One fan fed up with the business of pro sports

You know what is probably one of the worst ideas ever?

The business of sports.

I'm so fed up with professional sports these days, that I can't stand to watch them, let alone read about them. That's probably why I write for a college newspaper's sports section. I get to totally avoid the topic of what is going on in professional sports.

I saw a figure the other day that the average salary of an athlete in one of the big four sports was $1.1 million dollars. And teams in the NHL wonder why they are having to file for bankruptcy. That's more than doctors, senators, even presidents are paid. What does it say when a society is willing to pay more for it's entertainment than for the jobs that actually keep society running?

I wouldn't have as much of a problem with it if I actually respected the athletes who are getting paid — and didn't think their sole drive in life was creating an image. Don't get me wrong, I understand that money is necessary in order to provide the essentials of life, but the extravagant lifestyles that these professional athletes live is ridiculous.

I grew up during an age when professional athletes were revered, with names like Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing and of course his Airness, Michael Jordan. And that is just in the NBA — I could rattle off names from all the sports.

Those athletes didn't care as much about their paycheck because they all accepted the fact that they weren't just out on the floor playing for themselves — they were part of a team that represented a city whose fans spread around the globe. They understood that they were role models. Even though Charles Barkley once tried to convince the world in a commercial that he wasn't a role model, it didn't work. Sir Charles was the face of Philadelphia for years, whether he liked it or not.

Unfortunately, that has now changed. Athletes are more concerned with the almighty dollar than with the quality of play or how something stupid they did will affect their fans.

For instance, I was watching the Lakers game the other day, and I saw Shaq basically walk down the court to get set up to play offense. Okay, maybe it was a fast walk. But any high school or college coach will tell you — you never walk on the court. Another example — Terrell Owens. Hiding a marker in his sock to sign a ball and give it to... his agent. It's not like Owens was giving it to his biggest fan who got to finally come and see him play or even to his mother. It was his agent. If that doesn't signify the power of the dollar over sports nowadays, I don't know what does.

The good news is that we true sports fans and scholars have one last bastion of hope to us — college sports. You never see anyone walk down the court in a college basketball game. In every college sport, the athletes play for the love of the game.

But the infectious disease of greed has affected college sports as well. The most recent case was the issue arising at the University of Georgia — the second offense for Georgia's head coach Jim Harrick.

The greed that has taken hold of professional sports has sunk its claws so far as to affect high school sports. It's funny how many high school athletes are going to the pros now and making big bucks, yet seniors graduating from the No. 1 university in America are having trouble finding jobs that pay a fraction of what athletes make.

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However, we are lucky to say that those incidents is not necessarily the norm. College sports have not been "professionalized."

I can still go down to Jadwin Gym this weekend and watch the men's basketball team play its hardest, or to Class of 1952 Stadium and watch the defending national champion women's lacrosse team give its all on Sunday and destroy Loyola.

Professional sports may be a total disappointment now. However, there is relief — especially during this month of March Madness. The opportunity to watch sports as they were meant to be played will always be available to any fan, so long as college sports continue to play a major part in our society.