[WS:] I think it is in some ways worse. Slavery was at least open about the fact it that it was all about economic exploitation. College sports pretends it is about some "higher values."
I am not a sports person - I lacked motor coordination since childhood and a result nobody wanted me on their team. When I was in college I learned that I could not just do sports for fun, I had to have "results" (and this was in a socialist country!). But what really turns me off is the fact that most sports are mock wars between schools, cities or countries, and you were a "traitor" when you do not root for "your" home team. I routinely rooted for other country teams during international soccer games, just to make a statement, but otherwise I had little interest in sports.
However, reading the Atlantic piece made me really sick. It is not just the exploitation of student athletes - many students get exploited as TAs or RAs - but the monumental hypocrisy of this whole college sports business, and its tax free ride. What is more, this piece demonstrated to me that this is what America is all about - crass commercialism and exploitation wrapped up in lofty sounding ideals. Not just sports but everything - culture, politics, education, even social activism. Nauseating. To paraphrase a Pakistani joke - every country has commerce, but in the US of A commerce has a country.
Wojtek
On Sat, Nov 26, 2011 at 12:06 AM, <123hop at comcast.net> wrote:
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> Look, organized sports are rather terrible for the athletes; and given the
> average length of an athlete's career (especially in football) and the
> physical damage done his body, athletes are not paid very well. Is Real
> Sprts still on HBO. I can't see the TV screen anymore so I don't know, but
> it was one of the best shows on TV.
>
> Carrol
>
> I was horrified to find out, after reading the Atlantic article on college sports, that "student atheletes" are not covered by workman's comp if they get injured. They're not covered by anything. It's little better than slavery.
>
> Joanna
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