

jeff posted: Aug, 02 2008
Jen, you need to get real. Academics suffer as a result of money being thrown away on many organized sports. We are too afraid to have our kids run and play, and too afraid to be parents. We as the general public are OK with giving away money and food on people who refuse to work, not cannot work. Stop welfare except those with a true disability. Stop wasting money on hotel rooms for athletes and stop picking on the guy who you feel is overwieght, at least he is working, being honest and offering a challenging view.