The point is that if anyone still is looking at this in the context of college sports, they hopelessly are blind to reality. [Come again? The context is college sports, surely? Given that this is about college sports? And that lame hopelessly is out of place: If you're going to use it, which you shouldn't, but if you are, put it in front of blind. And blind to reality is a cliche.]


The reality is that college sports is an increasingly gargantuan business. [Whitley's overfond of adverbs. The sentence has no need of increasingly. I mean, think about it, David: If something's already gargantuan, is it particularly impressive for it to be increasingly so? I'm impressed already with gargantuan, see? ... And yeah, that's the reality; but there's nothing wrong with disliking a reality and wanting it changed.] The economics require coaches to be paid as much as backup NBA point guards. But if we condone that, we basically admit that we value entertainment more than education. [Note that the writer has done nothing to convince us that the economics require a certain level of salary. Again, he has merely told us what the current situation is. Ask the president of Vanderbilt if he feels compelled by this economics lesson.]

Call me shallow, but I'll admit that.

Who wouldn't rather sit through a football game than a geology lecture? The fact we'll pay to watch Gators quarterback Tim Tebow does not signal the decline of civilization. It signals we are human, and humans always have yearned to be entertained. [Hm. How shall SOS go about SOSing this flaccid little paragraph? Should she explain that limp rhetorical questions do not turn her on? That a not very well-endowed writer offering UD enlightenment about her human essence makes her giggle rather than say yes I will Yes...]

Yes, academics and athletics often make an awkward fit. It can lead to bad publicity. There's the perpetual pay-for-play debate.

But aren't those reasonable prices to pay? [No.]

Florida's athletic teams (read: football) generated $82 million last year. What's a university supposed to do, walk away from that kind of business opportunity? [Yes.]

At $2 million a year, Florida State's Bobby Bowden makes 50 times more than when he arrived in Tallahassee. Heck, he still makes 15 times more than fellow state employee Charlie Crist.

But what has Bowden been worth to Florida State over the past three decades? In terms of donations, memories, prestige and pride, the school never will be able to repay him. [Yup. Florida State's in great shape.]

What has C. Vivian Stringer been worth to Rutgers in just the past two weeks? Her team's dignified reaction to the Don Imus controversy made it a national sweetheart. Now Stringer stands to make $900,000 a year with incentives.

Most of the big-salary money comes from outside sources. That will be worth remembering in a few weeks when Donovan and football coach Urban Meyer get their raises.

Lumped together, two coaches will be pulling down at least $5 million. It could be $8 million if Imus says Tebow has nappy hair. That would pay for approximately 12 anthropology professors, three microbiology labs and four more Starbucks in the student union.

So you think Florida should let Donovan and Meyer just walk away? [Have you got hold of this guy's argument in any way? I'm trying. My job depends on my ability to make sense of garbled writing and garbled argument. But I can't do it.]

Ask Gainesville's merchants, or at least those who depend on fans showing up on football weekends. If Jeremy Foley hadn't fired former football coach Ron Zook, the Gainesville Chamber of Commerce would have.

If Meyer gets a bump to the $3 million range, he'll still be a bargain. He'll also still be making less than Saban, whose contract triggered the latest round of wailing.

Then 92,138 people show up to cheer his first scrimmage.

The hard question of why coaches make so much has a very easy answer.

They're worth it.