Re: [ARSCLIST] Digitization of Paper Archives

["Steven C. Barr(x)" <stevenc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Karl Miller" <karl.miller@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>   UT can use its oil money for buildings, but buildings only. The athletics
department makes plenty of money...they are currently enlarging what is already
one of the largest college stadiums in the country. Recently our relatively new
President took over $2M from the athletic department income and gave it to the
academic departments. Amazingly he got away with it.
>
And here, ladies & gennamens, we have one of the sad tragedies of "higher
education" in the US of A!

Universities/colleges perform the same function, in football and
basketball (and...?) that the minor leagues perform in baseball...
that is, to locate athletes and assist their development until they
are "called up by the big league(s)!"

Now, especially south of the Mason-Dixon line (but NOT exclusively so!),
the donations of the more financially successful alumni depend NOT on
whether someone in the history department has made an important discovery...
but, instead, on whether the <wotever> team successfully vanquished
<traditional opponent>!

One thought might be that the NFL and NBA provide the same support to
institutions of higher education that major-league baseball teams
provide to their minor-league affiliates...?!

As well, like anything sports-related in North America & vicinity,
there is a significant factor of the amazing amounts of money wagered
on such events...on the assumption that they are presumably entirely
honest, and thus they can be bet upon without worrying whether "the
fix is in...!"

Passing note...athletes who are caught wagering on their own sports,
let alone their own teams, are generally subjected to MUCH more
substantial punishments than those who merely illegally deal with
their opponents, or indulge in performance-improving substances
(See under "Pete Rose," et al...) The athletics industry not only
knows which side its bread is buttered...it also knows who loaned
them the butter knife...!

Steven C. Barr