I went to a unique high school. There were a number of philosophies that made up my school’s program, some of which I didn’t agree with (such as not offering honors or gifted classes because everyone is supposed to have the same capacity for learning), but many that I did.

One of those I agreed with was the attitude towards football.

Football was not offered at my high school. As one of the most expensive sports, it tends to cause schools to funnel more money into it, often neglecting other areas (like, you know, repairs). Because so much money is poured into it, it causes a hierarchy to form— the football players and the cheerleaders become the top of the food chain, causing a number of social inequalities further down the line.

This view was something I really appreciated, after having come from a football-centric middle school. More than half of my middle school’s yearbook was dedicated to sports, with football being the main focus of that section. There was a very clear hierarchy, and I was at the bottom. I hated it. The school was full of bats and mold, but darn it, we gotta have our football!

My college is that way, it seems. Although it’s hard to have a true “hierarchy” with so many students, the school definitely spends too much on football, and the rest of the college suffers for it. Every time I check the news, about half of the articles are about the football team. People talking about how great having a winning football team is for the economy. Perhaps. People are buying football paraphernalia left and right, so I can see how that might be a benefit. But the school has several buildings that are old and need to be repaired. And recently, part of the campus was rented for a weekend event, with the renters saying they wanted the money to go towards updating the recreation center. (It’s far too small for the number of students here, and there are always at least a couple of exercise machines broken at any given time. Actually, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen them get repaired before.) That money went, instead, to athletic scholarships. Oy.

In short, I hate football. I hate what it does to schools and wish that people would get their priorities straight and spend the money where it should be spent, instead of wasting it on athletes.

Yes, yes. Hate me if you wish.