> Dennis Redmond: It's worse than a losing proposition, it completely misses
> the point. Sports is a beautiful expression of the human body
>
> =====
>
> True enough; and also a lot of fun for both participants and viewers.
>
> And that is precisely why we need a campaign to eliminate college sports,
> because college and high-school (and in the last few decades elementary and
> junior -high) sports prevent the vast majority of humans from ever
> participating in sports. In addition, they are a terrible drain on
> resources, paid for by high fees, low pay for teachers, general corruption.
>
>
My apologies, I was using "revenue" and "non-revenue sports" in the
conventional, hierarchical way. I didn't intend to suggest that "revenue"
sports pay for themselves or the rest of the sports.
But, as to your other point... actually, a very large number of people play non-scholastic sports... it is, however, at a lower level of skill and competition - which, in general - having played DIII sports throughout my college years AND highly competitive club sports (ultimate, soccer, and softball) since that time, I think is a good thing. Even more students play intramural sports at colleges and universities than play intercollegiate sports... and even more play intercollegiate club sports... and even more do a staggering array of noncompetitive athletic activities. The problem isn't that "varsity" sports preclude participation in sports, it is that high schools, colleges and universities almost wholly devalue those other activities.
Alan
Your argument about shooting for the stars so as to reach the clouds is spot on, however.