Comments about ‘In our opinion: The sports culture’

There is a slight, but noticeable, shift in people's attitudes towards sports, especially football. First there were statistics revealing that NFL players have life spans in the 50's, and now medical researchers are discovering the permanent damage done by repeated concussions. Recently a local sports radio show had listeners call in and say wether they would have their sons play football, and a surprising number of sports fans called in to say "no, they wouldn't". Now with the damning revelations about Penn State football, maybe football is starting to head the way of boxing.

What about those wonderful "civic minded" citizens who vote to raise taxes on their fellow citizens to build stadiums and arenas for millionaire players and billionaire owners? That's moral. Bread and circuses! Keep the mob fat and entertained!
@ Larry what in the world do concussions and child molestation have in common? Here's an idea to reduce concussions: stop wearing helmets. It may seem backwards but I guarantee that if players didn't wear helmets they'd be a lot more conscientious about how they used their head when blocking and tackling.

I've always had a chip on my shoulder about big time college sports and all its scandals, as well as pro scandals. And as a free market person, I believe people should get what the can; but doesn't it say something about our society when pro players make (in other words, we give) multimillions for playing games, but soldiers, cops, and teachers make a pittance for doing far more important work? But beyond scandals and salaries, why does each newspaper have a daily "sports" section but not a "science" section? Even on the DN website, under the top stories, usually a third to a half are about sports. (Not today however). Scrolling down the DN front page, sports comes before business, opinion, faith, and family life.

Joe was simply allowed to stay at Penn St too long .. become too important and powerful ...and as a result he lost sight of the big picture. Joe thought he could just sweep an embarrassing stain on the football program under the rug and it would just go away on its own .. but Joe was wrong. The Sandusky sins were more than just embarrassing - they were moral sins ... sins against humanity and Joe lost sight of that fact and he will forever pay the price with a trashed legacy. Whatever good Joe Paterno did in coaching and life he lost it all by this terrible lapse of judgement. Joe's statue needs to come down and perhaps in its place a statue with the names of the victims of Sandusky.

It's not just college sports, high school sports are also a serious problem. Coaches under pressure to win have told their players how to cheat and get away with it. I know a guy (a former coach) who had his son wait a year before starting school so he would be bigger for football. I know of one school district in Idaho that has football, basketball (boys and girls), volleyball, wrestling,track, cross country, drill team, baseball, cheerleaders, etc., but the district can't afford a gifted program!! Studies have shown that of the extracurricular activities offered at the high school level (music, drama, debate, student government, clubs, newspaper, yearbook, and sports) the most expensive but poorest predictor of long-term success is sports. Some studies have even shown a negative correlation with football and responsible character development. Where are out priorities?