It’s just a book.
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.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
Are there any non-US nations in which collegiate or high school sports are a huge deal?
I saw some mighty fine looking athletic facilities at both secondary schools and colleges in Japan. Somebody must be using them.
As soon as money is involved in any way, it’s not “just a game” any more.
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 ?
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.
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.)