Bill wrote:


I totally agree with you in spirit. In the case of collegiate sports,
they help form an "important" connection between the institutions and
their alumni (and other potential supporters). They are a thought-out
part of the equation.

Indeed they are a very well thought out part of the equation. Straight from
the Accounting Department. Colleiate sports are all about the income. Look
how many college sports figures actually even know what college is all
about...



Someone wrote (somewhere) that the athletes on the field are
surrogates for us. We don't need to play tennis, we can play through
put name of modern tennis pro here. We're encouraged to be
consumers rather than producers by our cultu the food is ready to
eat, the music is ready to listen to, the sports (surrogates) are
ready to watch, the furniture is ready to use, the disposable fiction
is ready to read.

Maybe some truth in that, but I'd argue there's only a little... if any. I
can only speak from my own perspective and from that of people I know well,
but from that limited perspective, watching sports is more of an activity of
watching those who are great at what we do in a less great way, do it to the
max. Far from a surrogate role.


--

-Mike-