In which we thank God we're not members of the National Society for the Dark Arts (yet)

Great googly moogly!

TOPIC AREA: Sports in the United States

Choice 1 – Resolved: On balance, students in grades 6-12 in the United States benefit when their schools offer interscholastic sports.

Choice 2 – Resolved: On balance, public subsidies for professional athletic organizations in the United States benefit their local communities.

You know, I haven’t posted a lot lately, being all tied up in the new DJ, but sometimes I realize, I really don’t have to post. After all, you know as well as I do what I’m going to say about these choices for Sept-Oct PF. I barely even have to think it. The only way Choice 1 will ever win the vote is if all the voters are non-PF people who want to punish this upstart division for some perceived sins or other that I can’t imagine. Which means Choice 2 is a shoo-in so that we can discuss…what…exactly? Presumably that pro sports already has enough money and doesn’t need the subsidies. Which is a pretty weak argument against the needs of most local communities to get the income derived from any corporate investment. The thing is, there’s no question that either these are a good idea or a bad idea, because the evidence, once one bothers to look it up, is highly unlikely not to go solidly one way or the other (and, as should be clear, I’m guessing in favor of benefits to the community, but whichever it is, that’s what it is). The facts will be what they are, and once the question of the financial benefit is established, in most civilized societies the discussion would be over. Then again, most civilized societies don't engage in Grand Crossfire. I say we just argue against sports, period. Anything that gives us Dennis Rodman, Luis Suarez and Tonya Harding should be ridden out of town on a rail, obviously.

Sigh.

I can’t wait until Oct 1, when the November topic is announced. I mean, how bad can it be?