Sports hypocrisy?

[TheBeardedDude]

Okay, let me start off by saying that I am a big sports fan. I even support sports I don't have a particular interest in (not really all that into soccer or basketball). The point is, I like sports but I don't like the BS we avoid regarding sports and how we make concessions for sports at the expense of more important things. I'll break this up into some areas that bother me the most (some that have only come to my attention as of late).

1) College sports as amateur leagues for the pros (NBA and NFL as the primary culprits).

College athletics should be about competition. Outlets for students to engage in activities other than their studies for a release and as entertainment. Rewarding your athletes through academics, not through monetary reward. It should help schools recruit and fuel healthy competition between schools.

It should NOT be making copious amounts of cash to line the pockets of coaches and anyone that does not contribute to the academic health of the institution. It should not be a 1 or 3 year requirement to play here before you get a chance at the pros. If the professional leagues want some requirement, then they should create amateur leagues for that. Conversations about things like a playoff system for college football should never be stifled because the BCS and its bowl games make too much money.

2) The NFL is considered a non-profit by the IRS. Yep. That is not a typo. This is just ridiculous.

3) Public funding for sports teams and their stadiums. Places like Miami and Kansas City have spent shit tons of public money on facilities for sports teams. Miami's mayor lost a recall election over his deal that is going to cost that city major $$$$ while Kansas City built a facility for teams that don't exist. That's right, taxes specifically designed to pay for a stadium in the hopes of eventually attracting a team. Cincinnati got a hell of a deal to. The city has to pay for all upgrades, and that includes any future holographic projection system (that's actually in the contract).

4) Player safety as a one-sided issue. Players do need to be protected from unnecessary violence in the game (whatever game you like), but systems like that of bounty-gate are not a result of healthy competition, they are a result of a complacent system that has long rewarded violence. Did and do other teams do it? Yes, but that doesn't make it right. People talk all the time about holding people accountable, but the players all got their suspensions revoked. We can't hold them accountable for trying to "take someone out of the game" because the game is inherently violent? Bullshit. The game may be inherently violent, but that does not justify additional violence.

Anyone got any others? Or think I am full of shit?

[TheBeardedDude]

I guess I'm full of shit.

Not a surprise.

[Erxomai]

I think you have it pretty well covered.

[Aseptic Skeptic]

I gave up watching sports when we stopped feeding Christians to wild animals. Now THAT was a sport!

[namiloveyou]

Hypocrisy is normal.

People aren't consistent, get with it.

[PoolBoyG]

Personal tangent:

I don't consider it a sport if it requires anything more than a loincloth. Running, boxing, wrestling, jumping, swimming, climbing, dodging, recitation, problem solving, etc. It should be playable 5000yrs in the past, and 5000yrs into the future. From any culture, or status level.