# Collegiate/professional sports is not "just a game" **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 20, 2019, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collegiate-professional-sports-is-not-just-a-game/834246 "2019-05-20T19:14:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collegiate-professional-sports-is-not-just-a-game/834246/41 "2019-05-23T20:43:25Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Seems like I’ve seen quite a few threads lately where I strongly agreed with the first response. > > I cannot understand why so many people put so much of their emptions into the hands of sports organizations, and why our society promotes it so strongly (public schools, media coverage, etc.) Likely goes back to the Romans and before. Distract the masses. Provide an artificial basis for a feeling of unity… > > I often think back to a Parker novel, where the protagonist stops in a bar where a few daytime drinkers are watching a game. As Parker put it, “Interested in OTHER PEOPLE’S successes and failures.” (paraphrased from memory) It’s just a book. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2019, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collegiate-professional-sports-is-not-just-a-game/834246/42 "2019-05-23T22:29:35Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Can you imagine that level of toxicity coming out of the choir or drama club? Yes. I was in the drama club. In fact, I have a friend who is still bitter because she didn’t get the lead in the high school musical. (No, this time it isn’t me. I couldn’t sing and I knew it.) ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2019, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collegiate-professional-sports-is-not-just-a-game/834246/43 "2019-05-24T01:16:49Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > Tim n va, I do t think that’s fair. If sports are entertainment, athletes are entertainers, not prostitutes. They’re hired to be the focal point of our rooting interest, to play the hometown hero. > Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk I wasn’t clear. Sports = entertainment is a context for the role/value to society. The prostitution comparison was on the merits of thinking a victory means anything about the city. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2019, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collegiate-professional-sports-is-not-just-a-game/834246/44 "2019-05-24T13:56:11Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > It applies even at the middle and high school level. > > … > > Can you imagine that level of toxicity coming out of the choir or drama club? In our area, public high schools compete to lure football coaches from other schools… There have been fights at area football and basketball games. The coaches’ salaries compare with the highest other teachers receive - presumably the coaches teach PE classes. And the football budget surely outpaces the band/theater/art departments combined. Not to mention coverage of high school sports - compared to other HS activities - in the local papers and on TV. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2019, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collegiate-professional-sports-is-not-just-a-game/834246/45 "2019-05-24T14:27:51Z")
I don’t think it’s a big problem that there’s a giant industry around college sports – the big problem is that this giant industry is extremely corrupt as well as being extremely unfair to the athletes. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2019, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collegiate-professional-sports-is-not-just-a-game/834246/46 "2019-05-24T16:18:01Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Maybe collegiate and professional sports are “just a game” but when you look at high school sports it is much more serious. Watch the series or movies or read the book for **Friday Night Lights**. Yeah, but that is so, so regional. _Nobody_ but a some parents and a few nutty boosters gave a shit about HS sports at my school/in my city. Really the( small )stands were three-quarters empty for football games, with the one exception of the cross-town “big game.” And jocks were not particularly worshiped as a class in HS. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2019, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collegiate-professional-sports-is-not-just-a-game/834246/47 "2019-05-24T17:02:32Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Yeah, but that is so, so regional. _Nobody_ but a some parents and a few nutty boosters gave a shit about HS sports at my school/in my city. Really the( small )stands were three-quarters empty for football games, with the one exception of the cross-town “big game.” And jocks were not particularly worshiped as a class in HS. Honestly, same with me. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest and nobody gave a crap. Honestly I think the scholar kids were more popular than the jocks. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2019, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collegiate-professional-sports-is-not-just-a-game/834246/48 "2019-05-24T17:07:54Z")
Are there any non-US nations in which collegiate or high school sports are a huge deal? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2019, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collegiate-professional-sports-is-not-just-a-game/834246/49 "2019-05-25T01:06:30Z")
I saw some mighty fine looking athletic facilities at both secondary schools and colleges in Japan. Somebody must be using them. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2019, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collegiate-professional-sports-is-not-just-a-game/834246/50 "2019-05-26T08:12:16Z")
As soon as money is involved in any way, it’s not “just a game” any more. > [@Velocity](#): > > ``` > Are there any non-US nations in which collegiate or high school sports are a huge deal? > > ``` Kinda, maybe ? I went to a high school founded in Napoleon’s era that has/had a Thing about its rugby team. I never really did follow what they did and whatnot, or who they played against and when ; but we all knew the “sporetz” (that’s short for “Sport Etudes”, a sports related scholarship) enjoyed a lot of institutional privilege within the school and never got held back grades no matter how dismal their academic record or how many classes they skipped for training. At the same time it’s really not like US college sports - there wasn’t any TV station broadcasting their matches or anything, nor did our school have a humongous rugby stadium built - in fact there wasn’t even one on the grounds, they had to be bussed to a field in the next town over. It was mostly about “Our school is really fucking Good At Rugby, OK ?!”. I assume it competed with other schools who were Good At Rugby for bragging rights or somesuch ? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2019, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collegiate-professional-sports-is-not-just-a-game/834246/51 "2019-05-28T13:42:48Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Are there any non-US nations in which collegiate or high school sports are a huge deal? High school baseball is a really big deal in Japan; the national championships are a major sporting event that draw huge paying crowds and are heavily covered in the media. It’s like Japan’s March Madness except for the fact that it’s in August. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collegiate-professional-sports-is-not-just-a-game/834246/52 "2019-05-30T09:35:42Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > As a general rule, I’d rather be doing something myself, than watch other people do things. This is exactly why I listen to recordings of myself singing in the shower while driving. What kind of sucker would listen to _other people_ doing music?! ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collegiate-professional-sports-is-not-just-a-game/834246/53 "2019-05-30T18:46:09Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > This is exactly why I listen to recordings of myself singing in the shower while driving. What kind of sucker would listen to _other people_ doing music?! By contrast you be watching other people as they sing in the shower?! (On second thought I could be down for that, depending on the singer.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/collegiate-professional-sports-is-not-just-a-game/834246.md?page=2)