Lately, I’m trying to train myself to confine my concerns to things
that matter. College football is out. College education in. Were I Czar …
Were I, the entire athletic program—grounds, buildings and all—at my undergraduate alma
mater, would be shut down and converted to the J. William Fulbright Center for
International Humanities Study. And the millions upon millions of dollars spent annually on coaches' salaries would be spent on the highest quality research equipment, equipment that worked all the time, not half or less.
It ain’t gonna happen. I know.
But at least it frees me from worrying about whether some “student
athlete” who wouldn’t be welcomed into a vast majority of the homes in my state
is going to choose to play football here for three years, or basketball for
one.
It doesn’t free me from worrying about the fact that we pay
athletic coaches more than we pay those who perform research to find cures for cancer or
Alzheimer’s Disease. Oh hell, let's face it. We pay one of the former more per year than we do all of the latter combined. I don't know about you, but I've lost two family members to Alzheimer's, one to cancer, and none to a losing football season. And I've been lucky compared to some folks I know.
Yeah, yeah. I know that the alumnae of our state wouldn’t be
as apt to make donations if we recruited a Nobel Prize winning research
physician as they would for a five-star football recruit.
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| Just saying … |
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