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Why College Football Should Be Banned
The Wall Street Journal ^ | May 4, 2012 | Buzz Bissinger

Posted on 05/05/2012 6:28:24 AM PDT by MinorityRepublican

In more than 20 years I've spent studying the issue, I have yet to hear a convincing argument that college football has anything do with what is presumably the primary purpose of higher education: academics.

That's because college football has no academic purpose. Which is why it needs to be banned. A radical solution, yes. But necessary in today's times.

Football only provides the thickest layer of distraction in an atmosphere in which colleges and universities these days are all about distraction, nursing an obsession with the social well-being of students as opposed to the obsession that they are there for the vital and single purpose of learning as much as they can to compete in the brutal realities of the global economy.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: liberalagenda; nancybissinger; rushwasright
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To: Blue Ink
The system we have now is un-American.

I agree. And eventually there will be a lawsuit. If College Football didn't exist, NFL will be forced to establish the minor leagues for their top prospects. And they'll get paid while they're training for "The Show" just like in baseball.

81 posted on 05/05/2012 11:57:26 AM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: x

American football isn’t going away anytime soon. But will we continue to see white kids from middle and upper classes continue to play football? I think not. That’s where talent is going to dry up.....we won’t see as many talented Quarterbacks, Offensive Linemen and Tight Ends in the future, just my .02.


82 posted on 05/05/2012 12:09:57 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: MinorityRepublican

I’m not sure I understand your thesis.
Here in the midwest I see interest in hs football in largely white middle/upper class suburbs at an all time high.


83 posted on 05/05/2012 12:14:50 PM PDT by nascarnation
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To: nascarnation

Not yet. But let’s wait until we get the full autopsy on Junior Seau. If it’s proven that football is a probable factor that caused his suicide. Then look out.


84 posted on 05/05/2012 12:22:15 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: jiggyboy
what's up doc?

you's gotta unlax.

... it's only a cartoon.


85 posted on 05/05/2012 12:25:24 PM PDT by HerrBlucher
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To: sean327
I don't think I'd characterize a soccer player like Terry Butcher as a lawn fairy, at least not to his face.

Not able to hide his predicament behind pads, helmets, TV timeouts, change of possessions or two minute warnings, Butcher just got a bandage and kept playing until the end of the game when he, his bandage and uniform were all bloody.

And Butcher's team won the game.

There's nothing wrong about favoring certain sports over others but I think we step on shaky ground when we broadly brush moral virtues or failures merely because of what team sport somebody happens to play or be good at.

86 posted on 05/05/2012 12:47:42 PM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo
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To: x
But what gets me is how some people can't discuss the issue without getting personal, can't talk about the issues without getting into Bissinger's appearance or speculating about his own school experiences.

Audie Murphy was 5'5", 110 pounds. Had he been rich enough to attend high school, he wouldn't have been big enough to succeed on the gridiron and he might even have been a prospective target of ridicule by "school jocks".

87 posted on 05/05/2012 1:05:22 PM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo
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To: sean327
Sorry for the extra post, but I was wrong. Butcher's team did not win but tied the game 0-0.

I have to say that the lack of scoring is often an easy turn off to people who grew up watching American sports.

88 posted on 05/05/2012 1:31:42 PM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo
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To: MinorityRepublican

“I agree. And eventually there will be a lawsuit.”

I’ve often thought that one avenue of attack in the courts might be through state commissions that enforce labor laws. Here in CA, they’re pretty strict — high minimum wage, and you MUST pay overtime after eight hours — you don’t get to say, “Oh, sixty hours is a normal workweek for our industry.”

If players went after colleges as their employers — and I think it would be fairly easy to establish that colleges are in fact their employers — required hours, duties, etc. — that would open the door to requiring that these guys be paid plus overtime, and that extralegal rules forbidding them from accepting payment could be challenged on old (but still on the books) slavery laws.

Seems like some smart hungry labor lawyer would have pursued this a long time ago. Stands to make gazillions in a class-action suit.


89 posted on 05/05/2012 2:07:01 PM PDT by Blue Ink
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

I’m not saying these guys ain’t ateletes, or their not hard in their own right, but American football is a sport unlike any other. I realize soccer is the most popular sport in the world but Americans are different. We tend to take more chances, and for some reason we have evolved into a warrior society. Think about it. The most revered people in our society are miiitary, cops and firefighters. Football has surpassed baseball for one simple reason, the majority of us are or want to be warriors. It’s that basic.


