Newsnet Opinion Roundup

Is there an anti-sports conspiracy at the Department of French and Italian? You be the judge.

The "web editor" not only is more professional than the inept print headline writer, but he points it out to everyone.

Evidently, filling our stadiums is more important than filling our classrooms. This letter is one of the better arguments for canceling our participation in intercollegiate athletics that I've seen in a while.

Then there's this letter. "First, I am appalled that an assistant professor in the field of education would fail to realize the educational value of sports. I cannot find a better field for learning perseverance, determination, faith and unity than in sports. " Orson Scott Card does a better job with this one than I could.

"Second, it was mentioned that there is one coach for every athlete. That is not an accurate statement and to prove it, simply attend a track practice -- it speaks for itself."

And how long has track been representative of the entire athletics program? If athletes really can't tell the difference between the whole and the part, their education is in even worse shape than I thought.

"And what does it matter anyway? It simply improves performance and eventually entertainment that many people enjoy."

Ahh. Normative questions. One solution would be a pure market regime in which every sport must support itself through the contributions of the 'many people' who enjoy the 'entertainment' provided. I suspect track & field would disappear pretty quickly under such a regime. Or we could employ a system in which we allocate scarce resources where they will do the most good for the Church and the University. Where such a course would lead, of course, would depend on opinions of what exactly that entails (but I'm not convinced that making the news so often for honor code violations or fan misbehavior gets us the best results).

Another student gives us the groundbreaking insight (based on one anecdote and no statistics) that "when it comes right down to it, guns don't solve problems." I guess we should have armed our soldiers with slingshots for the invasion of Iraq, since their guns clearly didn't help them at all.

"I am for tightening the reigns on student athletes and their violations of the honor code, but to get rid of the whole athletic department because of a few violations would be like getting rid of the business school because some of the graduates do dishonest things in their careers. " Hugh Nibley probably wouldn't have a problem with that.

One of the better mockeries of BYUSA.

Shocking Ignorance of History: [Letter of 25 Feb, not online] "There has never been a time in which I have had a reason to look down upon our blessed country. Now with the consideration of legalizing gay marriage, there might be."

And finally, another amusing bit [letter of Feb 26, not online]: "...The Daily Universe is not a real newspaper. It's a mix between the National Enquirer and something a middle school English department might put together."