School budgets fail but sports programs remain.

[Ray]

School's get a lot of money from athletics

Unfortunately, I have to agree with the popular vote here. Schools get some local outfits to make things like jerseys, pennants, etc., sports paraphernalia, then the money gets funneled further into their sporting programs. If they actually contribute to a non sports or non profit charity with the money, it's only because, like the NHL, NBA or NFL, they have more money than they know what to do with, and it's a drop in the bucket compared to the money they used to funnel into their sports program.

So basically it's teaching our kids early on that sports should always come first, even in financial terms. It's just a high school sized model of what the big, 'popular' professional sporting industries are already doing, basically.

But whatever, I'm fully expecting your answer to this to be nothing more than 'you guys need to grow thicker skin'.

So sports make money for high schools? I didn't know. I stand corrected if that's the case. I just assumed that they didn't make enough since candy sales, car washes, and traffic intersection begging are pretty common around here.

[Ray]

School's get a lot of money from athletics

There is no justification for sports in school. So what if they make a few bucks selling popcorn at games? Apparently it's not nearly enough to make them self-sufficient.

If sports make so much money, why are football teams and band members contantly holding car washes to pay for whatever it is they do? And why are they always selling that crappy overpriced chocolate? They're like beggars.

I say this should be a lesson in basic economics. If it can't sustain itself (which it can't), let it collapse under the weight of its own misguided silliness. No one wants to watch a bunch of teenage clowns dressed like astronauts run around a field.

Man, what a flawed post.

No justification for sports in school? Really? How about because kids enjoy them and they do no harm to anyone, except maybe some of you who felt insecure in high school because you weren't a member of those teams. School would be dull without sports. The kids would hate it.

High school sports can't sustain themselves? Based on what? They hold car washes and such to raise extra money for things, not because they can't keep themselves afloat.

You have some pretty good arguments sometimes, but this one was way off the mark.

What was off the mark about it? There is no justification for sports in schools. They are not necessary for learning (which is the purpose of school in case you've forgotten). Not only are they not necessary, they don't aid or encourage learning. And not only do they not aid or encourage learning, they are a distraction.

And my enligtened opinion is not a product of bad experiences in high school. I didn't feel left out or insecure in school. Sports was something that other kids did --a minority of students. More power to 'em. I was involved in other things and had no opposition to sports in school at all THEN. It's only now, in retrospect that I see how trivial they are and how some kids are left out and how they encourage bullying.

[SEAL76]

The school district where I am employed fired four math teachers and hired two new athletic coaches. That is wack. We don't pass the state tests in math and reading but we can afford athletics. I do not think that we should get rid of mandatory PE but after school sports needs to go if budgets there is a lack of funding for academics.

[Polite24]

[/quote]

What was off the mark about it? There is no justification for sports in schools. They are not necessary for learning (which is the purpose of school in case you've forgotten). Not only are they not necessary, they don't aid or encourage learning. And not only do they not aid or encourage learning, they are a distraction.

And my enligtened opinion is not a product of bad experiences in high school. I didn't feel left out or insecure in school. Sports was something that other kids did --a minority of students. More power to 'em. I was involved in other things and had no opposition to sports in school at all THEN. It's only now, in retrospect that I see how trivial they are and how some kids are left out and how they encourage bullying.[/quote]

Sports in school don't hurt ANYONE, and saying they encourage bullying is a reach. And I wouldn't say a minority of kids play sports, it's a pretty high number. And considering all the other kids who attend the games, that's a lot of people who enjoy high school sports.

Some kids are left out? Really? Are we supposed to baby high school students and make sure they always feel good about themselves? The world doesn't work like that.

High school sports hurt no one, and they have made a lot of people happy and have been enjoyed for years.

[Earl]

I have no respect for any of your arguments, and I no longer have any respect for you. The problem is not that some kids are left out, as you so callously assert. The problem is that nonathletic kids who are required to take traditional sports-centered P.E. classes don't have a choice. You still will not deal with the issue of sports being forced upon kids who don't want them. Since sports is your god, that is all that you're concerned about. The only people you care about are athletes, coaches, and sports fans.

[Sergey]

What was off the mark about it? There is no justification for sports in schools. They are not necessary for learning (which is the purpose of school in case you've forgotten). Not only are they not necessary, they don't aid or encourage learning. And not only do they not aid or encourage learning, they are a distraction.

And my enligtened opinion is not a product of bad experiences in high school. I didn't feel left out or insecure in school. Sports was something that other kids did --a minority of students. More power to 'em. I was involved in other things and had no opposition to sports in school at all THEN. It's only now, in retrospect that I see how trivial they are and how some kids are left out and how they encourage bullying.[/quote]

Sports in school don't hurt ANYONE, and saying they encourage bullying is a reach. And I wouldn't say a minority of kids play sports, it's a pretty high number. And considering all the other kids who attend the games, that's a lot of people who enjoy high school sports.

