To my potential peril, I’m coming out of the closet on the subject of All Sports All the Time and saying that I – as one individual, as a woman, as a lover of athletics and sports, but as a lover of many other aspects of life that have nothing to do with sports – think that the sports culture in the US is completely out of control.

Ohio State boasts 17 members of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences, three Nobel laureates, eight Pulitzer Prize winners, 35 Guggenheim Fellows and a MacArthur winner. But sports rule. There is certainly a national conversation going on now that I canโ€™t ever recall taking place,โ€ said William E. Kirwan, chancellor of the University of Maryland system and co-director of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics. โ€œWeโ€™ve reached a point where big-time intercollegiate athletics is undermining the integrity of our institutions, diverting presidents and institutions from their main purpose.”

I started out my life as dancer. I was on the track team. I was a swimmer and a gymnast. I played soccer. I played softball. I spent 35 years practicing yoga. My husband taught me to play golf. I ballroom dance. I love a great baseball game, basketball game, football game, tennis match. I was in Italy for the World Cup. No one can accuse me of not liking sports.

I even predicted the Giants would win the Super Bowl several years back and my husband had to buy me a car (sorry…but we bet and he lost! Tough break.). And we’ll be in SF for this year’s Super Bowl (but he won’t bet me anymore…).

But I remember a day when it was Monday night football and occasionally we could watch something else on TV. But no longer. Every night is sports night all year ’round. The attached article queries whether sports have hijacked the American campus…but I’d go further and say it’s not just a hijacking by college sports but by pro sports as well.

And here’s the kicker: if you do love a good game, you can’t get tickets, or if you can they are unaffordable. Gone are the days of Take Me Out to the Ball Game with Johnny and Suzy and let’s eat salted peanuts in the shell and a hot dog or two.

Gone also are the days where you can watch ballet or any of the other dance arts on television (How perfectly boring!), or an opera (An opera? What’s an opera?), or a televised version of a great Broadway Play (Broadway? What’s that?). You can forget about programming for great documentaries (Non existant!) or anything else for that matter that doesn’t have anything to do with grids…or courts…or balls…or teams…or goal posts…or winning or losing.

If you have the time, read the attached. I would love to know what you all think (men and women). Maybe it doesn’t even matter to you and that’s fine and I respect that.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/education/edlife/how-big-time-sports-ate-college-life.html?hp