[Vision2020] Re: Football
Carl Westberg
carlwestberg846@hotmail.com
Thu, 26 Dec 2002 09:48:42 -0800
My athletic skills have always been only slightly better than that of say, a
tree trunk, and at the age of 52 have gotten worse, although I play a mean
game of NFL 2K3 on my XBOX and will take on all challengers. Despite my lack
of talent, I've always been a huge sports fan, but I am concerned with the
enormous importance Americans place on college athletics, particularly
football. While Gonzaga is truly a great success story in basketball, a
mid-major school can achieve in hoops what they have done. Fewer players,
smaller budget, etc. Football is a different animal, and the sad truth of
the WSU's of the world is success is usually short-lived. In other words,
enjoy the Rose Bowl ride right now, because inevitably, leaner times are
coming. Year in and year out, the Huskies, Trojans, and the Bruins of the
college football world will dominate. This past season I followed the
Whitworth Pirates in the Spokesman-Review. In an ideal (unachievable)
world, their program would be the kind to follow. Playing in Division 3, in
an unheralded little conference, in what by all accounts is a beautiful
little stadium in Spokane, where the athletic director doubles as the PA
announcer, and where a crowd of 3,000 makes the AD happier than a skunk
eating bumblebees. Football is reduced to what it is, just a game. Enjoy
it, but keep it lower in life's priorities. If I had a point to this
ramble, I guess that's it.
Carl Westberg Jr.
>From: Tim Lohrmann <timlohr@yahoo.com>
>To: Mark Rounds <ltrwritr@moscow.com>
>CC: vision2020@moscow.com
>Subject: [Vision2020] Re: Football
>Date: Thu, 26 Dec 2002 09:03:48 -0800 (PST)
>
>Mark, you wrote:
> "All but the biggest schools can't really afford
>first rate major sports programs."
>Hmm.....seems like WSU and Gonzaga do pretty
>well--better than many schools 5 or 6 times Gonzaga's
>size or more than double WSU's size.
>
>Also,it's not exactly news that College ball has
>become a farm system for the pros, that sports is
>entertainment or that not every student athelete
>becomes a pro.
>Maybe I've been misinformed, but I've not seen
>anything in any of the posts here that amount to more
>than a few anecdotes, personal "gut feelings" or
>opinions about how much sports actually does
>cost/take-in at the various levels.
>TL
>
>
>
>
>--- Mark Rounds <ltrwritr@moscow.com> wrote:
> > Folks,
> >
> > I grew up while my father was at a small, private
> > college in MT. Since I
> > was a kid, they scrapped and restarted an athletic
> > program three times.
> > Each time, a board of regents made the decision that
> > the athletic program
> > had to break even. This didn't include the new
> > buildings such as a gym and
> > training center that the students benefited from but
> > just travel,
> > scholarships, supplies, coaches, etc..... Each time
> > they struggled and
> > died. Then a new president would come in and decide
> > that the athletics
> > program would be the thing to stimulate donations.
> > So it flourishes for a
> > while, then donations trickle off and with the next
> > economic down turn, the
> > programs are cut down to the bare minimums and then
> > removed.
> >
> > This is a trend that is increasing at the smaller
> > private schools and the
> > figures put forward in some of the posts here aren't
> > a surprise. All but
> > the biggest schools can't really afford first rate
> > major sports programs.
> > If you don't believe me, spend a little idle time
> > searching the web or
> > better yet, just do some basic math. Find out what
> > athletic directors make,
> > scholarship totals are, work study given to athletes
> > that in many cases
> > wouldn't have gone to college in the first place,
> > what the true costs of
> > maintaining a top flight athletic program are,
> > factor in a reasonable amount
> > of over head and the numbers are huge. .
> >
> > The athletic program was created as a diversion to
> > allow students to let off
> > steam and socialize while they are attempting to
> > complete their course of
> > study. Instead, esspecially in the major sports
> > such as basketball and foot
> > ball, our college teams have been turned into farm
> > teams for the pros.
> > Unlike baseball, which supports its own farm team
> > and scouting system, these
> > sports have conned the tax payer and the sports
> > minded university donors in
> > to paying for their farm team systems. Great racket
> > if you can make it
> > work. These figures also don't count the tragic
> > human cost in injuries and
> > folks who leave the game educationally handicapped
> > and broke because most
> > college athletes level school without a chance at
> > the big money in the pros.
> >
> > Don't misunderstand where I come from. I am an
> > aging jock myself, having
> > played football and water polo at the college level
> > and my father, a brother
> > and several cousins played pro football. I also
> > don't believe the system
> > will soon change because there is a whole industry
> > that has grown up
> > supporting the care and feeding of major sports
> > programs at universities. I
> > just want them to know that I see the game being
> > played. I enjoy playing
> > sports (hey, even old guys play) and to a lesser
> > extent watching selected
> > sports, but bare in mind that with all the high
> > minded rhetoric about what a
> > sports program can provide, it is just part of the
> > entertainment industry.
> >
> > Mark Rounds
> >
> > At 07:42 PM 12/23/2002 -0800, Brent Capener wrote:
> > > Tim makes a good, but I feel one sided point.
> > His post disregards the
> > >fact that the huge flow
> > >of money to sports (football) does alienate some of
> > the academia minded
> > >alumni, thus reducing these
> > >contributions.Why send $50 to the college of
> > engineering knowing that a cool
> > >million will be diverted
> > > from essentially the same pot for football? After
> > all, isn't the first and
> > >foremost mission of a real university education?
> > > Sure, I enjoy a good game of college football,
> > just like most people.
> > >But I believe that college
> > >football should be precisely that, not pro football
> > in disguise.
> > >
> > >Brent Capener
> > >
> > >
> > >----- Original Message ----- >
> > >> But if a program IS losing money, I guess the
> > question
> > >> would come down to the bottom line. Does it makes
> > more
> > >> sense to subsidize and keep alumni contributions
> > >> flowing OR alienate alumni by cutting the
> > football
> > >> budget--thereby insuring that giving from sports
> > >> minded alumni slows to a trickle?
> > >> TL
> > >
> >
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> >
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