> Calling for the abolition of college sports is such a total loser.
It's worse than a losing proposition, it completely misses the point. Sports is a beautiful expression of the human body -- poetry in motion, as some famous philosopher put it, somewhere. It's also one of the few places of genuine upward mobility in US society these days. Sure, it's an industry. Then protest the industry, not the skilled workers who perform its labor.
As far as the students go, I've taught tons of athletics students at big schools, the University of Oregon and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. They work extremely hard (the equivalent of two jobs at once), and don't have any special privileges that I can see. This isn't to say there isn't terrible exploitation and violence out there, but we shouldn't blame individuals for their system.
-- DRR