It’s almost always about the money except when it’s about the power. “Legacy” students and admissions being bought and paid aren’t anything new- colleges and their administrations secure money and power through their ties to money and power. The visibility, prestige, and sense of excellence provided through collegiate sports is part of a strategy. Places like Oxford or Yale aren’t trying to be “schools” but “institutions.” By having a record of producing excellent graduates across disciplines they achieve a quasi mythical status. Their names are highly considered amongst candidates post graduation. It drives people who want “the best” to enroll in their schools and people who want “the best” tend to be people who will pay a premium for it.
This feeds the same cycle and also creates a world where many financially successful and powerful or influential people have some loyalty or at least act as advertising towards their institutions.
We could argue that athletic scholarships long have served as an Avenue to higher learning or prestigious schools for many people who otherwise wouldn’t have those opportunities. It is true that one can achieve musical scholarships or art scholarships or otherwise be offered scholarship or admittance for having skills that aren’t strictly practical academics-
College isn’t just a place to produce doctors or lawyers or engineers, it is after all a place of “higher learning” and wether it be art, philosophy, skills, or other elements- it is about elevating one’s ability and knowledge not just within technical disciplines or sciences.
Most educational institutes also serve as places of personal and social development or even spiritual development as well- going to school is as much a way to learn about oneself as the world or facts from a book.
In the end I can’t argue that in my view the system isn’t “broken” or deeply flawed however. For all the noble pretenses in the end the way the system of higher education works is really about money, power, and the enrichment of the institutions and personal agendas of those administering them. I personally have issues with professional sports and college level sports as they exist today. I won’t deny that they are sources of physical training and contain all sorts of potential for valuable life and character lessons- but there are many other ways to achieve these results while perhaps fostering more practical results and less specialized and largely useless skills than having adults very seriously try to optimize performance of children a games. Alternate programs or modified culture of sports could allow all the effort and resources that go in to sports to be used in a way that could still be “fun” but give back more practical returns to society. That’s just my opinion though.
I'd say the best part of sports are the intangibles; teamwork, perseverance, respect, sheer will through practicing something over and over; not so much the scoreboard. The physical development is a nice bonus, but if you can't handle it mentally, it shows. Look at how fucked up most professional athletes are, mentally. It's not a coincidence... even Jordan had his 2 years of "wtf are you doing?" though in hindsight what and why he did it makes some sense.
I’d agree. I think there are probably better and more constructive ways to get those benefits though. Ways that could benefit society in all manner of ways and/or at least systems that are less problematic with which to go about it.
NOOOOOOOOO we fight to the death or 11 points or until the final horn sounds! I also forgot about strategy... if you are genius enough you can make a living off just fucking with people in the head.
Lol. There’s a lot to find interesting in sports, certainly not saying there isn’t. I personally have always loved motor sports- but I don’t think they’re immune. The “strategy” is inherent to the rules and the rules are created by a body watching its cash flow and serving its biggest supporters inside and out. I see it as stifling innovation. The guys with the biggest wallet or biggest legacy tend to have the advantage- not necessarily unlike life- but in motor sports for example- at least there are huge technological advancements that come out of it. Things that improve the safety and efficiency of cars and/or decrease environmental impact for example like better brakes and safety devices, engine control systems and chassis designs, aerodynamics and tires and etc etc.
Restructuring the rules of many motor sports to help drive automotive technology could further benefit billions of people every day.
I can’t argue that other types of sports haven’t produced any technological or safety innovations- but most are somewhat sports specific. Things like better understanding of concussions are sort of a… complex thing because really- we wouldn’t tolerate giving people concussions through other means and then studying them. I will say that sports has furthered our understanding of recuperation and therapy in ways that we probably wouldn’t see being applied to people who millions didn’t hang on their ability to fully regain use of an arm or leg after injury etc. though much isn’t terribly applicable to non sports injuries and it sort of illustrates the point about priorities when we will spend more to get a grown man back playing a kids game than an actual child or to give a soldier the use of their body after sacrificing it for our country.
I was thinking about basketball and football, how you can run 7 man games in football, any combination of numbers up to 5 in basketball, and can adjust how much a basket is worth. Depending on numbers changes the strat. I once kicked my friends asses 1 on 5, which is hard to do because they can triple team you and guard the rim for rebounds while you have no one to help you get a pick, so you have to dribble them into each other to get open and you can't' miss the shot after. It was make it, take it, and we ignored 7-0 skunk, so I won 11-0.
I’m down with that. At the very least I think it would make sports more interesting to watch to have some switch ups etc.
we used to play with all sorts of different rules back when I was a kid- a lot of them involved turning non contact sports into full contact or just straight up brawls for the ball lol. But we also had some less violent ones like the variants you mention.
In pro sports I think that having some sort of similar systems could at least make things more interesting. For example- format or rules changes made via a vote or something like that and kept secret until regular season play began.
