Sports

Note: Before reading My Thoughts, please read My Disclaimer!

I really enjoy sports. There's strategy, drama, and pushing yourself to the limit. Participating can be great exercise, too. Few of us get enough of that.

But, sports are way out of hand. Professional athletes are among the highest paid people in the world. College athletes are routinely passed through college without an education, devaluing the real diplomas that the rest of us earn. Even high school athletes are now featured in the newspapers and interviewed on television, sending kids the clear message about what's really important in school.

In Arizona, we built another monument to sports teams, after a ballot proposition: a new stadium for the mediocre Arizona Football Cardinals. But, our state's education funding remains near the bottom in the country. The Cardinals were using Arizona State University's stadium about ten Sundays per year, to go along with ASU's six Saturday football games. Sharing the facility seems to make a lot of sense.

Why do voters think sports is more important than education? Do other big businesses ask for public funding of their facilities? When Intel needs a new (extremely expensive) silicon chip fabrication plant, it doesn't show up as a ballot proposition.

Since in major colleges education and sports seem inseparable, perhaps this can (finally) be turned into an advantage: No professional athlete should make more money than the lowest paid teacher. Their compensation package, including endorsements, should be capped. Ticket prices should be regulated, just like telephone and electricity rates -- other local monopolies. What's more important to society: the ability to catch a football, hit a baseball, shoot a basket, score a goal, or the education of our youth? After all, they're just kids' games.

(Of course, the same argument can be made for actors and actresses, too. And, the argument should be made. Acting is little more than playing "make believe", something that most of us mastered as children...and gave up as we pursued an education to get a real job.)

Now, I hate price fixing as much as the next capitalist, but something needs to be done to change the value that society places on these professions. Sports and entertainment are great, but they are not as important as education. Perhaps our votes should start reflecting those facts.