luv baseball posted:Athletes are being exploited! When did this start?
NCAA is horrid. Professional sports are meat grinders so it does make one consider the emphasis placed on sports.
If I was raising kids again - I'd send them to robot camp and have them dabble in golf and tennis.... AKA Country Club sports for the long term contacts they might provide. I would not allow them to risk their bodies playing competitive sports - short of college scholarship or professional sports which represent a few percent meaning there is higher risk than upside offered.
Spare me the life lessons, teamwork and competing nonsense. The kids in the band learn the same things as the football team on those things. Everything in life is a competition so you don't need sports to find things to compete in. Sports does not teach or afford better opportunities than other activities for exposure to these life lessons.
If you've ever had to listen to someone tell you how great they were back in '75 I would tell you that is proof that sports may actually stunt personal development when the realization that you are not the next Babe Ruth kicks in and you never get past it. Glory Days syndrome is one of the most pitiful things there is. Never met a kid from the band at a bar wearing anyone out telling you about that time they played American Pie at Homecoming half time like Don McLean. I suffered through more stories of heroism in lost district playoff games than I can shake a sick at though.
I have a different opinion on some of your points, Luv.
First, I have heard plenty of horror stories about tennis and golf, too. And they are both even more slanted toward being money sports than baseball, so the efforts to influence by buying your kid's way up (and the pressure to do so) are at least equally present. There are documentaries on both and I think it makes baseball pale in comparison at times.
Regarding this... "Spare me the life lessons, teamwork and competing nonsense. The kids in the band learn the same things as the football team on those things. Everything in life is a competition so you don't need sports to find things to compete in. Sports does not teach or afford better opportunities than other activities for exposure to these life lessons."
Again, I disagree. Yes, most everything in life is a competition. But with most things, once you win the competition, your position is relatively safe unless you really screw up or decide to move on (get the job, marry the girl, buy the house, etc. With team sports (I'm thinking college level), you win the job one day and you have to start all over the next day. It's performance evaluation on steroids. Your boss' primary job is to find someone better than you to replace you... daily and year to year. That's quite different than most things in life. And you darn well better figure out how to be a good teammate or you likely won't keep your job and you almost assuredly won't be very successful. Few college students pull double or triple duty to get through college successfully like student athletes. (Yeah, yeah, I know... some don't exactly take the most difficult majors). All must successfully navigate a full academic load plus the full time job of college athlete and do so maintaining a diet/sleep/exercise regimen enough to compete within their sport. And these days, most better be putting in a heck of a lot of extra work during HS years just to be able to compete for a college roster spot. I'm not keenly in tune to the marching band scene but I don't hear too many stories of them getting released from scholarship because they weren't outperforming the drummer next to them.
The things college teammates go through together are typically far more challenging and much more likely to form life-long bonds than the things average college buddies go through. And the team sports aspect tightens that bond more so than the sports that are more individual in nature like tennis (except doubles) and golf.
Successfully navigating college team sports certainly goes a long way toward preparing an individual for most other future life endeavors. Can it be done other ways? Absolutely. Is it "nonsense"? Absolutely not.
Many corporations in a variety of industries target college athletes specifically because they know they will compete, can handle adverse conditions and will bring it every day.