That could be something like basketball making it so any basket is only worth one point unless it is from outside the key, or making dunks worth more points that season, etc. rules for tram sports that change the number of players on the field or mix it up based on the period of the game- like all odd numbered play periods reduce the on field players by X% or such. Having…
… certain conditions trigger certain events like under a set condition wether that is a score discrepancy or a period number or whatever else- a team or both teams would be required to switch all players on the field out for backup players or all starting line ups or draft picks above a certain value are removed etc. changing fundamental things like the number of downs in a football game or the length of games etc. by making regular changes at least season to season it would introduce a level of the unknown and require teams to adjust on the fly. Roster strategy could be much more interesting because without a full knowledge of what a game will look like, teams must decide to what degree they want to prioritize specialized players or more well rounded and adaptable players.
Maybe. lol. I don’t know for sure. That’s just my concept. When I rarely watch sports involving balls, the ones I tend to enjoy watching most aren’t the pro games with their insane levels of polish. The same is true for motor sports for me- the most interesting moments tend to come from the sorts of spontaneous chaos that erupt with competitors that aren’t so slickly polished and optimized for that one set of rules under those narrow conditions. F1 can be fun, but it tends to be predictable for most of an event. With so much on the line and such strict rules, the chances being taken are more measured. Classic WRC is one example of racing where things could get crazy, fast. Some real unbelievable moments have come from that and some truly legendary tales of victory against all odds.
that would be fun af... and yeah we did the brawl thing throughout HS... you'd get your ass kicked and chewed out by coach if you tried it... that naturally carried over to the rec. He always said you're also playing against the refs, so don't expect a call.
Lol. We got away with a lot. A little less in HS but still ALOT. middle was like the lord of the flies. I could tell stories for days.
All time OT could be interesting. It has to be spring out of nowhere though.
lol back in middle school we beat a team 97-7 in basketball.. it was merciless... we never wen't haha about it until back in the locker room. It was downright cruel lol. And yeah, between showing up teachers, putting a dude with claustrophobia in an elevator, playing our DSs in econ class just for everyone to cheat off me, playing rollie chair basketball with crumpled paper for hours, doing an entire computer class in 2 weeks so I could leave early and play super smash bros w/ the bros... going to english class drunk.... and that's just the tip lol.
the world was simpler. 9/11 hadn't happened yet, social media, while existed, wasn't prevalent, and half our phones still had cords. I remember talking w/ my gf until we both passed out and then waking up and the line was still open... I awoke her and we just continued talking. Those were the times.
I'll never forget 9/11... I knew everything would change the moment I saw it. I saw classmates turn white out of shock. We didn't do anything that day besides watch the news. As a kid who traveled solo a lot, it was so obvious what was about to happen. I remember trying to get off aa delta flight by crawling under people lol... if I pulled that shit after 9/11 i'd be detained.
state colleges, totally different story. You can have a 4.3, an uncle that was a professor at the school and still not get in because one HS teacher disagreed with you. I'm looking at you Mrs. fucking Grisham.... and I'm looking at you UT.... did you know UT's communications building doesn't even have a phone? HOW FUCKED UP IS THAT!?
er, public phone... still fucked up. I had to have ask students to borrow a phone, then call my mom, leave a message, then have her call my friends to come pick me up cuz i got lost on halloween cuz my gumby outfit was so dope everyone wanted a pic
This feeds the same cycle and also creates a world where many financially successful and powerful or influential people have some loyalty or at least act as advertising towards their institutions.
College isn’t just a place to produce doctors or lawyers or engineers, it is after all a place of “higher learning” and wether it be art, philosophy, skills, or other elements- it is about elevating one’s ability and knowledge not just within technical disciplines or sciences.
Most educational institutes also serve as places of personal and social development or even spiritual development as well- going to school is as much a way to learn about oneself as the world or facts from a book.
I can’t argue that other types of sports haven’t produced any technological or safety innovations- but most are somewhat sports specific. Things like better understanding of concussions are sort of a… complex thing because really- we wouldn’t tolerate giving people concussions through other means and then studying them. I will say that sports has furthered our understanding of recuperation and therapy in ways that we probably wouldn’t see being applied to people who millions didn’t hang on their ability to fully regain use of an arm or leg after injury etc. though much isn’t terribly applicable to non sports injuries and it sort of illustrates the point about priorities when we will spend more to get a grown man back playing a kids game than an actual child or to give a soldier the use of their body after sacrificing it for our country.
we used to play with all sorts of different rules back when I was a kid- a lot of them involved turning non contact sports into full contact or just straight up brawls for the ball lol. But we also had some less violent ones like the variants you mention.
In pro sports I think that having some sort of similar systems could at least make things more interesting. For example- format or rules changes made via a vote or something like that and kept secret until regular season play began.
That could be something like basketball making it so any basket is only worth one point unless it is from outside the key, or making dunks worth more points that season, etc. rules for tram sports that change the number of players on the field or mix it up based on the period of the game- like all odd numbered play periods reduce the on field players by X% or such. Having…
All time OT could be interesting. It has to be spring out of nowhere though.