Me watch foobaw today

It's college bowl day. The system is kind of stupid, with any team with a 6-5 record or better qualifying to play in the Salad Bowl or the Toilet Bowl or the Fruit Bowl. Ah well, I guess it produces TV revenue--the Holy Grail.

When I attended University of Oregon, the football program averaged a budget loss of $8 million a year. And every year, there were tuition increases. The coach of the football team earned more money than the top eight faculty members put together. Duck Land is a fine school, but it isn't a football franchise; it's an educational institution. I do not cherish my memories of my time there because of the performance of the football team. I also did not learn anything from that performance.

I fully expect to hear the announcers say "they have to take care of the football" at least a dozen times (which, I assume, means feeding it and putting it down for naps). For that matter, I have a question to which no one has an answer so far:

Why do football and basketball announcers refer to the ball as "the football" and "the basketball," respectively? Is there any other kind of ball on the field? A bowling ball? A ping-pong ball? A charity ball? Baseball announcers, in contrast, never say "the baseball." Hockey announcers don't refer to "the hockey puck."

I hope that fewer than ten thousand brain cells die as I watch the game(s).

Kevin Lewis writes: "The coach of the football team earned more money than the top eight faculty members put together."

An astute observation.   In fact college coaches, especially college football coaches, are often the highest-paid State employee across the United States:

The Highest Paid Public Employee in Every State

And darn well worth it too !

I don't like taxpayer-subsidized sports teams. 

Mark writes: "I don't like taxpayer-subsidized sports teams."

Ahh, . . . but "bread and circuses" are somtimes necessary to maintain a society.

". . . if the old Emperor had been surreptitiously

Smothered; that same crowd in a moment would have hailed

Their new Augustus.  They shed their sense of responsibility

Long ago, when they lost their votes and the bribes; the mob

That used to grant power, high office, the legions,everything,

Curtails its desires, and reveals its anxiety for two

things only, Bread and Circuses."

From Satire 10, a poem by Roman poet Juvenal ca 100AD

Nothing good lasts forever.  It'd be wise to keep things going comfortably as long as possible.

Bring back the death matches. You wouldn't need any expensive coaches for the competitors. Maybe put a modern Running Man twist on it. Reality TV is cheap. 

I'll bet that when Kevin attended Duck University, the football team was making money.  The athletic department might have been losing money, but not the football team.  I played college baseball, and we certainly were a drain on the athletic departments finances.  So is wrestling, gymnastics, and 99.9% of women's sports at all universities.  The only women's teams that are profitable are a handful of basketall teams.  I just checked, and the 20th highest women's basketball team revenue team generates $3.2 million in revenue.  That might cover the scholarships, but not the cost of facilities, coaches, travel, insurance, etc, etc.  MAYBE two women's college teams in all sports cover their cost.  The low revenue teams like baseball and women's sports are the reason that the Ducks athletic department didn't make money in Kevin's days.

Kevin, please provide proof.

I truly do wonder - is there ANYTHING that Der Fuhrer does not have a complaint about? Any topic, anytime - bitch ,bitch, bitch. Egotistic, arrogant, miserable know it all. I feel sympathy for the humans that have the misfortune of having to deal with him on a personal basis, day after day, week after week. 

When I lived in Chicago I had a roommate from university  Illinois , another roommate from Purdue, and a guy across the hall from Northwestern (All 3 of which are big 10 schools).   It was a never ending barrage of trash talking 365 days/year between them. 

Made me feel glad I went to a small college in western PA whose team was in the lowly NAIA.   The mighty Westminster Titans of New Wilmington, Pa won the national championship while I attended....I believe that game had about 500 people in attendance.   I was not one of them.     Pretty sure I was passed out under a Bush in the quad.

best thing about NAIA schools...you don’t have to compete with future NFL/NBA athletes when hitting on the ladies. 

 Our coach gets a $zillion million "package" for being fired ahead of his contract.  Didn't win a single game this year.  Nice.

Actually, at the time, there were exactly NINE university football programs nationwide that showed a profit--out of maybe a thousand (I omit two-year colleges).

I was referring specifically to the football program's revenues and costs, not the athletic department as a whole. I got the figures from the football coach's office and the bursar, and they reported essentially the same amounts. I wrote an article about it for the school newspaper, in the midst of some widespread protests about tuition hikes, and observed that at the time, every student was paying about $200 a year for the football program.