There Are Times When I Am Ashamed of Some Americans

[Minimalist]

This is one of those times.


There are times when I don't think you quite get the mentality of people in some part of the US ( ahem....Texas). This should help.

http://www.npr.org/2011/12/22/144079041/...udget-cuts

Leander has already eliminated golf and tennis. What if football is next?

"I'd spend a thousand bucks out of pocket myself to make sure it'd stay," says Ross Briton, whose son plays football. "I'd work two jobs if it took that to do it. End of story."

Briton says it's not just a sport here: It's part of the culture and a big part of the community's identity. The district should pare down the curriculum before it cuts football, he says.

"I would cut most liberal arts out of the high school. I'd keep math, science, reading. I'd add the vocational education back, because I think there's too much fluff," Briton says.

Dumb motherfucker.

[KichigaiNeko]

Oh dear.... This does not bode well.

[Shell B]

Make parents pay for the program. /story Fucking idiots. I have to pay out of my ass whenever my stepson wants to do sports. That's how you keep sports. If there is a shortage of kids, there isn't enough money. Then, you send the money back to already enrolled kids and cut the program. How the hell haven't people figured that out down there yet?

[Minimalist]

Football is a religion to these asswipes.

[Shell B]

I think sports are important for kids. The problem here isn't whether the kids should play football, but why these morons have not figured out that it does not have to be state or town funded. It is not that expensive to pay for football games to be held. Fuck, it is a matter of having a school bus, a coach and a field handy. The fees they charge up here more than cover it. Do kids play football for free down there? I'm just confused as to why it is even part of the budget.

[Minimalist]

I think sports are important for kids.

Yes...and no. Yes sports are important TO PLAY. To learn teamwork and sacrificing for a goal.

But when it becomes an excuse to shout "we're number one" or forget that school is supposed to be about getting an education and not one more social occasion that's losing sight of its value.

[Shell B]

Agreed. That is why they are "extracurricular" activities. Frankly, the only sports I ever entered my stepson into were baseball, basketball (camp) and karate, so I'm not really on the up-and-up about high school football. I just know that you can't play if your grades suck here and you have to pay out of your ass to play. Still, we have a pretty top-notch team. You don't have to be dingleberries to have great sports and academics. I know the school has a great drama club, a film club, foreign language electives, art electives, etc. Most of the town hall screamers would rather chew their arms off than cut a program.

[Minimalist]

That is why they are "extracurricular" activities.

In Texas it seems they are the end all and be all. Kind of explains Dubya and Rick Perry.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

Fuuuck!

Australians are sports mad,to the point that it has been said half-seriously that sport is our national religion. Makes sense;one can engage either activity without engaging the cerebral cortex.


We have a LOT of sports throughout school,but there is no"high school football" watched by anyone other than the parents of players.

Our universities have a few teams of various sports but the concept of "College football/baskeball etc " is unknown here.


Yes, of course we had jocks at my school. Stars on the field, but they tended not to do well scholastically, what with being no-necked-monobrow-knuckle-draggers and all. The odd few managed to secure an apprenticeship.The rest tended to have rewarding careers as factory workers.Today I guess it's a McJob. OK times HAVE changed; today the professional leagues DO recruit straight from highschool.

PS I thought that Forest Gump (IQ of 70) got a college sports scholarship AND graduated was funny satire. Apparently not.

[helmespc]

Not sure how taxpayers became responsible for "extra-curriculars" in the first place. Football is a dumb-ass sport in the first place.... (says the rabid hockey fan)