...[I]f a goodly number of top college athletes are going to go through the motions simply for the sake of maintaining their eligibility, why not put an end to the sleazy charade and give them the option of declaring their chosen sport as their major? Let them concentrate all of their time and energy on training, studying the playbook, practicing, traveling, playing and learning from their coaches with an eye toward a pro career.


...I just fail to see the value of forcing an academically disinterested athlete to take a full course load, especially when his school has more interest in his performance on the field. [The writer means "uninterested," not "disinterested."]

...This will remove the considerable pressure on professors to award inflated grades to superstars who sit at the back of the room picking their teeth, tossing paper planes or ogling babes, if they even bother to show up at all. It will also put a lot of term-paper ghostwriters and test-takers out of business, but so be it.