Sports and school budgets

[SEAL76]

I am a school teacher with over 30 years of experience. I remember my high school days. I tried sports but did not really enjoy them. There was less emphasis on the jock/cheerleader/marching band BS back in 1969 when I graduated from HS. I did run, swim and lift weights on my own. I did like to read quite a bit. Even without the "character building" benefits of organized sports participation I managed to volunteer for the Navy and become a NAVY SEAL. I served a combat tour in Vietnam. My son Greg did not participate in HS sports and he also became a NAVY SEAL. Now the school district where I have been employed for 30 years finds itself in a financial crunch. So the Superintendent and the School Board made the brilliant decision to cut teachers and educational programs. No after school activity was cut. While these cuts were somewhat unpopular with some members of the community cutting sports activities would have caused a riot. The football, basketball, baseball, soccer, lacrosse, tennis, softball, golf and any other teams were left untouched. Marching Band was also untouched. I firmly that these should have been the first cuts followed by any othe after school activities. Our superintendent has a son that plays pro-football. I wonder if that has anything to do with his lame decision. One of the coaches (football) that I spoke to about these cuts said, "Without sports how will they get money for college?" I said that maybe they could try applying themselves and study harder. He didn't like that answer. Most of the athletes that go to college on jock scholarships from our districts don't amount to much. Few of them finish school. Only one ever made it to the pros.Athletic Scholarships manke no sense to me. I deplore the adulation that the children I teach give to sports figures. It hurts the academic process so much.

[Millhouse]

I hear you. I don't know when and where Sports became a back door for people to get into college in the first place. It might be an interesting topic to research for further and future discussion.

[Ray]

I agree. Is there any hope for us when the very people we trust to be our national brain trust make decisions like THAT?! I used to think that short-sighted decisions like that could only be made in Washington. You know --funding the study of Chinese prostitute behavior in bars --stuff like that. I thought that decisions like this could only be made by someone who is far removed from ordinary people and common sense. Someone several layers of bureaucracy above us living in ivory tower academia (no offense).

But apparently stupidity is native to even us at the grassroots level. Sports activities should have been the FIRST to have been cut! Maybe not all --but if necessary, yes, cut them all together. Teachers and classes should (duh!) be cut LAST! School is about learning and education --NOT PLAYING!

[SEAL76]

Thanks for your responses. I have no idea why colleges offer athletic scholarships. I understand why the service academies might do it since the want team players and the armed forces requires a level of fitness that is not needed in a standard university or college. Perhaps if you were studying to be Phys Ed major it might make sense. Why do people who want to be pro jocks have to go to college at all. LeBron James didn't. He seems to do just fine. One third of one percent of all high school jocks ever make it to the pros. Most kids that I work with have parents who actually believe that their child has a shot at going pro. What I also find odd is that most athletes who make it to the Olympics pay for their own training and coaches. Why don't high schools and colleges charge athletes to play? Schools are for learning and not to provide athletes, marching bands and cheerleaders to colleges and the pros.

[Polite24]

Football players can't go straight from college to the pros.

[SEAL76]

I don't see why not. They could just pump themselves full of steroids and HGH and they would be big enough in no time.

[Millhouse]

Football players can't go straight from college to the pros.

Irrelevant.

[SEAL76]

If basketball and baseball players can there is no reason that highschool players shouldn't be able too. However since they can't we had better keep up the those HS football programs to make sure that we can continue to supply colleges and the NFL with slugs and thugs.

[Polite24]

Yeah, take steroids and die by 30.


And basketball and football are two different games. Football is much more physical.

[Sergey]

Yeah, take steroids and die by 30.


And basketball and football are two different games. Football is much more physical.

And full of more idiots, who cares?

[Polite24]

Good post

[SEAL76]

Who cares what pro sports "athletes" do with their bodies. If they what to juice up to enhance their performance let them. Their bodies belong to them not us. What has congress got to do with regualting sports? They are the ones who are making a big deal about. IF a jock wants to risk death or permanent injury so be it.

[Fat Man]

Who cares what pro sports "athletes" do with their bodies. If they what to juice up to enhance their performance let them. Their bodies belong to them not us. What has congress got to do with regualting sports? They are the ones who are making a big deal about. IF a jock wants to risk death or permanent injury so be it.

Yeah! I say the same.

Let them shoot up with all the steroids they want.

If their balls shrink and fall off, or their hearts explode in their chests, then too fucking bad for them!

But if they go into roid rage and start attacking people, then they should be gunned down, shot on sight!

End of story!

[SEAL76]

Football players can't go straight from college to the pros.

Did you mean straight from highschool to the pros? They should be able to since they do it for basketball and baseball. Have you seen the size of some of those high school football players? I don't think how physically punishing football is should matter. They will be wrecked after a few years even if they go to college. The culture of sports woprship ruins more people than it helps. Check out some of the NFL players who only played a few years. Their bodies are a wreck. Some can barely move after just four or five years. The whole thing is absurd. I also believe that many of the pro games are fixed from the get go. Just like the outcomes of Pro wrestling. There is so much money involved do you really think that organized crime doesn't have a vested interest in the games. Even at the college level sports betting has corrupted the games.

[Polite24]

Your post is so wrong on so many levels it doesn't even warrant a response.