The
High Cost of Rings vs Their Low Returns
Published in Marietta Daily Journal Jan. 10, 2016
As soon as I deliver this column to
my editor, I’ll be leaving town. Mainly
because there is no columnist protection program that I know of.
I’m even a little nervous about my
two grown sons reading this. Both of
them were high school athletes, are still sports lovers, and can give you the
bio and statistics on every college and professional athlete and coach in the
nation. I say only “a little nervous”
because I’m also thinking they might – might – agree with me. While they were growing up they occasionally
made comments that indicated they were critical thinkers, even about things
they loved and believed in. That’s good,
but … regarding this topic, we shall see.
First, my respectful, obligatory bow
to those with whom I am taking issue, namely college presidents who allow
football to rule the roost at their institutions, fans who think colleges exist
to provide them with four months of pleasure per year, and politicians who make
life easy for billionaires. Their hearts
may be right, but their designs are fraught with error. More on this momentarily.
Notice that I didn’t include coaches
or athletes. Perhaps I should, perhaps
not. I hasten to remind us that a huge
number of college athletes are all of 19 years old. They are in a system not of their
making. They are merely taking advantage
of it. For many of them, football is a
ticket out of poverty via an eventual professional career, a ticket for getting
a college degree, or simply a ticket for pursuing a game they love.
As for the coaches, they are cogs – incredibly
well-paid cogs – in a wheel they didn’t construct. They have, of course, kept the wheel strong
and functional. Not all coaches are obscenely
remunerated, but the ones I’m thinking of right now certainly are. You know the ones I mean. At any rate the athletes and the coaches are
not the gatekeepers for the issue I’m raising.
College presidents, rabid fans (particularly rich alumni/donors), and
politicians are.
Another
bow before I proceed. Coaches are one of
the best things in America’s educational system. I say this because of the ones who coached
me, coached my sons, and those with whom I taught school for 4 decades. Coaches have always symbolized and
illustrated masculinity. They have set
many a youngster on the right path. They
have shown non-coaching teachers effective methods for teaching, as in “Don’t
just tell’em; show’em.” Coaches are
normally considered icons in the school building. I have often wondered if coaches realize the
influence they have and the positive difference they make, even with students
they don’t coach or teach.
That, of course, is the high school
scene. What about the college
scene? Just what are college presidents
doing wrong? They are allowing the tail
to wag the dog. They are allowing a
non-academic endeavor to be the face of their institutions. So you disagree? What is the first thing you think of when you
hear the words University of Alabama, University of Ohio, University of
Georgia, Notre Dame, Ole Miss, Boston College, University of Florida … you get
the drift. The list is long. College
presidents and enabling fans assume that everybody loves football and that the
world therefore turns on it. Forget the
mathematics and history professors, as well as the students who are in the
library on Saturday afternoon. Never
mind that students are in college to learn, not to be totally distracted for
one-third of each year by the athletic juggernaut.
The
emphasis on winning national championship rings is excessive. When Georgia coach Mark Richt stated that
football is about more than just getting rings, his destiny was sealed. But Richt was right. Unlike the NFL, college football is indeed
about building men, or should be. If
not, why is it part of our educational enterprise? Men who get their tickles from football
should turn on the pro games and let colleges be the educational,
people-building institutions they were intended to be.
As for pro sports, here is one taxpayer tired
of helping billionaires build their stadiums.
Let them build their own. Their games will still bring business to
restaurants and hotels and help local economies. As things stand now, taxpayers in quite a few
cities are helping pay for stadiums they don’t care to go to, even if they
could afford the tickets. Besides, the
stadiums will be torn down in a few years’ time for yet some other type project
that a billionaire and some elected officials got together on.
With colleges it is education gone awry. With pro sports it is crony capitalism. National
championship rings are too costly for the few they honor. It’s time for a correction.
Roger
Hines
1/2/16
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