Some kids are left out? Really? Are we supposed to baby high school students and make sure they always feel good about themselves? The world doesn't work like that.

High school sports hurt no one, and they have made a lot of people happy and have been enjoyed for years.[/quote]


From what I've seen 80% of my school is full of idiots who like sports, good thing they can't think to save their own lives? I'd rather play one of those games Angry Video Game Nerd plays than play any sport for any time.

[Polite24]

I have no respect for any of your arguments, and I no longer have any respect for you. The problem is not that some kids are left out, as you so callously assert. The problem is that nonathletic kids who are required to take traditional sports-centered P.E. classes don't have a choice. You still will not deal with the issue of sports being forced upon kids who don't want them. Since sports is your god, that is all that you're concerned about. The only people you care about are athletes, coaches, and sports fans.

What the fuck are you talking about? I don't know if you caught it, but I clearly stated a nice option for kids who don't like sports would be strictly fitness related stuff.

[Polite24]

What was off the mark about it? There is no justification for sports in schools. They are not necessary for learning (which is the purpose of school in case you've forgotten). Not only are they not necessary, they don't aid or encourage learning. And not only do they not aid or encourage learning, they are a distraction.

And my enligtened opinion is not a product of bad experiences in high school. I didn't feel left out or insecure in school. Sports was something that other kids did --a minority of students. More power to 'em. I was involved in other things and had no opposition to sports in school at all THEN. It's only now, in retrospect that I see how trivial they are and how some kids are left out and how they encourage bullying.

Sports in school don't hurt ANYONE, and saying they encourage bullying is a reach. And I wouldn't say a minority of kids play sports, it's a pretty high number. And considering all the other kids who attend the games, that's a lot of people who enjoy high school sports.

Some kids are left out? Really? Are we supposed to baby high school students and make sure they always feel good about themselves? The world doesn't work like that.

High school sports hurt no one, and they have made a lot of people happy and have been enjoyed for years.[/quote]


From what I've seen 80% of my school is full of idiots who like sports, good thing they can't think to save their own lives? I'd rather play one of those games Angry Video Game Nerd plays than play any sport for any time.[/quote]


Those kids can't think? Really? You know that how?

[Sergey]

What was off the mark about it? There is no justification for sports in schools. They are not necessary for learning (which is the purpose of school in case you've forgotten). Not only are they not necessary, they don't aid or encourage learning. And not only do they not aid or encourage learning, they are a distraction.

And my enligtened opinion is not a product of bad experiences in high school. I didn't feel left out or insecure in school. Sports was something that other kids did --a minority of students. More power to 'em. I was involved in other things and had no opposition to sports in school at all THEN. It's only now, in retrospect that I see how trivial they are and how some kids are left out and how they encourage bullying.

Sports in school don't hurt ANYONE, and saying they encourage bullying is a reach. And I wouldn't say a minority of kids play sports, it's a pretty high number. And considering all the other kids who attend the games, that's a lot of people who enjoy high school sports.

Some kids are left out? Really? Are we supposed to baby high school students and make sure they always feel good about themselves? The world doesn't work like that.

High school sports hurt no one, and they have made a lot of people happy and have been enjoyed for years.

From what I've seen 80% of my school is full of idiots who like sports, good thing they can't think to save their own lives? I'd rather play one of those games Angry Video Game Nerd plays than play any sport for any time.[/quote]


Those kids can't think? Really? You know that how?[/quote]


Their stupidity... complex right?

[Fat Man]

The school district where I am employed fired four math teachers and hired two new athletic coaches. That is wack. We don't pass the state tests in math and reading but we can afford athletics. I do not think that we should get rid of mandatory PE but after school sports needs to go if budgets there is a lack of funding for academics.

I was going to respond to this much sooner, but I needed time to think of what I was going to say.

Well, it appears that we as a people have made a choice. We no longer care about academics. All we want is some kind of heros to look up to, athletic heros to put up on a pedestal to worship as gods.

You can tell if a civilization is on the decline when we as a society become more obsessed over sports and less interested in academics.

Of course, I also had my heros that I looked up to when I was a kid and when I was in high school.

While most kids had comic book heros like Super Man or Bat Man, etc. etc. my heros were historic figures. I was always interested in Astronomy, so I looked up to such great men as Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Isaak Newton, Einstein, etc. etc.

I was a rebellious kid, not in a delinquent sort of way, but in my way of thinking.

As a kid, I went to church and Sunday school, but I could not buy all the bullshit that I was being taught in Sunday school. I once had a disagreement with my Sunday school teacher concerning how old the Earth is and I got slapped in the face and made to sit in a corner. When I came home and told my mother about it, she said that I didn't have to go to Sunday school anymore, as long as I was a good kid and believed in God that was all that mattered.

