Why do college sports exist?

[Anonymous]

I support eliminating legacy preferences, preferences for professors’ kids, and athletic preferences for dumb rich white kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The world would not end if schools did not field obscure sports for rich white kids.

At my school, a lot of POC played sports because it was their only way they could have afforded college (and I did not go to an expensive school). I'm not saying that's a great thing either but not all of the more obscure sports are lacrosse or water polo.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:It's backdoor affirmative action for pampered white kids who otherwise wouldn't have the grades to get in.

This comment is hysterical. Most athletes are non-white - in fact - almost 90% are non white.

Umm, have a look at the rosters of D3 college teams. And don’t forget to check out any water polo program 😂

DCUM college sports haters think every college sports team is the Harvard lacrosse team. Countless very diverse college football and basketball programs don't even register with them.

Blacks are overrepresented in college sports relative to their share of the general population.

Only Basketball and Football (aka the money sports) for D1 maybe, and definitely not in D3.

They are very overrepresented in D1 and D2, slightly less so in D3. But so what? The claim that college sports are for "pampered white kids" remains invalid.

Here is a list of collegiate sports here in the United States. I have highlighted the two we are discussing.

Baseball
Basketball
Beach Volleyball
Bowling
Cross Country
Cycling
Equestrian
Fencing
Field Hockey
Football
Golf
Gymnastics
Ice Hockey
Lacrosse
Rifle
Rowing
Rugby
Skiing
Soccer
Softball
Swimming
Tennis
Track and Field
Triathlon
Volleyball
Water Polo
Wrestling

Now go through and show the number of athletes per sport. The “more white” sports that you pretend are super important have a trivial number of athletes per team. And overall, throughout the NCAA, blacks are over represented as I said.

Lacrosse alone is 10 on 10. Football is 11 on 11. Field hockey the same.. Rugy. Soccer...

You aren't even trying, are you?

It was a very stupid comment. Sure, football teams are relatively large. But basketball is 5 on 5. And it’s not as if football is overwhelmingly black esp in D3. Have a look at the Williams football roster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s about the well rounded college experience that offers extras outside of academics. All the extras like theater, art, sports, music, clubs like environmental and chess etc. are there for student enjoyment at d3 schools. They are terrific outlets that teach a lot that you don’t get in class. They all offer great soft skills like team work and leadership and make life on campus enjoyable. If you think school should just be classes only and no other offerings, why not save a lot of money and do online college?

Do theater kids get some special dorms, dining halls, and priority class registration?

Not full dorms and dining halls, but they definitely room together and have priority registration to classes in the theater department.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s about the well rounded college experience that offers extras outside of academics. All the extras like theater, art, sports, music, clubs like environmental and chess etc. are there for student enjoyment at d3 schools. They are terrific outlets that teach a lot that you don’t get in class. They all offer great soft skills like team work and leadership and make life on campus enjoyable. If you think school should just be classes only and no other offerings, why not save a lot of money and do online college?

I played sports in college and I absolutely hate using sports to say it teaches all these great “soft” skills. There are so many better outlets to learn those skills…in fact students putting on theater shows learn much more of those skills than athletes. College athletics…especially with the transfer portal…can be very transactional. Don’t think D3 is immune since if you look at many D1 rosters, you will see plenty of players that started in D3 and use the transfer portal to move to D1. I am familiar with lots of kids already on their third school in 3 years, just transferring thinking the grass is greener and they will get more playing time at the next school.

I will say that graduating with a decent degree and GPA while playing D1 sports is absolutely an achievement considering you are working 40 hours per week on your sport.

Yes, I was a top level D1 scholarship athlete and in an honors program at a top rated school. Getting through that honors program while making sure I was competing at a top level was easily the hardest thing i have ever done. Fatigue and soreness all of the time is a factor. I do agree with the soft skills point - at least in my case I had to life a monastic life to succeed and it certainly didn't build soft skills. I did learn how to work very hard. I don't like athletic scholarships because your first priority (by far) is athletics. I had no choice as I was poor but there was no way my kids were going to school on athletic scholarship. It would be great to move to the European club model for athletics but that is wholly unrealistic given the importance of college football. Given the recent changes in conference alignments, i am not so sure you will see nearly as many minor sports programs by 2030. Track and field, for example, may only have 20-25 programs. Perhaps D3 is unchanged as they hew a bit closer to the club model.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s about the well rounded college experience that offers extras outside of academics. All the extras like theater, art, sports, music, clubs like environmental and chess etc. are there for student enjoyment at d3 schools. They are terrific outlets that teach a lot that you don’t get in class. They all offer great soft skills like team work and leadership and make life on campus enjoyable. If you think school should just be classes only and no other offerings, why not save a lot of money and do online college?

Do theater kids get some special dorms, dining halls, and priority class registration?

I dunno. But if your beef is that athletes get special treatment and they shouldn’t, that is a legitimate beef. I am a former athlete and mother of a current athlete. Why don’t you make that argument, instead of arguing that colleges shouldn’t have varsity programs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s about the well rounded college experience that offers extras outside of academics. All the extras like theater, art, sports, music, clubs like environmental and chess etc. are there for student enjoyment at d3 schools. They are terrific outlets that teach a lot that you don’t get in class. They all offer great soft skills like team work and leadership and make life on campus enjoyable. If you think school should just be classes only and no other offerings, why not save a lot of money and do online college?

Do theater kids get some special dorms, dining halls, and priority class registration?

I dunno. But if your beef is that athletes get special treatment and they shouldn’t, that is a legitimate beef. I am a former athlete and mother of a current athlete. Why don’t you make that argument, instead of arguing that colleges shouldn’t have varsity programs?

A lot of resources go into the visual and performing arts. As well as the sciences with all their beekers and what not. The ones who should really be pissed are the history major frat boys who just read a book and then drink a few beers. They cost the school nothing!

[Anonymous]

College sports exist because full-pay parents are paying for it. Education is a market. If school A takes away sports, parents will take their money to school B.