90 posted on 05/05/2012 5:05:00 PM PDT by sean327 (God created all men equal, then some become Marines!)
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To: momtothree
Your issue is that you see black and white. A man with strong athletic ability cannot possess intellect. An intelligent man cannot possess strong athletic quality.

I said that? I believe it was you who suggested that I must have been "in the chess club" because I opposed football on college campuses. Besides the glaring non sequitur, you're also guilty of putting words in my mouth.

My stance is that football -- athletics in general -- are not proper sponsored activities in an academic setting. I don't care how many manly men are football players; that has nothing to do with the argument. Those men would have been manly -- and presumably have demonstrated the same qualities of leadership and courage -- regardless of the setting in which they indulged their passion for sports. How does that argue in favor of football on campus?

Check mate.

More like Fool's Mate. And you're playing Black.

91 posted on 05/05/2012 8:00:18 PM PDT by IronJack (=)
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To: ghannonf18
In short a football player is more likely to be a republican!

Unless that football player has too many frequent head injuries.

92 posted on 05/05/2012 9:33:39 PM PDT by The_Media_never_lie (The President who ate the dog, will wag the dog.)
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Comment #93 Removed by Moderator

Comment #94 Removed by Moderator

Comment #95 Removed by Moderator

To: ghannonf18
Don’t be surprised when your are paying through the teeth because of pilferage, frivolous lawsuits or lost customers due to a lack of ethical behavior by the employees you get based on your hiring standard. Also don’t be surprised when no on is willing to throw themselves into the the phalanx during the next crisis your company faces.

Am I supposed to believe that honesty, ethical behavior, and courage are the sole province of football players? That there is no other source of such virtues except the gridiron? And that football players are paragons of such virtues? And that it is the place of our colleges to teach such values?

I should have thought such moral lessons were better taught in church.

96 posted on 05/06/2012 7:47:43 AM PDT by IronJack (=)
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To: IronJack

Go back and read what you wrote. You referred to football student athletes as gorillas. You focused entirely on their athletic ability and eliminated any sort of academic potential or leadership ability they may have. You were the one, sir, who focused entirely on the assumption that pure academics/book smart intellect is what made this Country great. Again, check mate. Have a good day.


97 posted on 05/06/2012 8:39:04 AM PDT by momtothree (football moms rock)
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To: momtothree
My exact quote: "I would guess that in all of human history, those who helped make the world a better place were far more often chess players than football gorillas."

Do you for an instant doubt the truth of that statement?

By the way, you don't win a chess game by simply declaring checkmate. You have to actually CHECKMATE your opponent. And not just in your own mind ...

98 posted on 05/06/2012 9:55:17 AM PDT by IronJack (=)
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To: Scotswife
at least football generates income...the rest of academia is funded by inflated tuition and taxpayer money.

From the article:


99 posted on 05/06/2012 10:13:11 AM PDT by Drew68 (I WILL vote to defeat Barack Hussein Obama!)
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To: IronJack

... those who helped make the world a better place were far more often chess players than football gorillas. Do you for an instant doubt the truth of that statement?”

Yes, I doubt the truth of that statement. The world has become a better place based on two types of individuals IMHO. The people gifted with intellect and the people gifted with athletic ability. (some people are gifted with both). For example, for every strategic brilliant General... you need the men with courage and physical athletic ability to carry out his plan and win a battle.

Your posts contain these quotes, “Get these ape-training programs out of our colleges”, “I don’t believe we should be training these... performers”, and “...Football gorillas”. I am afraid that you were the one who resorted to name calling, sir. You were the one who ridiculed college athletes and demeaned them by referring to them as animals and unintelligent. Frankly, you bore me. You attempt to impress others with your so called intellect. What you don’t see is that you are closed minded and jealous. Yes, jealous. Instead of seeing that people have different gifts and abilities, you demean those who aren’t just like you. Closed minded people are so transparent. For the record, I am not athletic. I never have been. However, I admire the work ethic and athletic ability that athletes obtain. (whether that is football, swimming, soccer, whatever...). Again, have a nice day.


100 posted on 05/06/2012 10:15:25 AM PDT by momtothree
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