Quote:
Originally Posted by badgoodDeb
Sarcasm, I hope? I don't see why football gets paid for by my taxes either. As a former band member, I'd rather see the band covered by tax dollars, and the heck with the football team!
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Good luck with that.
Football is a religion in many areas, and school football programs get tax support because local voters think that's an appropriate use of the funds.
Football is a multi-billion dollar business, and the Superbowl is the single most watched TV program in the world. Thousands of kids dream of playing football professionally.
If you're one of them, you probably start in Jr. High School, going out for Junior Varsity. You want to make the team, get a starting job, put up good numbers, and help your team win.
When you go to high school, you do the same. You go out for the team, hope to become a starter, put up good numbers, and help your team win city and state championships. Scouts for college football programs keep an eye on promising high school players.
When you graduate, you apply to colleges with strong football programs. Your goal is to get an athletic scholarship. Once again, you want to make the team, become a starter, help your team win in its conference and advance to and win the associated bowl game. And schools with strong football programs are under immense pressure to
keep them strong. People who live in the area may pay more attention to the college team than they do to the pros, and wealthy alumni will tie bequests to the school to how well the team is doing.
NFL scouts look at top college players when thinking about who to invite to training camp, so your goal as a college player is to be able to declare for the NFL draft when you graduate, and get selected by a team and asked to report to camp.
Once there, you compete to make the team, get a starting job, and go on to build a career. If you are successful, you can become internationally famous and make millions of dollars a year. The vast majority
won't be successful, but the one who are provide the motivation for kids to try.
I've seen complaints elsewhere about college players that "they should be
studying!" They
are studying. They're majoring in
football, and it's what they want to do as a career. That tends to require single minded focus.
My concern is what happens to the ones who don't make the cut. Single minded focus on football may leave you unprepared to do anything
else, and you really need a Plan B if something happens like an injury that cuts short a promising career.
Too many schools with football programs don't place enough emphasis on the academic side, and turn out students unqualified to do anything else if football doesn't work out.
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Dennis