So, as a rebellious kid, I looked up to Galileo as a role model because he introduced a new way of thinking about the universe and he was persecuted and prosecuted for it, and spent the remainder of his life under house arrest.

Yeah! He was a bad boy! And I was a bad boy!

But in a good sort of way. I didn't do anything illegal as a kid, I was just a nonconformist in my way of thinking, and that was all I needed to get me into trouble, just by thinking differently.

One of my favorite authors throughout the 1960s and 1970s was Isaak Asimov, and throughout the 1980s I added Carl Sagan after watching his series of thirteen programs Cosmos on PBS. So I also had two contemporary heros to look up to. Isaak Asimov and Carl Sagan.

This was during the Regan years when good ol' Ronald Bedtime For Bonzo Reagan was in the White House, and good ol' Reverend Jerry Fall-in-the-well and his Moron Majority was causing quit a stir in the NEWS.

On the NEWS broadcasts, they showed religious groups burning books and it was reminiscent of some of the films I had seen of Nazi Germany made back in the 1930s with scenes of book burnings. The only difference was that the films from the 1930s and 1940s were in black and white while the NEWS videos of the 80s were in living color!

Same type of bad scenes, just different people and different names and different times, but still, all just the same.

I remember having nightmares.

I did not sleep very well during the 1980s and I was angry and depressed most of the time. I would say that the anxiety contributed even more to my obesity, causing me to go up from 290 pounds to over 350 pounds during those years.

I hated President Reagan and I hated the Reverend Jerry Falwell.

Carl Sagan and his program series Cosmos could not have come at a better time. It was so refreshing to hear his voice, a strong voice for intellectual and academic freedom.

Now, both Isaak Asimov and Carl Sagan are gone. Carl Sagan died back in 1996 at the age of 62 and Isaak Asimov died 1992 at the age of only 72.

I don't hear any more really strong voices on TV speaking out for intellectual and academic freedom. Instead, all we hear are moronic celebrities, selling the latest diet or weight loss exercise gimmick that is no better than all earlier diets and weight loss exercise gimmicks. We only hear from the snake oil peddlers.

Back in April of 2007, some celebrity, Sheryl Crow, a self proclaimed environmentalist said we can all do our part to save the trees if we would use only one square of toilet paper during each restroom visit.

Now, who in the fucking Hell is this Sheryl Crow???

So, I did a Google search on her. It turns out she is a country western singer. No wonder I never heard of her! That's because I don't listen to redneck trailer trash music. She probably wipes herself with corn cobs!

Well, I have a suggestion for her.



I think this will help her to save the trees.

Just be sure to use just one square for each bathroom visit.

Then there is Me Me Roth, a self proclaimed Anti Obesity Crusader who advocates humiliating overweight children to get them to exercise more and to lose some weight.

YEAH RIGHT!!! Like, we all know how well that works!

Me Me Roth is a food hater. She hates food and she hates people who are overweight.

Here is her idea of a healthy diet.



If she had her way, she would outlaw meat, chicken or fish, and have us eating nothing but lettuce leaves and tofu!

I read in a recent article that tofu can cause dementia in older people, that soy products are actually bad for us, and if your going to use soy products, then, it should be fermented soy products instead.

Also, some more recent articles saying that pregnant women need to eat more fish because the Omega 3 fatty acids in fish is good for the brain and the heart. Also, it's been shown that children born to mothers who ate more fish while pregnant scored higher in IQ tests and did much better in school.

But we have these moronic celebrities telling us not to wipe ourselves when in the restroom and not to eat meat, chicken, or fish, and PETA wanting us to call fish "Sea Kittens" instead of fish.

So, as a society, were are becoming more and more anti-intellectual, anti-academic, and now, even anti-hygienic!

I really wish these moronic celebrities would just shut the fuck up!

Isaak Asimov, Carl Sagan, where are you when we need you?

[SEAL76]

Sports are a drain of school funding. Helmets for football have to be repaired and refurbished every year. Coaches have to paid and do they get paid well. Transporting the teams, cheerleaders, drill team and the marching band also cost a great deal. They aren't making any money for education. The idea that high school sports enriches the school financially is bogus.

[Fat Man]

Sports are a drain of school funding. Helmets for football have to be repaired and refurbished every year. Coaches have to paid and do they get paid well. Transporting the teams, cheerleaders, drill team and the marching band also cost a great deal. They aren't making any money for education. The idea that high school sports enriches the school financially is bogus.

When I was going to collage at NMSU, New Mexico State University in Las Cruces back in 1975-1978 my Astronomy professor and my Physics Professor, they were getting paid about $32,000 dollars per year.

