"Bill" wrote in message
...
Mike Marlow wrote:
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.


Hi Mike--haven't seen you here in a while.
What you wrote makes sense to me for say golf. I don't know when I'll be
on the football field again (I don't belong out there), but that doesn't
keep me from enjoying some of the NFL games. I got the whole "surrogate"
idea from an article I read. I didn't swallow it hook, line and sinker
either, but I thought, and still think, that it provides a good starting
point for understanding (why people are often so passionate about "their
teams"). Looking at "teams" as the corporate entities they are probably
takes something away from the game. Even at the Indy500 race, they don't
announce how much the winner(s) receive in dollars. You have to really
want to know to find out.

The Purse in most races is pretty meaningless. It's all about winning and
how you market the win later that counts.