[WS:] I am afraid it is you who missed the point here. Pollitt is not against sports per se, she is arguing that college sports is the breeding ground for patriarchy, and as such it deserves a boot. This is what she is actually saying: "Should college students play sports? Sure, for fun. Not to make money for their schools, massage the egos of donors and alumni, raise up false idols like Joe Paterno—and deprive themselves of a real education in the process."
Wojtek
On Thu, Nov 24, 2011 at 2:38 PM, Dennis Redmond <metalslorg at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Nov 24, 2011 at 11:26 AM, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
>
>> 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
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