I personally knew Dr. Clyde Tombaugh, the Astronomer who discovered the planet Pluto back in the 1930s who use to teach at NMSU.

Ah! But the football coach was paid about $86,000 dollars per year, more than twice as much!

On the edge of the track running field the University had two small observatories which I had the opportunity to use when we had Astronomy Lab on Friday evenings. Inside one dome was a 6 inch refractor telescope and the second dome had a big 16 inch Cassegrain reflector telescope.

Since Astronomy is my favorite subject, I made an A in astronomy and B's in math courses. I was the top student in one of my Astronomy classes. In fact, I became, for the first time in my life, the "Teacher's Pet" and when Astronomy Lab was over, I was allowed to stay after class, and I would be alone by myself using the telescopes. When I was finished, it was my responsibility to close the domes, turn off the clock drives, replace the dust caps and then lock the doors as I left. Another words, remember the four D's. Dome, Drive, Dust cap, and Door. Some nights I was up to about 4:00 AM before I finished, then come home about 4:30 AM Saturday morning, and I would sleep until 12:00 noon because I was up so late the previous night.

Some of the other students resented me because I was the Astronomy "Teacher's Pet" but none of them show as much enthusiasm as I did for Astronomy.

Anyway . . . . .

Sometimes we could not use the telescopes because the bright overhead lights were turned on at the track running field, even when nobody was using it. The light interfered with the "seeing" conditions, and we couldn't see any but the brightest stars because of the lights.

We had to lodge a formal complaint to have the lights turned off during Astronomy lab. It was during the winter months when nobody would be running the track because it was too cold. When I signed up for Astronomy lab, I choose the winter season because the winter constellations are my favorite. It's during the winter months when you can see the constellations of Orion and the Pleiades. Also, that is the brightest part of the Milky Way.

I love Orion and Pleiades, because even with a modest telescope you can see the Orion Nebula and in the Pleiades, also known as The Seven Sisters, you normally see seven stars clustered together, but through a telescope you can see about 50 stars clustered together.

These are what I'm pleased to call "Stellar Nursery Wards" because these are where some new stars are in the process of formation. The Pleiades Cluster, being an open cluster, is much further along in it's development while the Orion Nebula is much younger. Both are about 6,000 light years away.

The Sun and our Solar system was born from such a similar gaseous nebula about 4.5 billion years ago. Eventually, given another billion years or so, these nebulae will give birth to new planets and even new life while our Sun and the Earth, being much older, will be dying. Perhaps our descendants will be leaving the Earth with it's dying Sun to colonize the new worlds in what we now call Orion or The Pleiades.

But first, we need to get over our obsession with sports and focus more on science and technology, and fix the mess that we have made of our schools. Of course, we have a couple billion more years or so to get our act together, if we don't destroy ourselves first.

I also prefer the winter months because the air being much colder is more steady with less air turbulence so during the cold winter nights, the stars don't appear to "twinkle" as much. The stars shine with a more steady glow which make for much better "seeing" conditions. Stars don't really "twinkle" that is only due to atmospheric turbulence which is much less during cold winter nights than it is during warm summer nights.

The winter months is the best time of the year to do Astronomy.

Also, the winter constellations, such as Orion and The Pleiades is so much more inspirational. Nothing is more beautiful.

"Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?" Job 38:31.

I love the darkness of night because . . .

the night reveals, far more than it conceals!

In Latin . . .

Abnocto, quad ultra, noctis occulto!

I wish I knew that one in Hebrew!

To me, the nights are much brighter than the days!

During the day, you can only see the sun, about 93 million miles, or eight light minutes away.

Ah! But at night!

You can see thousands and thousand of distant suns that are thousands and thousands of light years away, and through a powerful telescope, you can see trillions and trillions of stars in billions and billions of galaxies that are about 13 to 14 billion light years away.

So, you see much further in the night, and the night is brighter because you see thousand of suns in the sky, where as by day, only one!

The nights are brighter than the days!

That's my way of looking at it!

So, I love the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night!

But during evening sporting events, such as some stupid football game, they have to turn on all the bright lights in the sports arena which lights up the sky, and it interferes with astronomical observations of the stars and planets.

Yeah! The monkey-boys have to play their childish and infantile games under blindingly bright lights because they are too fucking chicken-shit and fearful of the night.

Why can't these sniveling cowards play during the daylight hours and hold their childish Kindergarten sand-box sessions during Sunday afternoons when there are no classes on campus?

But NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOO!!!

They have to hold night games and light up the sky and interfere with Astronomy.

Oh! I know!

It's because the afternoons are too hot and the poor babies don't want to sweat so much and stink too much!

Sorry monkey-boys, but even if you played your retarded and infantile games in Arctic temperatures you would still smell bad because you monkey-boys even stink on ice!!!

Yeah! I'm a big fat bitch!